Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix paleo- comes from the Ancient Greek adjective: παλαιός , romanized : palaiós , lit. 'old; ancient'. The term Paleo-Indians applies specifically to the lithic period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term Paleolithic .
120-473: The history of British Columbia covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day British Columbia were inhabited for millennia by a number of First Nations . Several European expeditions to the region were undertaken in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After the Oregon boundary dispute between
240-678: A Francisco de Eliza to rebuild the fort . The expedition, composed of three ships, the Concepción , under the command of De Eliza , the San Carlos , under the command of Salvador Fidalgo and the Princesa Real , under the command of Manuel Quimper , sailed in early 1790 from San Blas in Nueva Galicia and arrived at Nootka Sound in April of that year. The expedition had many Catalan volunteers from
360-677: A fort in Friendly Cove , Nootka Sound , which was named Fort San Miguel . This territory was already considered as part of New Spain by the Spanish due to the previous explorations of the region. Upon Martinez's arrival, a number of British ships were seized, including those of Captain Meares. This originated the Nootka Crisis , which almost led to a war between Britain and Spain. Some months later, Manuel Antonio Flórez , Viceroy of New Spain , ordered
480-562: A city of beauty in the wilderness’ and planned his city as an iconic visual metaphor for British dominance, ‘styled and located with the objective of reinforcing the authority of the Crown and of the robe’. Subsequent to the enactment of the Pre-emption Act of 1860, Moody settled the Lower Mainland . He selected the site and founded the new capital, New Westminster . He selected the site due to
600-462: A long groove called a "flute". The spear points would typically be made by chipping a single flake from each side of the point. The point was then tied onto a spear of wood or bone. As the environment changed with the ice age ending around 17–13 Ka BP on short, and around 25–27 Ka BP on the long, many animals migrated overland to take advantage of the new sources of food. Humans following these animals, such as bison, mammoth and mastodon, thus gained
720-537: A much wider geographical distribution, but mostly in the central and southern part of the continent. The haplogroup most commonly associated with Amerindian genetics is Haplogroup Q-M3 . Y-DNA , like ( mtDNA ), differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that the majority of the Y chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis . This allows the historical pattern of mutations to be easily studied. The pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes: first with
840-553: A number of others. A very high degree of linguistic variation occurs in BC; a response to this was the development of a trade jargon, Chinook Jargon . Not a complete language, it was used in trade, governance, and some early writings, for example, hymns. By 1811 John Jacob Astor had founded Astoria, and ten years later the Hudson's Bay Company had established itself on the Columbia. In the meantime,
960-498: A region far different from what actually existed there. During the voyage, De Fuca also noted a "high pinnacle or spired rock", which may have been Fuca Pillar , a tall, almost rectangular, rock on the western shore of Cape Flattery on the northwestern tip of Washington beside the Strait of Juan de Fuca - although De Fuca noted it being on the other side of the strait. Despite Velasco's repeated promises, however, De Fuca never received
1080-580: A result of treaty complications at the end of the War of 1812 , this meant only there was a parallel US fort adjacent to the NWC one, which was the more prosperous of the two. Following the forced merger of the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, Fort Vancouver was established as the new regional headquarters. The arrival of Europeans began to intensify in the mid-19th century, as fur traders entered
1200-605: A ripple before us, except when a fish rose to the surface or broods of wild ducks fluttered away" . Moody designed the first Coat of arms of British Columbia . However, Lord Lytton 'forgot the practicalities of paying for clearing and developing the site and the town’ and the efforts of Moody's Engineers were continuously hampered by insufficient funds, which, together with the continuous opposition of Douglas, 'made it impossible for [Moody's] design to be fulfilled’. Throughout his tenure in British Columbia, Richard Clement Moody
1320-518: A significant number of place names in British Columbia derive from Chinook and early anthropologists sometimes recorded stories using the jargon. At the time, the region was still not under formal colonial authority. Douglas, fearing challenges to the claim of British sovereignty in the region in the face of an influx of some 20,000 Americans, stationed a gunboat at the mouth of the Fraser in order to obtain licence fees from those seeking to head upstream. With
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#17328377116781440-946: A single animal species: the bison (an early cousin of the American bison ). The earliest known of these bison-oriented hunting traditions is the Folsom tradition . Folsom peoples traveled in small family groups for most of the year, returning yearly to the same springs and other favored locations on higher ground. There they would camp for a few days, perhaps erecting a temporary shelter, making and/or repairing some stone tools, or processing some meat, then moving on. Paleo-Indians were not numerous, and population densities were quite low. Paleo-Indians are generally classified by lithic reduction or lithic core "styles" and by regional adaptations. Lithic technology fluted spear points, like other spear points, are collectively called projectile points . The projectiles are constructed from chipped stones that have
1560-489: A variety of flora. Paleo-Indian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient fluted-style spear points, as well as microblades used for butchering and hide processing. Projectile points and hammerstones made from many sources are found traded or moved to new locations. Stone tools were traded and/or left behind from North Dakota and Northwest Territories , to Montana and Wyoming . Trade routes also have been found from
1680-569: Is a theory and some evidence that Sir Francis Drake may have explored the British Columbia Coast in 1579, it is conventionally claimed that it was Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra who completed the first documented voyage, which took place in 1775. In doing so, Quadra reasserted the Spanish claim for the whole of the Pacific coast, first made by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513, who declared
