Abstract
The year I857 marked the conclusion of the first stage of white settlement in British Columbia. At this time Victoria, the chief center, was a little hamlet of a few hundred people, chiefly retired Hudson's Bay Company servants. The chief interest in the region lay in the fur trade, carried on during the preceding half century both along the shores and in the interior. Captain Cook's voyage of I778 had prompted several expeditions in search of the wealth in furs, mainly sea otter skins, along the north Pacific shores of the continent. Of these expeditions the most important in political geography was that of Captain John Meares in 1786 from China to the coast of Vancouver Island. Trouble with Spain caused by the arrest and imprisonment of Meares, a British subject, attracted particular attention. In 1792 Captain Vancouver was sent by the British government to attend the formal apology of the Spaniards at Nootka, and in the course of this duty he made a survey of the coast from Juan de Fuca Strait to the Queen Charlotte Islands. This is the first reputable survey of the coast of British Columbia.
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