|
History
and Heritage Tour Operators in British Columbia
The modern history of British Columbia begins with the
First Nations people who have lived and flourished on
the lush natural resources of these lands for over ten
thousand years, since some time after the end of the
last Ice Age.
There
are three prominent First Nations groups of the Pacific
Northwest who have divided the land between themselves
for thousands of years: the Nootka, the Coast
Salish, and the Kwak'wala Speaking Peoples.
The rich land and marine resources enabled them to develop
complex societies and the intricate aboriginal art forms
that are now internationally acclaimed. To the east,
in the region now known as the British Columbia Rockies,
the Kootenay were the original keepers of the
land, having fought fiercely for possession of the precious
hot springs found in these mountains. The Carrier
nation roamed the interior valleys, the Tsimshians
ranged the northern coast, and the Tlingits occupied
southern Alaska and northern British Columbia. The Sekani
and Beaver occupied the eastern region of the
north while the Haida lived on the Queen Charlotte
Islands.
As recently as 220 years ago the northwest coast of
North America was one of the least explored areas in
the world. The geography of the land presented many
formidable natural barriers to European explorers. To
the east the soaring Rocky Mountains blocked the way,
and the huge Pacific Ocean separated distant land masses
off the west coast. The desire to explore and discover
new land and natural resources prevailed in the second
half of the 18th century, with expeditions mounted by
the Russians, American, Spanish and British explorers
and traders.
The
peaceful existence of the aboriginal people was to change
soon after the first contact by Europeans in 1778, when
Captain James Cook set foot on Nootka Island
on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. The Spanish
later arrived and set up a base at Nootka under the
command of Don Juan Fransisco de la Bodega y Quadra,
who had claimed the coast of Alaska for Spain. In 1792,
Captain George Vancouver, with his ships Discovery
and Chatham, arrived at Nootka Sound to take
regain control under the terms of the Nootka Convention.
Both explorers made the trip to Tahsis to resolve years
of Spanish/English rivalry that had played out on this
Island, and commenced working together at the task of
mapping and exploring the coast. A Treaty in
1793 gave the two countries joint ownership of Nootka,
but it was not long after the signing that Spain's dominance
in North America began to wane. The last Spanish ship
was ordered out of the area in 1795, marking the end
of the Spanish influence In British Columbia.
Southwestern
British Columbia's history centres around the discovery
of the mighty Fraser River. Ironically, the early
European explorers roaming the coast missed the mouth
of the Fraser River due to the dense fog. The Fraser
was discovered in 1791 by Spaniard Jose Maria Narvaez,
a pilot in the Spanish Navy.
Adventurous explorers and fur traders of the Northwest
Company were heading west across the Rockies. Michael
Phillips was the first white man to blaze a trail across
the Canadian Rockies from west to east through an unexplored
pass, although routes were long known by the First Nations
people.
The Peace River, the only British Columbia River that
drains into the Arctic Ocean, was navigated by explorer
Alexander Mackenzie in 1793. Mackenzie was the
first European to navigate the Peace River, which was
named for a treaty between the Cree and Beaver First
nations in 1790. In the Dean Channel near Bella Coola
on the west coast, you can still see the rock where
he inscribed Alexander Mackenzie from Canada by land
22nd July 1793.
In
1794 the first white settlement in British Columbia
was established at what is now Fort St, John. In 1805,
the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) opened their first
trading post in the region at Hudson's Hope in the north.
In 1808, when Simon Fraser visited the communities along
the mouth of the Fraser River, he thought he had found
the Columbia River. After Simon Fraser came the equally
famous explorer David Thompson, who followed
the Columbia River through British Columbia, into Washington
and on to its mouth at Astoria, Oregon. The names of
these two explorers are indelibly printed in the history
of British Columbia, adorning hotels, rivers and street
signs. The two major fur trading companies, the Hudson's
Bay Company and the North West Company amalgamated under
the HBC in 1821.
The Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Victoria in 1843,
and the colony of Vancouver Island was established in
1849 when the entire island was leased to the HBC. In
1858, over 20,000 determined prospectors (many from
California, where the gold rush of 1849 had petered
out) came from the HBC stockade of Fort Victoria and
up the Fraser River in search of recently discovered
gold on the Fraser River. Soon, instant towns
sprang up and grew to become flourishing boomtowns.
The legacy of these prospectors can be found in the
many Ghost Towns that dot the Interior today.
In
response to the frenzied discovery and mining of gold,
the British Government quickly created the mainland
colony of British Columbia in 1858. Governor James Douglas,
chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and governor
of Vancouver Island, became the new governor of British
Columbia. In 1866 the colony of Vancouver Island was
combined with the colony of British Columbia, with Victoria
becoming the provincial capital of British Columbia
on April 2 1868. In 1871, with the promise of completing
the Canadian Pacific Railway by 1885, British Columbia
was lead into confederation, rather than join the United
States to the south, with Victoria as the seat of Government.
Gold discoveries continued, with gold being found in
the Peace River in 1861. The Cariboo Wagon Road
was constructed from the town of Yale to the boomtown
of Barkerville, which in in its heyday was the largest
city west of Chicago and north of San Fransisco. Completed
in 1865, the Cariboo Wagon Road opened up the British
Columbia Interior, with mule trains and stagecoaches
plying the route, and roadhouses and boomtowns dotting
the roadside. Gold was discovered further north, placing
Dawson Creek on the brink of the huge Klondike Gold
Rush of 1898.
The
mining industry, the railway, and the geology of the
land have all contributed to the history and development
of British Columbia. The rise and fall of many settlements
can be attributed to the route of the railway, while
natural features, such as the abundance of hot springs
in the BC Rockies, have been responsible for the eventual
growth of resort towns.
The
fur and salmon trade brought great prosperity to the
First Nations people, whose society was organized around
wealth, possessions and potlatches. The HBC generally
treated the natives fairly, and their communities thrived.
However, the commerce caused the indigenous people to
abandon their traditional homesites in favour of settlements
closer to the forts for improved trading and protection.
The settlers introduced muskets, alcohol and smallpox,
all of which had a devastating effect on the native
people. Christian missionaries arrived and set about
banning the natives' traditional potlatches and suppressing
their languages and culture. Colonization and land ownership
conflicts soon followed, continuing to this day.
|
Web
Design by Sage
Internet Solutions.
