| 2.5B BP | | First Ice Age. Huronian. |
| 40M BP | | Present Ice Age begins in Antarctic and affecting North America by three million years Before Present. Four major advances: Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoian and Wisconsinan. |
| 30M BP | | Rockies begin to rise. |
| 12,000 BP | | Begins the retreat of the Wisconsinan ice sheet from southern Canada. |
| 1519 | | Hernando ‘Hernán’ Cortéz returned horses to North America near what is today Vera Cruz, Mexico. |
| 1608 | July 3 | Samuel de Champlain et al officially found the settlement of Québec. |
| 1610 | | Henry Hudson sails the Discovery into what is now the Canadian bay named after him. There he overwintered, much to the displeasure of his crews who mutiny’d in the spring and set Hudson and his supporters adrift to perish on the waters of the Bay. |
| 1659 | | Looking for furs, Pierre Ésprit Radisson and Médard Chouart (Sieur Des Groseilliers) explore from the St. Laurence valley to Hudson Bay. |
| 1668 | | Piloted by Médard Chouart, the first English merchant ship, the Nonsuch, sails into Hudson Bay for furs. |
| 1669 | | Piloted by Pierre Radisson, the second English merchant ship, the Wivenhoe, sails into Hudson Bay for furs. |
| 1670 | May 2 | Royal assent granted by Charles II incorporating the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Tradeing into Hudson’s Bay: Pro Pelle Cutem; “for the fleece (we want) the skin.” |
| 1680 | Circa | Spanish settlers forced to leave the Santa Fé area, abandoning some horses. |
| 1682 | | René-Robert Cavelier (Sieur de La Salle) claimed the watershed of the Mississippi for Louis XIV of France. |
| 1690 | | Henry Kelsey of the HBC leaves York Factory, beginning a two-year adventure into the hinterland of North America. Attached himself to an Assiniboine band. |
| 1725 | circa | The Ktunaxa and Shoshoni peoples intoduce the Horse to the Niitsi-tapi—Blackfoot—nations. |
| 1730 | circa | Until circa 1750 the “Cluny Site” on what is now Indian Reserve No. 148 on the Bow River east of Calgary, Alberta, occupied by maize growers. |
| 1743 | | Louis-Joseph Gautier, son of Pierre Gauthier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérandrye, sees the Rocky Mountains (likely in what is now Wyoming, US of A.) |
| 1754 | June 26 | Anthony Henday departs York Factory on a venture of exploration onto the Plains. |
| 1754 | Oct 15 | Anthony Henday encounters Blackfoot on the Prairies south of Battle River. |
| 1755 | June 23 | Henday returns to York Factory. |
| 1759 | Sep. 13 | Battle of the Plains of Abraham. |
| 1759 | Sep. 18 | Ville de Québec surrenders to Wolfe’s forces. |
| 1760s | | Small-pox savages the Peoples of North America west of the Rockies. |
| 1760 | Oct. 25 | George II of England dies. |
| 1763 | Feb. 7 | Louis XV signs the draft of the Treaty of Paris, surrendering all French claim to North American territories, save for the islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon off the inside coast of Newfoundland. |
| 1763 | Feb. 10 | Ambassadors and plenipotentiaries representing the kings of Great Britain, of France and of Spain, and from various other principalities and dukedoms in Europe signed the Treaty of Paris officially ending the Seven Years War. |
| 1763 | Oct. 7 | Royal Proclimation of George III Rex of Great Britain declares that “...[Aboriginals] should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us ...,” at the same time that it assumes that all lands in British territories belong to the Crown. |
| 1769 | | Louis XV of France transfers “Louisiana” to Carlos III of Spain. |
| 1770 | Apr. 30 | David Thompson born in London. |
| 1771 | July 18 | Samuel Hearne reached Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Coppermine River. |
| 1772 | Autumn | The HBC sends Matthew Cocking to overwinter with the Niitsitapi. |
| 1774 | | Samuel Hearne established Cumberland House, first Hudson’s Bay Company post inland. |
| 1778 | | Peter Pond, an independent trader from New England trespassing in Rupert’s Land, discovers the Methye Portage between the Arctic and the Hudson Bay watersheds in what is now Saskatchewan. |
| 1781/2 | Winter | Smallpox ravages Plains Indians. Half the Blackfoot—Niitsitapi—die. |
