Map: Numbered Treaties of Canada

In 1870, the Dominion Government acquired Rupert’s Land (renamed the Northwest Territories in 1870) from the Hudson’s Bay Company, anxious to expand its control west and to open up the land for European settlement. It became apparent that treaties with the First Nations would have to be made in order to establish the conditions under which the Crown could gain access to the lands they had traditionally occupied. Treaties 1 through 11 were signed between 1871 and 1921.