1800-718: Is named after him. It was established at the end of a trail that connected New Westminster with Burrard Inlet to defend New Westminster from potential attack from the US. By 1862, the Cariboo Gold Rush , attracting an additional 5000 miners, was underway, and Douglas hastened construction of the Great North Road (commonly known now as the Cariboo Wagon Road ) up the Fraser Canyon to the prospecting region around Barkerville . By
1920-408: Is not a common Spanish name . It is known that his father and grandfather bore the name Focas, so it seems likely that Valerianos was a nickname or epithet borrowed from the village where he grew up on Cefalonia . De Fuca's grandfather Emmanouil Fokas ( Ἐμμανουὴλ Φωκᾶς ) fled Constantinople during its fall in 1453, accompanied by his brother Andronikos ( Ἀνδρόνικος ). The two settled first in
2040-509: Is through Lok's account that the story of Juan de Fuca entered English letters. Because the only written evidence for De Fuca's voyages lay in Lok's account — researchers being unable to find records of the expedition in Spanish colonial archives — there was long much controversy over his discovery and, indeed, whether he had ever even existed as a real person; several scholars have dismissed Juan de Fuca as entirely fictitious, and
2160-557: The Imperial Eagle in 1787, (re)discovered the strait De Fuca had described, he renamed it the Strait of Juan de Fuca . The Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Juan de Fuca Plate , a tectonic plate underlying much of the coastline he explored, is named for the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island 's West Coast is named for the strait, as is the hiking trail of
2280-469: The British Columbia Interior to the coast of California . The glaciers that covered the northern half of the continent began to gradually melt, exposing new land for occupation around 17,500–14,500 years ago. At the same time as this was occurring, worldwide extinctions among the large mammals began. In North America, camelids and equids eventually died off, the latter not to reappear on
2400-571: The Colony of British Columbia . Richard Clement Moody was hand-picked by the Colonial Office, under Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton , to establish British order and to transform the newly established Colony of British Columbia (1858–66) into the British Empire's "bulwark in the farthest west" and "found a second England on the shores of the Pacific". Lytton desired to send to the colony 'representatives of
2520-489: The First Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia , commanded by Pere d'Alberní , a native of Tortosa . The expedition rebuilt the fort, which had been dismantled after Martínez abandoned it. The rebuilt fort included several defensive constructions as well as a vegetable garden to ensure the settlement had food supplies. The Catalan volunteers left the fort in 1792. The Nootka Crisis however ended very much in favour of
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#17328377116782640-501: The Gulf of Venezuela to the high mountains and valleys. The population using them were hunter-gatherers that seemed to remain within a certain circumscribed territory. El Jobo points were probably the earliest, going back to c. 14,200 – c. 12,980 BP and they were used for hunting large mammals. In contrast, the fish-tail points, dating to c. 11,000 B.P. in Patagonia , had
2760-800: The Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets . An alternative proposed scenario involves migration, either on foot or using boats , down the Pacific coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would have been submerged by a sea-level rise of more than a hundred meters following the end of the Last Glacial Period . The time range of the peopling of the Americas remains a source of substantial debate. Conventional estimates have it that humans reached North America at some point between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago. However, some groups of humans may have reached South America as early as 25,000 years ago. One of
2880-613: The New Westminster British Columbian and future provincial premier , John Robson . A series of petitions requesting an assembly were ignored by Douglas and the colonial office until Douglas was eased out of office in 1864. Finally, the colony would have both an assembly and a resident governor. Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment was disbanded in July 1863. In the Moody family, only 22 men and 8 wives returned to England, while
3000-744: The North West Company , the three were primarily concerned with discovering a practicable river route to the Pacific, specifically via the Columbia River , for the extension of the North American fur trade . In 1793, Mackenzie became the first European to reach the Pacific overland north of the Rio Grande . He and his crew entered the region through the Rocky Mountains via the Peace River , reaching
3120-598: The Peloponnese , where Andronikos remained, but in 1470 Emmanouil moved to the island of Cefalonia. Ioannis's father Iakovos ( Ἰάκωβος ) established himself in the village of Valerianos on the island and came to be known as "the Valeriano Fokas" ( Φωκᾶς ὁ Βαλεριάνος , Fokas ho Valerianos ) to distinguish him from his brothers. De Fuca was born in Valerianos on June 10, 1536. Little is known about his life before he entered
3240-624: The Stikine . The influx of gold miners into BC's economy led to the creation of basic infrastructure in BC, most notably, the creation of the Cariboo Wagon Road which linked the Lower Mainland to the rich goldfields of Barkerville. However, the enormous costs of the road, and its predecessor the Douglas Road and services such as the Gold Escort , left BC in debt by the mid-1860s. In 1866, because of
3360-677: The Thompson River and north of California was named by the company the Columbia District , and was administered first from Fort Vancouver (present-day Vancouver, Washington ). Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest , based out of the company headquarters at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. Although authority over
3480-535: The Thompson River just east of what is now Lytton, British Columbia , triggering the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush . When word got out to San Francisco about gold in British territory, Victoria quickly transformed into a tent city as prospectors , speculators, land agents, and outfitters flooded in from around the world, mostly via San Francisco . The Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Langley burgeoned economically as