| 1781 | | Isaac Batts, sent by the HBC to overwinter with the Blackfoot: dies in their company. |
| 1783 | | After several years of trying, the “peddlers” of Montreal establish the North West Company of Merchants from Canada. |
| 1784 | | Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island, now Alaska: Grigorii Shelikhov establishes first permanent Russian outpost in the north-eastern Pacific. |
| 1785 | | HBC established South Branch House on the South Saskatchewan River near today’s St. Louis, Saskatchewan. |
| 1787 | | Amalgamation of North West Company and Gregory, McLeod and Company. |
| 1787 | | Phillip Turnor of the HBC, and apprentice David Thompson, walk the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies from the North Saskatchewan River to the Bow River. |
| 1789 | July 14 | Alexander Mackenzie reaches Arctic Ocean at the mouth of Mackenzie River. |
| 1790 | | McTavish, Frobisher and Company gain control of North West Company. |
| 1792 | | HBC establishes Buckingham House on the North Saskatchewan River near the mouth of the Vermilion. |
| 1792 | December | Having travelled down the Eastern Slopes from the North Saskatchewan River, Peter Fidler of the HBC meets Ktunaxa hunters in the Livingstone Gap on the Oldman River in southern Alberta. |
| 1793 | July 22 | Alexander Mackenzie of the North West Company arrives at salt water in Dean Channel of Bentinck Arm on the Pacific Coast. |
| 1794 | | William Tomison of the Hudson’s Bay Company establishes Fort Edmonton in Rupert’s Land. |
| 1794 | Nov. 19 | Jay’s Treaty establishes the Boundary from Lake Superior to the northwest corner of Lake o’ the Woods, then due north or south to the 49º of parallel and west or east to the valley of the Mississippi. |
| 1795 | Autumn | HBC builds Fort Edmonton. |
| 1795 | October | NWC builds Fort Augustus on the North Saskatchewan River near what is now Edmonton, AB. |
| 1796 | Feb. 29 | Jay’s Treaty proclaimed. Defines boundary between Loyalist and rebel territories. |
| 1797 | May 23 | David Thompson resigns from the Hudson’s Bay Coy. and joins the North West Company. |
| 1798 | | XY Company founded. |
| 1798 | Autumn | In the Rocky Mountain foothills on the North Saskatchewan River, Jno. McDonald of Garth establishes Rocky Mountain House for North West Company. Jas. Curtis Bird establishes Hudson’s Bay Company’s Acton House nearby. |
| 1799 | June 10 | David Thompson weds Charlotte Small. |
| 1799 | Dec. | St. Petersburg, Russia: Russian-American Company founded. |
| 1800 | circa | Begins a savage 10-year small-pox epidemic among the Native Peoples of North America west of the Rockies. Bands destroyed, social fabric wrent, starvation. |
| 1800 | | Alexander Mackenzie joins XY Company which now also known as Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company. |
| 1800 | | Rupert’s Land: William Tomison and Peter Fidler establish Chesterfield House for the Hudson’s Bay Coy. on the South Saskatchewan River near the mouth of the Red Deer. |
| 1800 | | The North West Company instructs David Thompson to travel to cross the Rockies and claim the Pacific watershed for the Company. Thompson sends Le Blanc and Legacè to winter with the Ktunaxa. Did not return. |
| 1800 | Oct. 1 | The Secret Treaty of Ildefonso returns “Louisiana” to the portfolio of France. |
| 1801 | | Duncan McGillivray of the North West Company is supposed to have crossed the Rockies via the White Man’s Pass and down Kootenay River to Kootenay Lake. |
| 1801 | Jan. 30 | Pierre-Jean de Smet born at Termonde (Dendermonde), Belgium. |
| 1803 | | The Canada Jurisdiction Act permits courts in Lower Canada (and from 1821, Upper Canada) to try cases originating in the fur districts. |
| 1803 | | The North West Company moves its field headquarters from Grand Portage to Fort William. |
| 1803 | Apr. 30 | Louisiana Purchase. U.S.A. pays France $15,000,000 for 800,000 sq. miles of central North America (4¢/acre). |
| 1803 | Aug. 11 | Westminster passes Canada Jurisdiction Act in attempt to quell hostilities between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company. |
| 1803 | Dec. 20 | Louisiana Purchase officially takes effect. |
| 1804 | | Sitka Island, now Alaska: The Russian-American Company establishes headquarters at New Archangel. |
