The Origins of British Columbia

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The Origins of British Columbia
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First Nations in BC

• Humans have inhabited what is today British
  Columbia for at least 11,500 years.
• The Pacific Northwest had the greatest
  pre-contact population density in North America
  (outside of California) and almost half of the
  aboriginal population of present day Canada.
• This was thanks to the abundance of natural
  resources, such as salmon and cedar.
• Estimated pre-contact population 80 000
• BC is home to over thirty aboriginal languages.

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The Spanish

• In 1774, Juan Perez was the first European to
  reach the BC coast.
• His mission was to claim the coast for Spain, but
  he had to return early, due to lack of
  provisions.
• He traded with Nuu-chah-nulth on Vancouver
  Island, but did not land.
• In 1775, Juan de la Bodega y Quadra arrived,
  sailing as far north as Sitka, Alaska.
• He landed several times, claiming the territory
  for the Spanish crown.

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James Cook

• In 1778, James Cook landed at Nootka Sound,
  searching for the Northwest Passage.
• He traded for sea otter pelts with the
  Nuu-chah-nulth, which would later become a
  profitable trade.

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British and Spanish Competition

• In 1791, Spanish captain Jose Maria Narvaez
  explored the Straight of Georgia.
• In 1792, Dionisio Alcala Galiano and George
  Vancouver both made separate expeditions to
  present-day Vancouver.
• They met in the Burrard Inlet and agreed to work
  together to chart the Straight of Georgia.
• In 1794, Spain renounced its claim to the
  territory north of California.

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British Overland Exploration

• In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie became the first
  European to reach the Pacific Northwest overland,
  with the help of First Nations guides and French
  voyageurs.
• He reached the coast near Bella Coola, the
  territory of the Heiltsuk nation.
• His travel companion, John Finlay, established a
  settlement at Fort St. John.

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American Exploration

• In 1805, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
  reached the Pacific Ocean, claiming the Oregon
  Territory for the US.
• They were accompanied by a Shoshone interpreter
  named Sacagawea, and her Quebecois husband
  Toussaint Charbonneau.

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Continued British Exploration

• 1808 Simon Fraser and his crew reached the mouth
  of the Fraser River at Musqueam.
• In 1811, David Thompson explored the Columbia
  River.
• Three month before he reached its mouth, the
  American Fur Trade Company of John Jacob Astor
  had founded Fort Astoria, arriving by sea.

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Oregon Territory

• The staff at Fort Astoria sold the fort to the
  NWC within a year, who renamed it Fort George.
• After the HBC and NWC merged, the HBC established
  Fort Vancouver in 1824 as the new regional
  headquarters.
• The district south of the Thompson River was
  called the Columbia District, and the district to
  the north New Caledonia.

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The Columbia District

• The treaty of 1818 between Britain and the United
  States gave each country open access to the
  Oregon Territory.
• Since the local First Nations were not interested
  in working as hunters and trappers, the HBC
  mainly employed Iroquois, Ojibwe, Scots, Métis
  and French-Canadians, as well as native
  Hawaiians, known as Kanakas.
• Supplies were brought to Fort Vancouver once a
  year from York Factory, along the York Express.

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The York Express
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John McLoughlin

• John McLoughlin was born in Rivière-du-Loup,
  Québec, of Irish and French-Canadian ancestry.
• Simon Fraser was his mothers brother.
• He was a trader for the NWC, and stood trial for
  the murder of Robert Semple at Seven Oaks (he was
  found not guilty).
• He was involved in the merger negotiations
  between the HBC and NWC.
• In 1824, he was appointed Chief Factor at Fort
  Vancouver.

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The Oregon Trail

• American settlers began arriving in large numbers
  in the early 1840s, challenging HBC control of
  the territory.
• They settled mainly in the Willamette Valley and
  Puget Sound.
• The HBC had previously discouraged settlement,
  because it would conflict with the fur trade.

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54-40 or Fight!

• John McLoughlin helped new American arrivals with
  money and supplies, encouraging them to settle
  south of the Columbia River.
• By 1843, American settlers had established their
  own provisional government.
• In the 1844 US presidential election, James Polk
  campaigned on behalf of US annexation of the
  Oregon Territory, as part of the US Manifest
  Destiny.
• He claimed the area as far north as 5440' north,
  the boundary with Russian Alaska.

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1846 Oregon Treaty

• The US and Britain agreed to establish the 49th
  parallel as the border.
• The HBC headquarters shifted to Fort Victoria,
  which had been established in 1843.

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The Colony of Vancouver Island

• In 1848, the same year that Oregon became a
  state, Britain created a crown colony on
  Vancouver Island.
• The HBC maintained its trading monopoly.
• The first governor was James Douglas.

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James Douglas

• James Douglas was born in Guyana to a Scottish
  father and a Barbadian mother of part African
  ancestry.
• He joined the fur trade at the age of sixteen, as
  part of the NWC.
• He was married to a Métis woman named Amelia
  Connolly, the daughter of the Chief Factor of New
  Caledonia and his Cree wife.

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The Douglas Treaties

• The Royal Proclamation of 1763 states that the
  crown must negotiate and sign treaties with
  indigenous people before land can be given to a
  colony.
• Between 1850-54, Douglas made 14 land purchases
  with members of the Esquimalt, Songhees, Saanich,
  Sooke, Nanaimo and Kwakiult nations.
• The treaties covered 930 km² around Victoria,
  Saanich, Sooke, Nanaimo and Port Hardy.
• First Nations kept their villages and fields, and
  the right to hunt and fish on surrendered land.
• In 1855, the colony had 774 settlers and 30,000
  First Nations.

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Ongoing Land Claims

• Treaty making in BC was ended after the Crown ran
  out of money.
• Only three more treaties would be signed in BC
  Treaty 8 in Northeastern BC in 1899, the Nisgaa
  Agreement in 2000, and a treaty with the
  Tsawwassen First nation in 2007.
• The rest of BC is still subject to unextinguished
  Aboriginal title.
• The treaty process, involving 60 First Nations,
  has been going on since 1993.