3600-521: The United States ). "Juan de Fuca" is a hispanicization of the Greek name Ioannis Fokas or Phokas ( Ἰωάννης Φωκᾶς ), latinized as Johannes Phocas . However, his exact name is somewhat uncertain. Some sources state that his actual name was Apostolos Valerianos ( Ἀπόστολος Βαλεριάνος ). It is possible that he was baptized as Apostolos and later adopted the name Ioannis or Juan because Apóstol
3720-399: The aboriginal peoples there. In 1788, John Meares , an English navigator and explorer, sailed from China and explored Nootka Sound and the neighbouring coasts. He bought some land from a local chief named Maquinna and built a trading post there. Two years later, in 1789, the Spanish commander Esteban José Martínez , a native of Seville , established a settlement and started building
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3840-556: The giant beaver , steppe wisent , giant muskox , mastodon , woolly mammoth and ancient reindeer . The Clovis culture , appearing around 11,500 BCE ( c. 13,500 BP) in North America, is one of the most notable Paleo-Indian archaeological cultures. It has been disputed whether the Clovis culture were specialist big-game hunters or employed a mixed foraging strategy that included smaller terrestrial game, aquatic animals, and
3960-494: The 18th-century British explorer Captain Cook strongly doubted that the strait De Fuca claimed to have discovered even existed (although Cook actually sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca without entering it and did stop at Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island). With later English exploration and settlement of the area, however, De Fuca's claims seemed much more credible. Finally, in 1859, an American researcher, with
4080-539: The Alabama claims for cash. When a false report circulated in April, soon after the Alaska news, that the British government was considering settling the claims by ceding the colony, a substantial annexation movement appeared supported by many residents and three of the colony's six newspapers. Anti-confederationists, who were not necessarily annexationists, were the majority on Vancouver Island. That said, annexationists argued that
4200-895: The American Fort Hall , 483 km (300 mi) to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of the Oregon Trail , where the outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail. Fort Vancouver was the nexus for the fur trade on the Pacific Coast; its influence reached from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands, and from Alaska into Mexican-controlled California. At its pinnacle, Fort Vancouver watched over 34 outposts, 24 ports, six ships, and 600 employees. Also, for many primarily American settlers,
4320-536: The American-born colonists did. Residents of the mainland almost unanimously supported confederation with the rest of British North America; they argued that this would benefit the colony as Canada would soon negotiate another reciprocity treaty. Many British-born colonists were on both sides. Paleo-Indians Traditional theories suggest that big-animal hunters crossed the Bering Strait from North Asia into
4440-516: The Americas becoming extinct towards the end of the Paleoindian period as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions . The potential role of human hunting in the extinctions has been the subject of much controversy. From 8000 to 7000 BCE (10,000–9,000 BP) the climate stabilized, leading to a rise in population and lithic technology advances, resulting in a more sedentary lifestyle during
4560-539: The Americas over a land bridge ( Beringia ). This bridge existed from 45,000 to 12,000 BCE (47,000–14,000 BP ). Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska . From c. 16,500 – c. 13,500 BCE ( c. 18,500 – c. 15,500 BP), ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and valleys of North America . This allowed land animals, followed by humans, to migrate south into
4680-928: The Americas suggest that Clovis (thus the "Paleo-Indians") time range should be re-examined. In particular, sites such as Cooper's Ferry in Idaho, Cactus Hill in Virginia , Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania , Bear Spirit Mountain in West Virginia , Catamarca and Salta in Argentina , Pilauco and Monte Verde in Chile , Topper in South Carolina , and Quintana Roo in Mexico have generated early dates for wide-ranging Paleo-Indian occupation. Some sites significantly predate
4800-553: The Americas ;portal Juan de Fuca Juan de Fuca (10 June 1536, Cefalonia – 23 July 1602, Cefalonia ) was a Greek sailor who served Philip II of Spain . He is best known for his claim to have explored the Strait of Anián —now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca —between Vancouver Island (now part of British Columbia , Canada ) and the Olympic Peninsula (northwestern Washington state in
4920-430: The Americas. Due to the evidence that Paleoindians hunted now extinct megafauna (large animals), and that following a period of overlap, most large animals across the Americas became extinct as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions , it has been argued by many authors that hunting by Paleoindians was an important factor in the extinctions, though this suggestion is controversial, with other authors placing
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5040-488: The Americas. Archeologists and anthropologists use surviving crafted lithic flaked tools to classify cultural periods. Scientific evidence links Indigenous Americans to eastern Siberian populations by the distribution of blood types, and genetic composition as indicated by molecular data, such as DNA . There is evidence for at least two separate migrations. Paleoindians lived alongside and hunted many now extinct megafauna (large animals), with most large animals across
5160-463: The British Columbia interior, establishing several forts ( Hudson's Hope , Trout Lake Fort , Fort George , Fort Fraser , and Fort St. James ). Fraser's expedition took him down the river that now bears his name, to the site of present-day Vancouver. Although both Mackenzie and Fraser reached the Pacific, they found the routes they took impassable for trade. It was David Thompson who found the Columbia River and followed it down to its mouth in 1811. He
5280-459: The British after the Spanish capitulated to British terms. Spanish influence in the region ended in 1795 after the Nootka Convention came into force. Subsequently, European explorer-merchants from the east started to discover British Columbia. Three figures dominate the early history of mainland British Columbia: Sir Alexander Mackenzie , Simon Fraser , and David Thompson . As employees of
5400-541: The Colonies Lord Granville stated his wish that British North America "would propose to be independent and annex themselves". The Times ' view was the British consensus: British Columbia is a long way off. ... With the exception of a limited official class it receives few immigrants from England, and a large proportion of its inhabitants consists of citizens of the United States who have entered it from
