The
Colony of Vancouver Island (officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies), was a
crown colony of
British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with
British Columbia. The united colony joined the
Dominion of Canada through
Confederation in 1871. The colony comprised
Vancouver Island and the
Gulf Islands of the
Strait of Georgia.
Establishment of the colony
Captain
James Cook was the first European to set foot on the Island at
Nootka Sound in 1778, claiming the territory for
Great Britain. Fourteen years later, under the provisions of the
Nootka Convention,
Spain ceded its claims to Vancouver Island and the adjoining islands (including the
Gulf Islands). It was not until 1843, however, that Britain — under the auspices of the
Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) — established a settlement on Vancouver Island. The settlement was in the form of a
fur trading post originally named Fort Albert (afterward
Fort Victoria). The fort was located at the
Songhees settlement of Camosack (Camosun), 200 metres northwest of the present-day
Empress Hotel on Victoria's Inner Harbour. The fort was originally known as Fort Camosun.
With the signing of the
Treaty of Washington in 1846, the HBC determined that its trapping rights in the
Oregon Territory were tenuous. Thus in 1849, it moved its western headquarters from
Fort Vancouver on the
Columbia River (present day
Vancouver, Washington) to Fort Victoria. Fort Vancouver's
Chief Factor,
James......
Read More