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The continental drift of the Pacific Ocean plate towards the North American continent created the wrinkles on the west coast called mountains. In fact, over three quarters of BC lies over 1,000 metres above sea level. There are actually three ranges of mountains in the West: from the coast moving east: the Coast Mountains, the Columbia Mountains (which includes the Purcell, Selkirk, and Monashee Range, famed for their deep
powder heli-skiing), and finally the Rocky Mountains along the border with Alberta.
BC's highest mountain, 4,663 metre (15,388 feet) Fairweather Mountain, is in the northwest corner of the province, just south of the Alaskan border. The Rockies' highest mountain, Mount Robson (3,954 metres, on BC's eastern edge, close to Jasper, Alberta, is the source of the Fraser River. The Fraser is Canada's third longest river, which ends up in the Pacific Ocean at Victoria. The Rockies’ largest glacier, the Columbia Icefield (over a mile thick in places, straddling the Albert/BC border) is the source of the Columbia River, which winds its way through British Columbia, and reaches the Pacific at Portland Oregon.
Vancouver Island--and the Gulf Islands--are also mountains, just with their bases under the ocean. Vancouver Island is the largest North American island in the Pacific Ocean. There are 6,500 islands off the BC coast, with a total coastline stretching 27,000 kilometres.
The west side of the mountains that make up the spine of Vancouver Island create a rugged rainforest atmosphere unique on this continent. The east slope of the mountains have gentle slopes down to the Straits.
The last ice age, which ended 10,000 years ago, created a land bridge between Asia and North America. This enabled early homo sapiens to walk to this continent many years before whites came over from Europe by boat. Over the years, these Natives dispersed across both North and South America.
The Indians that settled around Victoria come from the Haida peoples, whose society centred around the 150 islands in the Queen Charlotte group. The sea and forests provided an abundance of both food and building materials, and enabled them to develop a sophisticated culture including a system of trade. There are currently over 90,000 Natives in BC with 11 distinct linguistic groups. There are 197 bands living on 350 reservations, represented by 33 tribal councils.
In 1778 James Cook, the famous British captain, first landed at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound on the western side of
Vancouver Island. The arrival of the white man was followed shortly by the scourge of new diseases like smallpox, tuberculosis, and venereal diseases, which decimated the native populations. In 1790 the Spaniard Manuel Quimper, sailing on the sloop Princesa Real, sailed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the southern end of
Vancouver Island, landing just west of Victoria. The following year, a pilot in the Spanish Navy, Jose Maria Narvez, discovered the mouth of the Fraser River. Fourteen years after sailing here under Captain Cook, Captain George
Vancouver (Victoria is named to honour Queen Victoria) returned to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1792, and spent the next two years exploring the area with the aim of finding the western end of the elusive "Northwest Passage", which would have helped British traders to travel more quickly from England to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie, working for the fur-trading Northwest Company, managed to reach the Pacific from the eastern side of the Rockies. He first traveled up the Peace River and then down 400 kilometres
of the Fraser River, portaging, and used the lower stretch of the Bella Coola River arriving about halfway between Victoria and the southern tip of Alaska. In 1808, Simon Fraser, also with the North West Company, navigated 35 days to the Pacific all the way down the river since named after him, passing through many uncharted rapids. David Thompson, again with the NorthWest Company, managed to navigate the entire length of the Columbia River. Fur trading posts were established along all of these rivers and began a period of white settlement in the interior of
the mainland which was known as New Caledonia before 1858 when it became
part of "British Columbia". When the North West and Hudson's Bay companies merged in 1821, the province already had significant agricultural interests centred around the forts, supplying the travelers, traders and the Royal Navy.
In 1842 HBC Factor James Douglas, on board the Cadboro, surveys Sooke, Becher Bay, Metchosin, Esquimalt and Victoria for a site for a Hudson’s Bay Company depot. The next year, the Beaver arrives in Victoria harbour, and the construction of Fort Camosack begins, but is renamed Fort Victoria in December. The natives in the area are convinced to come under the protection of the Fort. In 1844 the Fort is attacked by a Cowichan raiding party, but without serious consequence.