| 1804 | May 14 | In their keelboat, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery depart their winter camp on the eastern shore of the Mississippi, cross the River and head up the Missouri. |
| 1804 | July 6 | Simon McTavish of North West Company dies. |
| 1804 | Nov. 5 | XY Company re-absorbed into the North West Company. |
| 1805 | Nov. 14 | Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia River. Build Ft. Clatsop to o’erwinter. |
| 1806 | June | Reuban Fields of Meriwether Lewis’s party killed a Piikani warrior near Maria’s Pass. |
| 1807 | | John Palliser born.(1887) |
| 1807 | May 10 | David Thompson and family and assistants depart Rocky Mountain House to cross the Great Divide. |
| 1807 | June 30 | Thompson expedition reaches the Columbia River after crossing the Rockies westward via the Howse Pass. |
| 1807 | Aug. 15 | Thompson party completes Kootenae House on Canterbury Point on Lake Windermere in the Rocky Mountain Trench. |
| 1807 | Oct. 27 | Stockade around Kootenae House completed. |
| 1808 | Spring | David Thompson, et al, explore southward down the Rocky Mountain Trench. |
| 1808 | Apr. 8 | Duncan McGillivray, chief partner of the North West Company, dies in Montréal. |
| 1808 | May 14 | The Thompson party reaches “Flat Bow Lake” (Kootenay Lake). |
| 1808 | Late May | David Thompson and crew work their way up “McDonald’s” (Moyie) River. |
| 1808 | July 2 | Simon Fraser of the North West Company reaches salt water at the mouth of the Fraser River. |
| 1808 | July 22 | David Thompson reaches Rainy River House on the Saskatchewan River. Returns to Kootenai House that autumn. |
| 1808 | November | David Thompson sends Finan McDonald down the Kootenay River to establish Kootenai Falls House near the Jennings Canyon, now lost beneath Koocanusa Lake. |
| 1809 | Sep. 10 | David Thompson of the NWC locates the site of Kullyspell House in the eastern shores of Pend d’Oreille Lake. |
| 1909 | November | David Tompson establishes “Saleesh” House at Thompson Falls on the Clark Fork River. |
| 1810 | | Jaco Findlay builds Spokane House on the Spokane River to trade with the Se’lish. |
| 1810 | | W.P. Hunt leading a Pacific Fur Company expedition overland to the mouth of the Columbia River. |
| 1810 | July | The Se’lish involve Nor’Westers Finan McDonald and Baptiste Buché in a skirmish with the Piikani who thereafter regard all Whites as foes. |
| 1810 | Winter | The Piikani force David Thompson to winter at Rocky Mountain House rather than returning to New Caledonia. |
| 1811 | Mar. 6 | Lord Selkirk, Hudson’s Bay Coy. stock holder, pays the Coy. 10 shillings for 74 million acres of land in Red River valley. |
| 1811 | Mar. 22 | Pacific Fur Company’s ship Tonquin arrives at mouth of Columbia River where company employees immediately build Fort Astoria. |
| 1811 | June 12 | Hudson’s Bay Company transfers Red River lands to Lord Selkirk. |
| 1811 | July 15 | David Thompson reached mouth of the Columbia to find the PFC Fort Astoria and learn that the PFC had already claimed the region. |
| 1811 | July 26 | First shipload of Selkirk settlers departs the United Kingdom. |
| 1811 | Sep. 6 | Up-river bound, David Thompson and his voyageurs of the North West Company cross today’s “Tin-Cup Rapids” at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers. |
| 1811 | Sep. 16 | David Stuart of the Pacific Fur Company, having just established Fort Okanagan at the confluence of the Okanagan River with the Columbia, heads up the former with Montigny and makes his way to the Thompson River to trade over the winter. |
| 1812 | | David Thompson leaves the Pacific watershed to return no more. Kootenai House abandoned. |
| 1812 | Mar. 22 | Stuart and Montigny return to Fort Okanagan and thence to Fort Astoria. |
| 1812 | Spring | Alexander Ross heads up Stuart and Montigny’s trail to trade on the Thompson at “Cumcloups.” |
| 1812 | June 18 | United States declares war on Great Britain. |
| 1812 | Aug. 30 | First Selkirk settlers reach Red River under Governor Miles Macdonell. |
| 1813 | | Alexander Ross, manager of the Pacific Fur Company’s Fort Okanagan, supposedly wanders up the Similkameen, the first Caucasian to do so. |
| 1813 | | North West Company established Jasper House. |
