European Exploration and Settlement
Juan Perez, a Spanish explorer coming north from Mexico, reached the coast of British Columbia in 1774. Britain's Captain James Cook, in 1778, explored parts of the coast. He landed at Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and began trading with the Indians for furs. When news of this commerce became known, other British traders came to the area. Meanwhile, Spain claimed the territory (1789) and established a settlement at Nootka Sound. Spain and Britain nearly came to war over the region, but the Spanish eventually abandoned their settlement and claims.
While Spain and Britain were disputing the territory, Captain George Vancouver, a British explorer, surveyed the coast, 1792–94. In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie of the fur-trading North West Company was the first European to make the overland trip to the Pacific. Other members of the North West Company explored the interior and established fur-trading posts. The British Columbia mainland (then called New Caledonia) was under the control of the North West Company until 1821, when that company was absorbed by the Hudson's Bay Company.
In 1843 the Hudson's Bay Company built a fort at Victoria, on Vancouver Island. This created a stir in the United States, which claimed all territory as far north as 54º40' latitude. The Treaty of Washington of 1846 (the Oregon Treaty) set the United States–British border at the 49th parallel. In the Georgia Strait, however, the boundary dips around, instead of crossing, Vancouver Island.
During the 1830's and 1840's, the territory grew steadily in population. In 1849 Vancouver Island became a British crown colony. In 1857 gold was discovered along the Fraser River, and the following year a gold rush began. Thousands of prospectors, many from the United States, flooded into the territory. In an effort to keep order and maintain British sovereignty, the mainland was made a crown colony, named British Columbia. The capital was established at New Westminster, and James Douglas, the governor of Vancouver Island, also became governor of the new colony. The San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington, came under joint British-American control in 1859. (They were awarded to the United States by arbitration in 1872.) The discovery of gold in the Cariboo Mountains, in 1860, brought many prospectors and settlers to the mainland colony.
In 1866 the mainland and the separate colony of Vancouver Island were joined into the crown colony of British Columbia. Victoria became the capital in 1863. In 1871 British Columbia became the sixth province of the Dominion of Canada.