In 1845, the Americans push for annexation of the Hudson’s Bay lands on the West Coast, under the slogan "54-40 or Fight". The next year, the Treaty of Washington establishes the international boundary at the 49th Parallel, and down the middle of the Juan de Fuca Strait. The Royal Navy settles into Esquimalt Bay.
In 1849 the settlement around Okanagan officially became a British Colony, the same year as the California Gold Rush. Fort Victoria becomes the HBC’s western headquarters. In 1850 Robert Blanshard sails over to become the first governor of Vancouver Island, and is later superseded by James Douglas. Douglas begins buying native land for the Crown under "treaties" with the natives in 1852. In 1856, Vancouver Island’s first legislature meets, with HBC doctor J.S. Helmcken as speaker.
In 1858, gold was discovered in the lower Fraser River, bringing more than 25,000 prospectors (including many who gave up after the California Gold Rush of '49) who managed to find over $500,000 in gold. Those diggings were then left to the harder working Chinese in 1859. Gold in the Caribou attracted many to that area, but was too deep and expensive to recover. In 1865 more gold was found on the Columbia River's Big Bend, near Revelstoke, but this gold rush fizzled out in a year.
In 1859, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading monopoly on Vancouver Island was rescinded, and by 1865, Fort
Victoria was torn down. Unfortunately in 1862 a smallpox epidemic wipes out one-third of the settlement’s population. By 1864, the first version of the legislative buildings was completed.
By 1866, the BC and the Vancouver Island.colonies were united, but an economy based on just fur trading and mining was not stable enough to grow a colony. In 1871, four years after Canada was given its independence by Britain, BC joined Canadian confederation. The BC provincial government began encouraging the agriculture and forestry industries, to begin economic diversification.
To entice it to join Canada, BC was promised a railroad linking it to the eastern part of the country. While one crew was building from the east, across the Prairies and then through the Roger's Pass. Another crew was laying track from the West, up the Fraser River canyon and into the Thompson River valley. On November 7, 1885 the Canadian Pacific Railway set the last spike in its construction at Craigellachie, just east of Shushwap Lake. The first trans-continental railway train arrived in Port Moody on July 4, 1886. The following year, the railway was extended the last 20 kilometres into Vancouver. Since then, BC has shipped much of its natural resources east to the rest of Canada, and become the country’s gateway to the Pacific nations.
Even before the mainland line is connected, the 120 kilometre long Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway is completed in 1884. In 1890, Victoria becomes the thirds city in Canada to get an electric streetcar line. (they last until 1948). In 1894 the Victoria-Sidney railway line opens to connect the Saanich Peninsula.
From the turn of the 20th century, Victoria began to mature as a city. 1897 gave Victoria the new BC parliament buildings and a boost from the Yukon gold rush. A few years later, in 1908, the Empress Hotel was opened on the Inner Harbour. In 1928, Lansdowne Field is opened as BC’s first licensed airport.
The war brought a boom to Victoria’s naval station, in particular its drydocks which refitted the Queen Elizabeth as a troopship in 1942. After the war, BC’s population boomed from the new immigrants coming from war-torn Europe, and so did Victoria’s. In 1960 BC Ferry Service began ferry service to Vancouver Island (taking over a long privately-run service).
Victoria is on the lee (downwind) side of Vancouver Island, providing both wide deep harbors and a sheltered location, which led to its adoption as the chief Pacific base for the Canadian Navy (at Esquimalt).
Victoria has grown over the years, with heavy recent immigration from Asia and India, and the metro area has over 330,000 people. Many Canadians have moved here from other parts of the country because of its mild climate and lush, green vegetation. The year-round moderate climate attracts both the young recreation-minded and many of Canada's retired population.
The recent "Asian Flu" has reduced Asian economic prosperity, reducing its imports of BC’s goods and resources, the income levels of British Columbia's visitors, as well as reducing their ability to emigrate to BC.
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