Trading Fate: How a Little-known Company Stopped British Columbia from Becoming an American State

This uniquely west-coast take on Canada's origin story focuses on a long-forgotten event that nearly led to British Columbia becoming part of the United States.

Long before a certain American president took to social media to express his desire to make Canada the fifty-first state, the west coast of what is today called British Columbia found itself in the crosshairs of two imperial powers, faced with the very real possibility of being ceded to the United States.

In the summer of 1789, a poli...