In the beginning
It goes without saying that British Columbia (and the rest of North America, for that matter) was not “discovered” by Europeans.
When the first ships arrived on the West Coast—was it Sir Francis Drake, in 1579, or the well-documented expedition of 1774, led by Spanish navigator Juan José Pérez Hernández?—the territory now known as B.C. had been inhabited by aboriginal peoples for thousands of years.
“Celebrity” explorers and traders followed; their names grace cities and landmarks: James Cook, Charles Barclay (and his 17 year-old wife Francis), John Meares, and George Vancouver. By the late-18th century, trade was well-established between Europe, the United states and native peoples.
The stories surrounding this contact are legendary. One of my favourites, White Slaves of the Nootka, recounts the three years John Rodgers Jewitt (May 21, 1783-January 7, 1821) spent as a slave of Nootka chief Maquinna.
It is a cautionary tale, illustrating the foolhardiness of insulting one of the most powerful native leaders on the West Coast. Jewitt was one of two survivors of the trading vessel Boston, whose captain lacked the manners appropriate to addressing a “king”—as Jewitt referred to his captor.
(Collection Northwestern University Library)
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser, and David Thompson of the North West Company pushed westward from the interior, leaving their own extraordinary narratives.
Fort Victoria was established at the southern tip of Vancouver Island in 1843, to protect Hudson’s Bay Company interests, and assert British claims to Vancouver Island and the nearby Gulf Islands.
There was still the small matter of US expansionary interests on British-held territory, a disagreement that led to much gnashing of teeth and saber rattling. Fortuitously, perhaps, both countries had their hands full with other ungracious recipients of their nation-building enterprises. Fearing a repeat of the War of 1812, compromises were made (Damn! We coulda had Oregon!) and the border was established by the Treaty of Washington, in 1846.
Birth of a province
Responding to a flood of American gold-seekers streaming up the Fraser River, the Colony of British Columbia, formerly the realm of the HBC, was created by an Act of the British parliament on August 2, 1858.
Judge Baillie Begbie (the Hanging Judge), the newly-apointed Chief Justice, swore in former Hudson’s Bay Chief Factor James Douglas as the first Governor.
In the spirit of King George III and the Royal Proclamation of 1763, Douglas negotiated 14 treaties between 1851-3 with nations on Vancouver Island.
On July 20, 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province to join Canada.
As settlers flooded into B.C., tribes organized to press for settlement.
In 1872, hundreds of Coast Salish people protested outside the Provincial Land Registry in New Westminster–the capital at the time–demanding restitution.
Nisga’a Chief Mountain led a delegation from the Nass Valley to Victoria in 1881. Six years later, Nisga’a & Tsimshian chiefs paddled their canoes to Victoria to press their claims with Premier W. Smithe, a man not so inclined to diplomacy and treaty-making as his colonial forbear.
“The land all belongs to the Queen [Victoria],” Smithe explained. Besides, how could people who were “little more than wild beasts of the field” even comprehend the idea of land title?
And so, the precedent set by Douglas was abandoned.
Not until April 13, 2000, when Parliament passed the landmark Nisga’a Final Agreement Act, would the Nisga’a regain control of their lands, covering 2,019 square kilometers, and establish their Lisims Government as a legal entity.
First Nations are still represented by over 200 tribes, province-wide. Native land claims inch forward, overseen by the B.C. Treaty Commission.
Together Tomorrow
Some people suggest that British Columbia’s colonial name is an anachronism in this multicultural age (Chinese-Canadians now account for over 10% of the population).
Recently we have seen Haida Gwaii recover its native name from Queen Charlotte Islands (named after wife of George III); last year, the ocean basin containing the Strait of Georgia (after George Vancouver) Puget Sound (after Peter Puget, a lieutenant on Vancouver’s expedition) and the Juan de Fuca Strait (after the Greek pilot who reported seeing the entrance in 1592) was officially recognized as the Salish Sea.
On the first Monday of August, we celebrate this great province together—all 944,735 square kilometres (364,764 square miles) of it. Ever since I first began to explore its nooks and crannies, which are myriad, I have been in love with this wild place.
Adding to last years gallery, I offer a dozen more of my humble attempts to visually document its wonders.
Latest Tweets