CanadaHudson’s Bay Company, founded in 1670, is the oldest continually operated company in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC once functioned as the de facto government in parts of North America before Europe, and later the United States, claimed those territories. Undertaking early exploration, its traders and trappers forged relationships with the Native Americans. With the declining fur trade, they evolved into a mercantile business selling goods to settlers.