THE NATIVE FLORA OF CHURCHILL, MANITOBA 
Historical Notes on Churchill and 
The Hudson Bay Region 
(See Alcock, 1916; 1920; Department of Railways, Labour 
and Industries, Regina, Saskatchewan, 1933; Department of 
Transport, Canada, 1939; Harrington, 1951; Innis, 1930; Morton, 
undated; Pinkerton, 1932; Tremaudan, 1915; Williams, 1949.) 
1610 — Henry Hudson, in search of a North-West Passage 
to the Orient, discovered the strait and bay that bear his name. 
After wintering near the mouth of Rupert River at the southeast 
end of James Bay with his sick and demoralized crew, he was 
cast adrift in an open boat, never to be heard of again. 
1612 — Thomas Button, continuing the quest, and hoping to 
find traces of Hudson, wintered at the mouth of Nelson River, 
taking possession of the land for England. 
1619 — Jens Munck, son of a Danish nobleman, discovered 
the mouth of Churchill River and wintered there rather than 
attempt the hazardous return voyage during the stormy autumn 
season. Scurvy and exposure killed all but Munck and two others, 
who managed to bore holes in the larger vessel, the Unicom, to 
sink her, and returned to Denmark in the Lamprey. Indians, 
coming across the profusion of dead, strangely garbed bodies a 
few months after Munck had left, named the river the River -of-the- 
Strangers. 
1631 — By this date, three years before the death of Samuel 
de Champlain, seventeen expeditions (sixteen English and one 
Danish) had approached the northern forest belt by sea, while in 
the south the French had come within easy reach of it from the 
St. Lawrence River. 
1650 — Defeat of the Huron Indians by the Five Nations, 
shattering the machinery of the French fur trade. 
1661 — Medard Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit 
de Radisson penetrated the beaver country of the northern forest 
belt, tapping, the stream of furs at its source. The subsequent 
rejection by the French Court of Groseilliers* plans for new 
ventures to Hudson Bay gave the English an entry to the great 
fur belt, and proved decisive for the history of the Canadian 
Northwest. 
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