5520-628: The Columbia River. The British position was that a fair division of the Columbia District was a boundary at the Columbia River. In 1844, the United States Democratic Party asserted that the US had a legitimate claim to the entire Columbia District or Oregon Country , but President James Polk was prepared to draw the border along the 49th parallel , the longstanding US proposal. When the British rejected this offer, Polk broke off negotiations, and American expansionists reasserted
5640-400: The Crown Colony of Vancouver Island was created; and in 1851, James Douglas was appointed Governor. Douglas, known as the father of British Columbia, established colonial institutions in Victoria. He started the process of expanding the economic base of the new colony by signing 14 treaties between 1850–1854 to purchase land for settlement and industrial development (coal deposits were known by
5760-469: The Early Archaic period in some regions. Sites in Alaska (eastern Beringia) exhibit some of the earliest evidence of Paleo-Indians, followed by archaeological sites in northern British Columbia , western Alberta and the Old Crow Flats region of the Yukon territory. The Paleo-Indians would eventually flourish all over the Americas. These peoples were spread over a wide geographical area; thus there were regional variations in lifestyles. However, all
5880-436: The HWBC in the vicinities of Nanaimo and Fort Rupert ). Subsequent native population crashes later in the 19th century along with economic upheaval and native wars allowed his political successors to be much less consistent with British principles, treaties, and laws . Meanwhile, on the mainland, New Caledonia continued to focus on the fur trade with few non-native inhabitants (mostly HBC employees and their families) under
6000-511: The Hudson's Bay Company and colonial officials, and the "open", egalitarian vision of English and Canadian settlers, and regional tensions between Vancouver Island and the mainland, metropolitan Vancouver and the hinterland interior. Human history in what has come to be known as British Columbia dates back thousands of years. Archaeology finds in British Columbia have been dated to as early as 13,543 years ago, with some exciting potential for underwater sites beginning to be detected. The geography of
6120-484: The Royal Engineers, and the British Columbia Historical Association, are flattering. Moody and the Royal Engineers also built an extensive road network, including what would become Kingsway , connecting New Westminster to False Creek , the North Road between Port Moody and New Westminster, and the Cariboo Road and Stanley Park . He named Burnaby Lake after his private secretary Robert Burnaby and named Port Coquitlam's 400-foot "Mary Hill" after his wife. As part of
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#17328377116786240-426: The Spanish crown. There is some evidence that the Greek-born Juan de Fuca , who sailed for Spain and explored the West coast of North America in the 1590s, might have reached the passageway between Washington State and Vancouver Island – today known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca . (A later British explorer named Charles William Barkley named the passage after Juan de Fuca's reputed visit.) While there
6360-411: The Spanish navigator Juan José Pérez Hernández , a native of Mallorca , sailed from San Blas , Nueva Galicia (modern-day Nayarit ), with instructions to reach 60° north latitude to discover possible Russian settlements and take possession of the lands for the Spanish Crown. Hernández reached 55° north latitude, becoming the first European to sight Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island . He traded with
6480-452: The Spanish navy in the West Indies (a title he held for forty years), but there is no record in Spanish archives of his name or position or of his visit to the royal court. Before he made his famous trip up the northwest coast of the North American continent, he sailed to China, the Philippines and Mexico. The Strait of Juan de Fuca between the United States of America and Canada was named for him by British Captain Charles Barkley because it
6600-403: The UK and US government was resolved in 1846, the colonies of Vancouver Island and colony of British Columbia were established; the former in 1849 and the latter in 1858. The two colonies were merged to form a single colony in 1866, which later joined the Canadian Confederation on 20 July 1871. An influential historian of British Columbia, Margaret Ormsby , presented a structural model of
6720-454: The United States , or to confederate with the newly formed Dominion of Canada. In Britain, many Little Englanders expected, or even hoped, that its North American colonies would depart from the British Empire. Admiral Joseph Denman told the Admiralty that British Columbia did not deserve Royal Navy protection, and advised the British government to "divest herself of these possessions by any means consistent with honor". Secretary of State for
6840-529: The Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené , Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations, however, exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations that are distinct from other Amerindians with various mtDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations. Evidence from full genomic studies suggests that
6960-438: The adjacent Gulf Islands . The Gulf Islands and Strait of Juan de Fuca are the access point to Puget Sound as well as a fallback position in preparation for the "worst-case" scenario settlement of the dispute, in the face of manifest destiny . Increasing numbers of American settlers arriving on the Oregon Trail gave rise to the Oregon boundary dispute . The Hudson's Bay Company dominated and controlled all territory north of
7080-468: The administrative oversight of Douglas, who was also the HBC's regional chief executive. The Hudson's Bay Company like the previous French colony and North West Company of Montreal still officially discouraged settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. The fur trade was a mutually beneficial relationship between the local HBC trading fort and adjacent native tribes. American expansion and control of territory were predicated primarily by
7200-505: The area to harvest sea otters . Although technically a part of British North America , British Columbia was largely run by the Hudson's Bay Company after its merger with the North West Company in 1821. The Central Interior of the region was organized into the New Caledonia District, a name that came to be generally attributed to the mainland as a whole. It was administered from Fort St. James, about 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of present-day Prince George . The Interior south of