| 1813 | Oct. 16 | The Pacific Fur Company employees sell Ft. Astoria to the North West Company. |
| 1813 | Nov. 30 | Captain Black in H.M.S. Racoon seizes Fort Astoria, despite the events of the 16th. |
| 1813 | Dec. 12 | Captain Black renames Fort Astoria as Fort George. |
| 1814 | May | Alexander Henry, factor of North West Company’s Rocky Mountain House, drowns near Fort George (Astoria). |
| 1814 | Dec. 24 | Treaty of Ghent concluded. Ends War of 1812. Provides for the return of territorial possessions seized during hostility and iterates Jay’s Treaty demarkation of the Boundary between the United States and British North America as far west as the northwest corner of Lake of the Woods. |
| 1815 | | The North West Company mauls Red River Colony: Macdonell surrenders. |
| 1815 | Jan. 11 | John Alexander Macdonald born in Glasgow, Scotland. |
| 1815 | Oct. 2 | Congregation of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) founded by Charles-Joseph-Eugene de Mazenod at Aix-en-Provence, France |
| 1816 | June 19 | Massacre of Seven Oaks. Twenty-one settlers killed by a North West Company band led by Cuthbert Grant. |
| 1816 | Aug. 12 | Lord Selkirk and mercenaries seize Fort William. |
| 1817 | | Richard Rush, Acting Secretary of State of the United States, and Charles Bagot, British minister in Washington, exchange signed notes agreeing to extend the Boundary between American British territories on North America from the northwest corner of the Lake of the Woods directly north or south to the 49th parallel and west to the Great Divide. “Oregon,” west of the Rockies and lying between 42º and 54º40'N, to be “joint occupancy.” Fort George/Astoria to be surrendered to American interests upon demand. |
| 1817 | | David Thompson completes his map of the West. |
| 1817 | Sep. 6 | Alexander Tilloch Galt born in London, England. |
| 1818 | | J.J Astor and Son organized to take over operation of the American Fur Company. |
| 1818 | Apr. 28 | U.S. senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Convention of 1817, making it a lawful treaty of the United States. |
| 1818 | Oct. 2 | Great Britain ratifies the Convention of 1817. |
| 1818 | Oct. 6 | Fort George/Astoria nominally returned to American interests. |
| 1818 | Oct. 16 | Former American possessions in the Pacific North-west restored to U.S. by provisions in the Treaty of Ghent. |
| 1819 | | Financial panic of 1819. Five year long recession begins in US. |
| 1819 | | Probably whooping cough ravages the Native populations of the Plains. |
| 1819 | | François Morigeau, ex-employee of David Thompson, settles at what is now Canal Flats, B.C. |
| 1820 | Jan. 29 | George III of England dies. |
| 1821 | | Missouri Fur Company re-organized and western posts re-established. |
| 1821 | Mar. 26 | The “Coalition,” the “Deed Poll,” of Hudson’s Bay Coy. & North West Company. Negotiated by Edwd. “Bear” Ellice of the Hudson’s Bay Company and Simon McGillivray of the North West Company. |
| 1821 | July 2 | Westminster grants Hudson’s Bay Coy. a 21 year monopoly over fur trade in British North America. |
| 1821 | Sep.4 | Ukase signed by Alexander I of All the Russias declares Russian zone of exclusivity on the west coast of North America from Lat. 51ºN to the Bering Sea. |
| 1822 | | Hudson’s Bay Company builds Lower Fort Garry near what is now Winnipeg, Manitoba. |
| 1822 | | HBC sends Donald McKenzie to re-establish Chesterfield House at the mouth of the Red Deer River in what is now Alberta. (First post built there by Peter Fidler in 1800) |
| 1822 | | HBC sends John Edward Harriott et al to explore the Bow River area in what is now Alberta. |
| 1823 | | Missouri Fur Company establishes a post at the mouth of Maria’s River in what is now Montana and draws Niitsitapi trade away from the HBC’s Ft. Edmonton. |
| 1824 | | Hudson’s Bay Company establishes Fort Colvile on the Columbia River near Kettle Falls. named for Andrew Wedderburn Colvile who, with his brothers-in-law John Halkirk and Thomas Douglas (5th Earl of Selkirk, of Red River note), had outbit the principals of the North West Company for the majority of shares i the HBC in the 18-aughts. |
| 1824 | | Hudson’s Bay Company sends Tom McKay to re-establish the old pathway up the Okanagan River from the Columbia and on to Fort Kamloops. This becomes the “Brigade Trail.” |
