Fort Edmonton

Fort Edmonton ( formerly Edmonton House ) is now a museum in Edmonton, Canada. From 1795 to 1891 it was a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC ).

1795 built the HBC Fort on the North Saskatchewan River in competition with the nearby Fort Augustus of the North West Company ( NWC ). The area was part of the fur trade monopoly in Rupert's Land of the HBC, but also served to connect to the then Northwest Territories, the monopoly area of the NWC. The trade war escalated 1815-1819 in Pemmican War, after its settlement were both economically and at the end of 1821 were finally forced by the British Kolonialmisisterium, the monopoly donors of both companies to merge. After unification (still under the name of the HBC) Fort Edmonton became the hub of the fur trade in the Canadian West. About the North Saskatchewan River supplies and furs were transported to and from the Hudson Bay and the Fort was the western end of the Carlton Trail, notably the Métis HBC supplied via the with pemmican.

Since the mid 19th century, the fertile soils of the region always attracted more settlers, the area around Fort Edmonton became the center of trade and agriculture and the fur trade came more and more into the background. The fort was abandoned in 1891 and 1915 finally demolished after it was badly damaged by a flood. The settlement around the fort, however, got city rights in 1914 and in 1915 was the capital of the province of Alberta.

In 1969 began the reconstruction of the fort about 5 kilometers upstream from its original location and on the other side of the river. It is now part of the popular tourist Fort Edmonton Park.