7320-473: The arrival of the Europeans, was home to many Indigenous peoples speaking more than 30 different languages, including Babine-Witsuwit'en , Danezaa (Beaver) , Carrier , Chilcotin , Cree , Dene language , Gitxsan , Haida , Haisla , Halkomelem , Kaska , Kutenai , Kwak̓wala , Lillooet , Nisga'a , Nuu-chah-nulth , Nuxalk , SENCOTEN , Sekani , Shuswap , Sinixt , Squamish , Tagish , Tahltan , Thompson , Tlingit , Tsetsaut , and Tsimshian . There
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#17328377116787440-419: The best of British culture, not just a police force’: he sought men who possessed ‘courtesy, high breeding and urbane knowledge of the world’ and he decided to send Moody, whom the Government considered to be the archetypal 'English gentleman and British Officer’ at the head of the Columbia Detachment , which was created by an Act of the British Parliament on 2 August 1858. The Engineers were believed to exemplify
7560-542: The blame on climatic change. In a 2012 survey of archaeologists in The SAA Archaeological Record, 63% of respondents said that megafauna extinctions were likely the result of a "combination of factors". The Archaic period in the Americas saw a changing environment featuring a warmer, more arid climate and the disappearance of the last megafauna. The majority of population groups at this time were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, but now individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Thus with
7680-423: The claim, coining slogans (most famously " Fifty-Four Forty or Fight! "). With the outbreak of the Mexican–American War diverting attention and resources, Polk was again prepared to compromise. The Oregon boundary dispute was settled in 1846 Treaty of Washington . The terms of the agreement established the border between British North America and the United States at the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to
7800-402: The clouds there is a sublimity that deeply impresses you. Everything is large and magnificent, worthy of the entrance to the Queen of England’s dominions on the Pacific mainland. [...] My imagination converted the silent marshes into Cuyp -like pictures of horses and cattle lazily fattening in rich meadows in a glowing sunset. [...] The water of the deep clear Frazer was of a glassy stillness, not
7920-420: The colony would never be able to negotiate with the United States a free trade agreement similar to the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 , and that annexation would end the disadvantage of the American tariff. Most Canadian-born residents supported confederation with their land of origin but were not very popular, as many in the colony believed that they sent their money home instead of spending it in British Columbia as
8040-410: The continent until the Spanish reintroduced the horse near the end of the 15th century CE. As the Quaternary extinction event was happening, the late Paleo-Indians would have relied more on other means of subsistence. From c. 10,500 – c. 9,500 BCE ( c. 12,500 – c. 11,500 BP), the broad-spectrum big game hunters of the Great Plains began to focus on
8160-486: The descendant of the Hawks industrial dynasty and the Boyd merchant banking family, wrote on 4 August 1859 "it is not pleasant to serve under a Hudson's Bay Factor" and that the "Governor and Richard can never get on". In letter to the Colonial Office of 27 December 1858, Richard Clement Moody boasts that he has ‘entirely disarmed [Douglas] of all jealously" Douglas repeatedly insulted the Engineers by attempting to assume their command and refusing to acknowledge their value in
8280-432: The expedition, de Heceta returned to Nueva Galicia, while Quadra kept on a northward course, ultimately reaching 59° North in what today is Sitka, Alaska . During this expedition, the Spanish made sure to land several times and formally claim the lands for the Spanish Crown, while verifying the absence of Russian settlements along the coast. Three years later, in 1778, the British Royal Navy captain James Cook arrived in
8400-487: The explorers and traders had been coming by land. Somewhere and sometime during this period the existence of the (Chinook) Jargon became known. All the Indians talked it to each other and resorted to it in their conversations with the whites. Knowledge of this trade language became a necessary part of the trader's equipment. Fort Victoria was established as a trading post in 1843, both as a means to protect HBC interests, as well as to assert British claims to Vancouver Island and
8520-448: The few areas of agreement is the origin from Siberia , with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the Last Glacial Period, and more specifically after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum around 16,000 to 13,000 years before present. The Palaeoindian culture lasts 4000 years, from 12,000 to 8000 BP. It is divided into Early Palaeoindian (12,000-10,000 BP) and Late Palaeoindian (10,000-8000 BP), ending with early events of
8640-498: The first people in the Americas diverged from Ancient East Asians about 36,000 years ago and expanded northwards into Siberia, where they encountered and interacted with a different Paleolithic Siberian population (known as Ancient North Eurasians ), giving rise to both Paleosiberian peoples and Ancient Native Americans , which later migrated towards the Beringian region, became isolated from other populations, and subsequently populated
8760-602: The following Archaic Period . Researchers continue to study and discuss the specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas , including the dates and routes traveled. The traditional theory holds that these early migrants moved into Beringia between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska 17,000 years ago, at a time when the Quaternary glaciation significantly lowered sea levels. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between
8880-456: The forests and marshes. The fall would have been a busy time because foodstuffs would have to be stored and clothing made ready for the winter. During the winter, coastal fishing groups moved inland to hunt and trap fresh food and furs. Late ice-age climatic changes caused plant communities and animal populations to change. Groups moved and sought new supplies as preferred resources were depleted. Small bands utilized hunting and gathering during
9000-695: The fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail as they could get supplies before starting their homestead. By 1843 the Hudson's Bay Company operated numerous posts in the Columbia Department, including Fort Vancouver, Fort George (Astoria), Fort Nisqually , Fort Umpqua , Fort Langley , Fort Colville , Fort Okanogan , Fort Kamloops , Fort Alexandria , Flathead Post , Kootanae House , Fort Boise , Fort Hall , Fort Simpson , Fort Taku , Fort McLoughlin (in Milbanke Sound ), Fort Stikine , as well as
