Compagnie du Nord

The Compagnie du Nord was founded in 1682 by French merchants, with their director Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye, to begin at Hudson Bay by sea what the English had been successful in creating in 1670, known as the Hudson's Bay Company, with the help of Pierre-Esprit Radisson and his brother in law Médard Chouart Des Groseilliers.

The company benefited from the backing of the French government, who organised in 1681 in Paris a meeting of promoters and explorers such as Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart Des Groseilliers. Given two ships, it has as a mission to establish alliances with their native allies to the north of the Great Lakes, which took place with combats with the Iroquois.