Editing Pierre-Esprit Radisson (section)

===Foundation of the Hudson's Bay Company===

In 1670, Radisson was back in England and on 2 May received a royal charter giving him and his partners the exclusive rights to the land surrounding Hudson Bay; with this they founded the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC).<ref name="Virtual Museum of New France"/> During the next few years, they made a number of highly profitable trips between England and the Bay region. With the founding of the HBC, Radisson became forced to deal with a European context; there he had to struggle for survival among rival monarchs, competing courtiers, and the changing political and economic world in which they operated.{{sfnp|Warkentin|2014|p=1}}

King Charles II in his charter for the Hudson's Bay Company also founded a proprietary colony named [[Rupert's Land]], declaring that the lands adjacent to Hudson's Bay or rivers flowing into Hudson's Bay now belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. In theory, much of modern Canada then belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company, as Rupert's Land was a vast region. In practice, the company maintained a few trading forts on the sea coasts of [[northern Ontario]] and  [[Nord-du-Québec|northern Québec]], to which they later added forts on the sea coast of [[Northern Region, Manitoba|northern Manitoba]]. It was not until the late 18th century that the Hudson's Bay Company showed any interest in moving inland and making good its claims to control Rupert's Land.

Both Radisson and Groseilliers operated within the HBC with the support of Prince Rupert and the company's director [[Sir John Robinson, 1st Baronet, of London|Sir John Robinson]]. Radisson and Groseilliers were successful in having the HBC receive much capital from the City of London in order to fund its operations.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|pages=173-174}} In 1672, Radisson married Mary Kirke, the daughter of Sir John Kirke, one of the City investors in the HBC.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|page=175}}

As anti-French and anti-Catholic sentiment increased in England following discontent expressed in events such as the [[Bawdy House Riots of 1668]], both Prince Rupert and Sir John decreased their support for the men. Although Radisson's reasons for doing so are not fully clear, he left London in 1675 with Grosseiliers to reenter the service of France, leaving his wife behind in England.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|p=218}}