9120-428: The foundation of a capital city, but upon his arrival at Fort Langley, he learned of an outbreak of violence at the settlement of Hill's Bar. This led to an incident popularly known as " Ned McGowan's War ", where Moody led 22 Engineers and Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie to Yale to face down a group of rebellious American miners. Order was restored without further strict pain. In British Columbia, Moody ‘wanted to build
9240-476: The gold now gone, most of the American miners had left, and the economic future did not look promising unless BC could join the very rapidly growing, rich economies of the Pacific states. While American residents of British Columbia celebrated the United States' purchase of Alaska in 1867, having American territory to their north and south caused British residents' fears for the future of their colony to grow. Alaska
9360-621: The great rewards he claimed as his due. After two years, and on the viceroy's urging, De Fuca travelled to Spain to make his case to the court in person. Disappointed again and disgusted with the Spanish, the aging Greek determined to retire to his home in Kefallonia , but was in 1596 convinced by an Englishman, Michael Lok (also spelled as Locke in English and French documents from the period), to offer his services to Spain's archenemy, Queen Elizabeth . Nothing came of Lok and De Fuca's proposals, but it
9480-570: The help of the U.S. Consul in the Ionian Islands , was able to demonstrate not only that De Fuca had lived but also that his family and history were well known on the islands. While we may never know the exact truths that lay behind the account published by Lok, it must be considered unlikely that the man himself was fictional. When the English captain Charles William Barkley , sailing
9600-534: The individual groups shared a common style of stone tool production, making knapping styles and progress identifiable. This early Paleo-Indian period's lithic reduction tool adaptations have been found across the Americas, utilized by highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 60 members of an extended family. Food would have been plentiful during the few warm months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, birds and aquatic mammals. Nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in
9720-510: The initial peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas . The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations. Human settlement of the Americas occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line , with an initial layover on Beringia for the founding population . The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of
9840-513: The interior of the continent. The people went on foot or used boats along the coastline. The dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas remain subjects of ongoing debate. It is likely there were three waves of ancient settlers from the Bering Sea to the America continent. Stone tools , particularly projectile points and scrapers , are the primary evidence of the earliest human activity in
9960-564: The land influenced the cultural development of the peoples, and in places allowed for the cultural development of permanent villages, complex social institutions, and a huge range of languages. British Columbia (BC) is divided by anthropological theory into three cultural areas: the Northwest Coast, the Plateau, and the North. First Nations in each area developed customs and approaches to living that fit
10080-526: The massive debt leftover from the gold rush, the mainland and Vancouver Island became one colony named British Columbia , with its capital in Victoria. On Vancouver Island settlement and industrial development took place along the shorelines. For example, see the 19th-century settlement in Comox or Colony of Vancouver Island . In 1867, there were three options open: to continue as a British colony, to be annexed by
10200-452: The migration time frame of ice-free corridors, thus suggesting that there were additional coastal migration routes available, traversed either on foot and/or in boats. Geological evidence suggests the Pacific coastal route was open for overland travel before 23,000 years ago and after 16,000 years ago. In South America, the site of Monte Verde indicates that its population was probably territorial and resided in their river basin for most of
10320-493: The name big-game hunters . Pacific coastal groups of the period would have relied on fishing as the prime source of sustenance. Archaeologists are piecing together evidence that the earliest human settlements in North America were thousands of years before the appearance of the current Paleo-Indian time frame (before the late glacial maximum 20,000-plus years ago). Evidence indicates that people were living as far east as Beringia before 30,000 BCE (32,000 BP). Until recently, it
10440-452: The nascent colony. Margaret A. Ormsby, the author of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry for Moody (2002), condemns Moody for a contribution to the abortive development of the city. However, most other historians have exonerated Moody for the abortive development of the city and consider his achievement to be impressive, especially with regard to the perpetual insufficiency of funds and
10560-637: The natives near Estevan Point , although apparently without landing. The expedition was forced to return to Nueva Galicia, due to the lack of provisions. Since Pérez Hernández's first expedition failed to achieve its objective, the Spanish organized a second expedition in 1775 with the same goal. This expedition was commanded by Bruno de Heceta on board the Santiago , piloted by Pérez Hernández, and accompanied by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra in La Sonora. After illnesses, storms, and other troubles had affected
10680-486: The ocean at North Bentinck Arm , near present-day Bella Coola . Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie's companion, John Finlay , founded the first permanent European settlement in British Columbia, Fort St. John , located at the junction of the Beatton and Peace Rivers. Simon Fraser was the next to try to find the course of the Columbia. During his expedition of 1805–09, Fraser and his crew, including John Stuart , explored much of
10800-417: The overall command of a Spanish captain (with de Fuca as pilot and master ) assigned the task of finding the Strait of Anián and fortifying it against the English. This expedition failed when, allegedly due to the captain's malfeasance, the soldiers mutinied and returned home to California. (Note that in this period, Spanish doctrine divided control of ships and fleets between the military commander, who
