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Victoria and Area History
In the spring of 1778, Captain James Cook became the first white man to set foot on what is now British Columbia, Canada. He landed on the west coast of Vancouver Island, at Nootka Sound, and discovered that First Nations peoples were already living in the rugged yet pristine wilderness of the island. Permanent occupation of the island by European settlers was gradual and resulted from the fur trade companies’ continual movement towards the Pacific coast.
On Southern Vancouver Island, there lived many aboriginal families who referred to themselves by distinct family group names. These First Peoples could be divided into three groups who spoke different dialects of the North Straits Salish or Lekwungaynung language. After the amalgamation of many aboriginal families, members of the three dialect groups became collectively known as the Songhees, the Saanich and the Sooke.
In 1842, James Douglas of the British Hudson’s Bay Company made a detailed examination of Southern Vancouver Island including: Sooke, Beecher Bay, Metchosin, Esquimalt and Victoria Harbours looking for the best site for a new trading post. On March 13, 1843, Douglas anchored off Clover Point in his ship, The Beaver, and the next day selected Victoria, then known as Camosack, as the site for a Hudson’s Bay Company post. The post was eventually named Fort Victoria, after the Queen of England, and quickly grew into a commercial and naval port, the seat of colonial and provincial governments and a modern city with international ties.
Relations between the settlers and the native groups were friendly. James Douglas wrote in his diary:
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Put six men to dig a well, and six others to square building timber. Spoke to the Samose today, and informed them of our intention of building in this place, which appeared to please them very much, and they immediately offered their services in procuring pickets for the establishment, an offer which I gladly accepted, and promised to pay them a blanket for every 40 pickets which they bring. Five days later, more than 1,200 aboriginal people showed up at the site.
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This was the first indication of their numbers.
In order to maintain the British claim north of the 49th parallel, the Hudson’s Bay Company received title to the whole of Vancouver Island by royal grant dated January 13, 1849. One condition was imposed on the grant: that colonization should be undertaken. By midsummer, James Douglas was in residence at Fort Victoria to begin the task with the assistance of his fur trade colleagues. In 1852, the name Victoria was adopted for the townsite that developed around Fort Victoria. Victoria was incorporated as a city on August 2, 1862. Mr. Thomas Harris was elected, by acclamation, as Victoria’s first Mayor, on August 16, 1862. The first City Council meeting was held on August 25, 1862, and was presided over by Mayor Harris.
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