| 1824 | Aug. 15 | A Sunday. Geo. Simpson departs York Factory on Hudson Bay for a year-long tour to the Columbia Department. |
| 1824 | Autumn | Near Fort Edmonton, Rupert’s Land: Ne:hiyawak slaughter a Niitsi-tapi band of 400. |
| 1825 | | Convention of 1825 between His Britannic Majesty and Russia establishes 54º40'N as the boundary between their respective spheres of influence. Scottish botanist David Douglas supposed by some to have visited Kootenay Lake. Officially denied. |
| 1825 | Mar. 19 | Saturday. Governor George Simpson establishes Fort Vancouver as headquarters of the Columbia Department. |
| 1826 | | William Williams retires as governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Southern Department and George Simpson, governor of the Northern Territory, takes over. |
| 1826 | | Fort Garry washed away. |
| 1826 | | Near Fort Carlton, Rupert’s Land: Niitsi-tapi kill nine Ne:hiyawak. |
| 1826 | | A company of Hudson’s Bay Coy. voyageurs perhaps saw Kootenay Lake. |
| 1827 | Jan. 7 | Sanford Fleming born in Kirkaldy, Scotland. |
| 1827 | | American Fur Co. sends Kenneth McKenzie ito Blackfoot territory to establish trade. |
| 1827 | Aug. 8 | Conclusion of Conference of 1827: confirms the “joint occupancy” of Oregon territory. |
| 1828 | | George Simpson begins a year-long excursion to the New Caledonia/Oregon region of Hudson’s Bay Company’s territory. |
| 1828 | | Kenneth McKenzie established Fort Union up on the Missouri River. |
| 1830 | | George Simpson has Lower Fort Garry constructed twenty miles down the Red from the mouth of the Assiniboine. |
| 1830 | Jan. 6 | James Baker born. |
| 1830 | June 26 | George IV of England dies. |
| 1831 | | Kenneth McKenzie of the American Fur Co. makes a treaty with the Blackfoot on the Missouri. |
| 1831 | Apr. 30 | Father Léon Fouquet, OMI, born in Agentré, Mayenne, France. |
| 1832 | | Hudson’s Bay Company establishes Old Bow Fort near what is now Morley, Alberta. |
| 1832 | | D.D. Mitchell of the American Fur Company establishes Ft. McKenzie at the head of keelboat navigation on the Missouri. |
| 1832 | | Lower Fort Garry (the Stone Fort) completed by Hudson’s Bay Coy. |
| 1832 | July 9 | HBC’s Northern Council resolves to establish a post on the Bow River in Piikani country. |
| 1832 | Autumn | Rupert’s Land: John Rowand establishes “Piegan Post” (“Old Bow Fort”) on the Bow near present-day Cochrane, Alberta. |
| 1832 | Oct. 1 | Daniel Chase Corbin born. |
| 1833 | | Archibald McDonald posted to Fort Colvile as factor (to 1844). |
| 1833 | | HBC agrees to permit American Fur Co. employees to trade with the Niitsi-tapi in southwest Rupert’s Land. |
| 1833 | Nov. 12 | Western North America: The shooting stars of the Leonid Meteor Shower amaze witnesses. |
| 1834 | | Rocky Mountain Fur Company out of business. Hudson’s Bay Company abandons Old Bow Fort. |
| 1834 | | Lord Selkirk’s heirs return the Selkirk Settlement to HBC control. |
| 1834 | | London: John Galt organizes British American Land Company. |
| 1834 | Apr. 19 | County of Kircudbright, Scotland: Gilbert Malcolm Sproat born. |
| 1834 | June 1 | J.J. Astor and Son (William B. Astor) sell the Western Department of their American Fur Company to Pratt, Chouteau & Co. (Pierre Chouteau, Jr.) |
| 1834 | June 30 | The U.S. Congress passes the “an act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes” (Indian Intercourse Act of 1832), prohibiting the delivery of liquor to Natives west of the Mississippi. |
| 1834 | Nov. 30 | Full solar eclipse over what is now south-western Alberta. |
| 1835 | | Upper Fort Garry rebuilt on higher ground at Assiniboine River’s mouth. |
| 1835 | | Governor Geo. Simpson divides the HBC’s North american holdings into four judicial districts and appoints a magistrate for each. |
| 1835 | March | A.T. Galt returns to Canada. Sherbrooke. |
| 1835 | May 2 | Beaver launched onto the River Thames near London. |
| 1935 | Nov. 5 | Edgar Dewdney born in Bideford, Devonshire, England. |
| 1836 | May 4 | Selkirk family sells its Red River lands to Hudson’s Bay Company for £84,000 in the Company’s stock. |
| 1836 | July 21 | Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad runs first train in Canada. |
