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Our historyCANADA AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE COUNTRY The Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island on the Atlantic, and British Columbia on the Pacific were mainly dependent for their trade upon the United States. The great territory of Ruperts Land, then in the possession of the Hudsons Bay Company, was almost wholly occupied by Indians and wild animals. It had practically no communication with Eastern Canada, and was separated from British Columbia by the impassable Rocky Mountains. This great northern half of the continent of North America was simply unknown and regarded in England as a burthen. All this has been changed by Confederation ; all these isolated provinces, with the exception of Newfoundland, have been united under one central Government. next |