10920-721: The passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization like the Southwest , Arctic , Poverty , Dalton , and Plano traditions. These regional adaptations would become the norm, with reliance less on hunting and gathering, and a more mixed economy of small game, fish, seasonally wild vegetables, and harvested plant foods. Many groups continued to hunt big game but their hunting traditions became more varied and meat procurement methods more sophisticated. The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status in some groups. [REDACTED] Indigenous peoples of
11040-455: The personally motivated opposition of Douglas, whose opposition to the project continually retarded its development. Robert Edgar Cail, Don W. Thomson, Ishiguro, and Scott have praised Moody for his contribution, the latter accusing Ormsby of being ‘adamant in her dislike of Colonel Moody’ despite the evidence, and almost all biographies of Moody, including those of the Institute of Civil Engineers,
11160-488: The province's history in British Columbia: A History (1958); that has been adopted by numerous historians and teachers. Chad Reimer says, "in many aspects, it still has not been surpassed". Ormsby posited a series of propositions that provided the dynamic to the history of the province: the ongoing pull between maritime and continental forces; the opposition between a "closed", hierarchical model of society represented by
11280-608: The qualities sought by the Government. Moody arrived in British Columbia in December 1858, commanding the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment . He was sworn in as the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia and appointed Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for British Columbia. On the advice of Lytton, Moody hired Robert Burnaby as his personal secretary, and the two became close friends. Moody had hoped to begin immediately
11400-518: The quality of the "archetypal English gentleman and British Officer", his family was "eminently respectable": he was the son of Colonel Thomas Moody (1779-1849) , one of the wealthiest mercantilists in the West Indies, who owned much of the land in the islands where Douglas's father owned a small amount of land and from which Douglas's mother, "a half-breed", originated. Governor Douglas's ethnicity made him ‘an affront to Victorian society’. Mary Moody,
11520-533: The region was nominally shared by the United States and Britain through the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 , company policy, enforced via Chief Factor John McLoughlin of the company's Columbia District , was to discourage any settlement, including US settlement, of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region. It established Fort Boise in 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with
11640-643: The region, searching for the Northwest Passage and landed at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island , where he and his crew traded with the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation . Upon trading his goods for sea otter pelts, his crew in turn traded them for an enormous profit in Macau on their way back to Britain. This led to an influx of traders to the British Columbian coast, and ongoing economic contact with
11760-588: The resolution of the Oregon Boundary Dispute, British interests, primarily the HBC, lost the governance of all territory between the 49th Parallel and the Columbia River, where there had been a sudden influx of American settlers 8 years previous. When news of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush reached London, the Colonial Office established the mainland as a Crown colony on 2 August 1858, naming it
11880-472: The resources in the region. Through much of British Columbia, salmon formed a substantial part of the diet where available. The term pre-contact is used to describe the period prior to contact between First Nations and European explorers. The precise time of contact varied according to circumstance but took place on the coast during the 1770s. In places in the Interior, it occurred later. British Columbia, before
12000-549: The rest, 130 sappers, elected to remain in BC. Scott contends that the departure of the Engineers 'doomed' the development of the settlement and the fruition of Lord Lytton's dream. Chartres Brew replaced Moody as land commissioner. A second major gold rush in the Cariboo region of the colony occurred in 1861–64, in the midst of smaller ones , notably in the Omenica , Big Bend and on
12120-553: The sea, the original American proposal, with all of Vancouver Island retained as British territory. This effectively destroyed the geographical logic of the HBC's Columbia Department, since the lower Columbia River was the core and lifeline of the system. The US soon organized its portion as the Oregon Territory. The administrative headquarters of fur operations, and of the Columbia Department, then shifted north to Fort Victoria , which had been founded by James Douglas . In 1849,
12240-636: The service of Spain some time around 1555. De Fuca's early voyages were to the Far East , and he claimed to have arrived in New Spain in 1587 when, off Cabo San Lucas in Baja California , the English privateer Thomas Cavendish seized his galleon Santa Ana and deposited him ashore. He was a well-traveled seaman, perfecting his skill as a pilot in the Spanish fleet. The King of Spain, he also claimed, recognized him for his excellence and made him pilot of
12360-462: The settlement of the land not commercial relationships with the existing local population. The British made virtually no effort to assert sovereignty over the aboriginal peoples of the area. In accordance with the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , large-scale settlement by non-aboriginal people was prohibited until the lands were surrendered by treaty . In 1858, gold was found along the banks of
12480-521: The south. Suppose that the colonists met together and came to the conclusion that every natural motive of contiguity, the similarity of interests, and facility of administration induced them to think it more convenient to slip into the Union than into the Dominion. ... We all know that we should not attempt to withstand them. Financially, becoming officially part of the United States made sense since British Columbia
12600-531: The spring and summer months, then broke into smaller direct family groups for the fall and winter. Family groups moved every 3–6 days, possibly traveling up to 360 km (220 mi) per year. Diets were often sustaining and rich in protein; clothing was made from a variety of animal hides that were also used for shelter construction. During much of the early and middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna . Large Pleistocene mammals included
12720-586: The staging point for many of the prospectors heading by boat to the Canyon. A wide range of linguistic diversity among First Nations and explorers/traders made communication difficult. Trade jargon, initially used by First Nations expanded and changed to include words from English and French to become the Chinook Jargon . Not a complete language, the jargon became widespread among First Nations and early Europeans to enable communication and trade. Though little used today
12840-513: The strategic excellence of its position and the quality of its port. He was also struck by the majestic beauty of the site, writing in his letter to Blackwood, "The entrance to the Frazer is very striking—Extending miles to the right & left are low marsh lands (apparently of very rich qualities) & yet fr the Background of Superb Mountains-- Swiss in outline, dark in woods, grandly towering into
12960-442: The surveying effort, several tracts were designated "government reserves", which included Stanley Park as a military reserve (a strategic location in case of an American invasion). The Pre-emption act did not specify conditions for distributing the land, so large parcels were snapped up by speculators, including 3,750 acres (1,517 hectares) by Moody himself. For this he was criticized by local newspapermen for land grabbing . Port Moody
13080-402: The time of this gold rush, the character of the colony was changing, as a more stable population of British colonists settled in the region, establishing businesses, opening sawmills , and engaging in fishing and agriculture. With this increased stability, objections to the colony's absentee governor and the lack of responsible government began to be vocalized, led by the influential editor of
13200-441: The west. San Francisco's population in the 1860s exceeded 60,000, while Victoria's never rose above 4,000. All mail from British Columbia went through San Francisco, forcing the colony's post office to keep large quantities of American postage stamps. The opening of the American transcontinental railroad in 1869 made it possible to travel by ship from Victoria to San Francisco, then by train to Ottawa or Washington in just 24 days. With
13320-515: The whole of the Pacific and its shores as part of the Spanish Empire. Quadra sailed over Sonora Reef, named after his boat, on Destruction Island in 1775. Some of his crew were murdered by the cannibal natives on the beach, and they attempted to board his ship until his remaining crew destroyed them with cannon fire. Quadra left the coast of Washington and sailed to Sitka, Alaska, but he did not make landfall or "discover" British Columbia. In 1774,
13440-796: The year. Some other South American groups, on the other hand, were highly mobile and hunted big-game animals such as gomphotheres and giant sloths . They used classic bifacial projectile point technology, such as Fishtail points . The primary examples are populations associated with El Jobo points ( Venezuela ), fish-tail or Magallanes points (various parts of the continent, but mainly the southern half), and Paijan points ( Peru and Ecuador ) at sites in grasslands, savanna plains, and patchy forests. The dating for these sites ranges from c. 14,000 BP (for Taima-Taima in Venezuela) to c. 10,000 BP. The bi-pointed El Jobo projectile points were mostly distributed in north-western Venezuela; from
13560-480: Was an army officer, and the sailing and navigation commander, who was a mariner.) In 1592, on his second voyage, De Fuca enjoyed success. Having sailed north with a caravel and a pinnace and a few armed marines, he returned to Acapulco and claimed to have found the strait, with a large island at its mouth, at around 47° north latitude . The Strait of Juan de Fuca is in fact at around 48° N, although Fuca's account of sailing into it departs from reality, describing
13680-557: Was at the same latitude that Juan de Fuca described as the location of the Strait of Anián . According to de Fuca's account, he undertook two voyages of exploration on the orders of the Viceroy of New Spain, Luis de Velasco, marqués de Salinas , both intended to find the fabled Strait of Anián, believed to be a Northwest Passage , a sea route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The first voyage saw 200 soldiers and three small ships under
13800-399: Was economically essentially a satellite of San Francisco — the most important city of the entire American West and North America's Pacific coast — Washington, and Oregon, which provided all of the colony's supplies despite a substantial American tariff. American currency circulated widely in the colony, whose nearest British neighbours were Red River 2,000 miles to the east, and Hong Kong to
13920-503: Was engaged in a bitter feud with Sir James Douglas , Governor of Vancouver Island , whose jurisdiction overlapped with his own. Moody's position as Chief Commissioner and Lieutenant-Governor was one of ‘higher prestige [and] lesser authority than that of Douglas, despite Moody's vastly superior social position in the eyes of the Engineers and the British Government: Moody had been selected by Lord Lytton due to his possession of
14040-529: Was frequent contact between bands, and voyages across the straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca were common. The abundance of natural resources, such as salmon and cedar, enabled the development of a complex hierarchical society within coastal communities. With so much food being available, the peoples of the coastal regions could focus their time on other pursuits such as art, politics, and warfare. The first European visitors to present-day British Columbia were Spanish sailors and other European sailors who sailed for
14160-421: Was generally believed that the first Paleo-Indian people to arrive in North America belonged to the Clovis culture. This archaeological phase was named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico , where in 1936 unique Clovis points were found in situ at the site of Blackwater Draw , where they were directly associated with the bones of Pleistocene animals. Recent data from a series of archaeological sites throughout
14280-501: Was part of American Secretary of State William H. Seward 's plan to incorporate the entire northwest Pacific Coast, chiefly for the long-term commercial advantages to the United States in terms of Pacific trade. Seward believed that the people in British Columbia wanted annexation and that Britain would accept this in exchange for the Alabama claims . In the event, Seward dropped the idea of exchange and accepted an arbitration plan that settled
14400-463: Was unable to establish a claim, however, for the American explorers Lewis and Clark had already claimed the territory for the United States of America six years earlier. The American Fur Company of John Jacob Astor had founded Fort Astoria just months before Thompson arrived, though within a year the local staff at Astoria sold the fort and others in the region to the North West Company, which renamed it, Fort George. Though "returned" to US hands as
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