Colony of British Columbia 4267238 220980145 2008-06-22T14:26:07Z Themightyquill 1212157 upright images {{Infobox Former Country |native_name = |conventional_long_name = Colony of British Columbia |common_name = British Columbia |ag |continent = North America |region = [[Western Canada]] |country = [[Canada]] |era = [[Canada under British Imperial Control (1764-1867)|British Era]] |status = Colony |status_text= |empire = United Kingdom |government_type = Constitutional monarchy | |event_start = Established |year_start = 1858 |date_start = August 2 |event_end = Merged with [[Colony of Vancouver Island]] to from [[United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia]] |year_end = 1866 |date_end = August 2 | |event1 = |date_event1 = |event2 = |date_event2 = |event3 = |date_event3 = | |life_span = [[1858]]—[[1866]] |s1 = United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia |flag_s1 = | |flag = Union Flag |flag_type = |image_flag = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg |symbol = |symbol_type = |image_coat = |image_map = |image_map_caption = | |capital = [[New Westminster, British Columbia|New Westminster]] |national_motto = |national_anthem = |common_languages = [[English language|English]] |religion = |currency = | |<!--- Titles and names of the first and last leaders and their deputies ---> |leader1 = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom]] |year_leader1 = |title_leader = Queen regnant |deputy1 = |year_deputy1 = |title_deputy = | |<!--- Area and population of a given year ---> |stat_year1 = |stat_area1 = |stat_pop1 = |political_subdiv= |footnotes = }} '''The Colony of British Columbia''' was a [[crown colony]] of [[British North America]] from [[1858]] until [[1871]]. It was largely coterminous with the present day [[Canada|Canadian]] [[provinces and territories of Canada|province]] of [[British Columbia]]. It was united in [[1866]] with the [[Colony of Vancouver Island]] to form a further colonial entity named British Columbia, but unofficially known as the [[United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia]] to avoid confusion. ==Background== ''Main Article: [[History of British Columbia]]'' The explorations of [[James Cook]] and [[George Vancouver]], and the [[Nootka Convention|concessions]] of [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] in 1794 established British jurisdiction over the coastal area north of [[California]]. Similar jurisdiction was established inland via the explorations of such men as [[John Finlay]], [[Sir Alexander Mackenzie]], [[Simon Fraser (explorer)|Simon Fraser]], [[Samuel Black]], and [[David Thompson (explorer)|David Thompson]], and by the subsequent establishment of [[fur trade|fur trading]] posts by the [[North West Company]] and the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC). However, until 1858, the region which now comprises the [[mainland]] of the Province of British Columbia was an unorganised area of British North America comprising two [[fur trade|fur trading]] districts: [[New Caledonia (Canada)|New Caledonia]], north of the [[Thompson River]] drainage; and the [[Columbia District]], located south of the Thompson and throughout the basin of the [[Columbia River]]. [[Image:Sir James Douglas.jpg|thumb|upright|Sir James Douglas, first governor of the Colony of British Columbia]] With the signing of the [[Oregon Treaty|Treaty of Washington]] in 1846, which established the US border along the [[49th parallel]], the HBC moved the headquarters of its western operations from [[Fort Vancouver]] on the Columbia River (present day [[Vancouver, Washington]]) to the newly-established [[Victoria, British Columbia|Fort Victoria]], on the southern tip of [[Vancouver Island]]. Vancouver Island and the surrounding [[Gulf Islands]] in the [[Strait of Georgia]] were organised as a crown colony in 1849. Meanwhile, the mainland continued to function under the de facto administration of the HBC, whose chief executive, [[James Douglas (governor)|James Douglas]], also happened to be governor of Vancouver Island. The non-aboriginal mainland population during this time never exceeded about 150, mostly HBC employees and their families. By 1857, Americans and British were beginning to respond to rumours of gold in the [[Thompson River]] area. Almost overnight, some ten to twenty thousand men moved into the region around present-day [[Yale, British Columbia]], sparking the [[Fraser Canyon Gold Rush]]. Governor Douglas and the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|colonial office]] were suddenly faced with having to exert British authority over a largely alien population. Douglas — who had no legal authority over New Caledonia — stationed a gunboat at the entrance of the [[Fraser River]] in order to exert such authority by collecting licenses from [[prospecting|prospectors]] attempting to make their way upstream. In order to normalise its jurisdiction, and undercut any HBC claims to the resource wealth of the mainland, the district was converted to a crown colony on [[August 2]] [[1858]] by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and given the name British Columbia. Douglas was offered the governorship of the new colony by the colonial secretary, [[Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton]], on condition that he sever his relationship with the HBC. Douglas accepted these conditions, and a knighthood. British Columbia was given its own capital — [[New Westminster]] — in 1859, but James Douglas would govern both colonies from Victoria for the next six years. ==Governorship of Sir James Douglas== The influx of people into the new colony required Douglas to act quickly in drawing up regulations and creating infrastructure. [[Magistrate]]s and [[constable]]s were hired, mining regulations drawn up, and townsites surveyed at Yale, [[Hope, British Columbia|Hope]] and [[Fort Langley, British Columbia|Fort Langley]] in order to discourage [[squatting]] on [[crown land]]. In addition, roads were constructed into the areas of greatest mining exploration around [[Lillooet, British Columbia|Lillooet]] and [[Lytton, British Columbia|Lytton]]. The colony, however, was not immediately granted a [[representative government|representative]] colonial assembly, because of uncertainty as to whether the gold rush would yield a stable, settled population. Douglas, who had endured unhappy conflicts with the assembly on Vancouver Island, was relieved. [[Image:Cariboo Road.jpg|thumb|right|A portion of the [[Cariboo Road]] in the [[Fraser Canyon]], circa 1867.]] The rush indeed was short lived, and the exodus of miners, speculators, and merchants was already underway by the time the [[Royal Engineers]] had laid out the colony's new capital at [[New Westminster]]. Prospecting continued, however, and additional finds farther inland in the [[Cariboo]] region in 1860 signalled an impending second gold rush. Provisioning was already proving to be an acute problem, and with more distant finds it became clear that [[wagon train]]s would have to replace pack horses, necessitating new infrastructure. 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 the time of this second 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 [[fishery|fishing]] and [[agriculture]]. With this increased stability, objections to the colony's absentee governor and the lack of [[responsible government]] began to be vocalised, led by the influential editor of the New Westminister ''British Columbian'' and future [[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. [[Image:Frederick Seymour.GIF|thumb|upright|Frederick Seymour, second governor of the Colony of British Columbia, and his cat.]] ==Governorship of Frederick Seymour== Douglas's successor was [[Frederick Seymour]], who came to the colony with twenty years of colonial experience in [[Van Diemen's Land]], the [[British West Indies]], and [[British Honduras]]. The creation of an assembly and Seymour's appointment in April, 1864 signalled a new era for the colony, now out of the shadow of Vancouver Island and free of a governor suspicious of sharing power with elected representatives. Douglas's wagon road project was still underway, presenting huge engineering challenges, as it made its way up the narrow Fraser Canyon. Successive loans authorised by Seymour's predecessor, largely for the purpose of completing the road, had put the colony £200,000 in debt; and a [[First Nation]]s uprising at [[Bute Inlet]] cost an additional £18,000 to suppress. Seymour himself made the difficult journey through the [[Chilcotin Ranges]] to help in the arrest of the insurgents. On Seymour's return overland, he made a tour of the Cariboo minefields, and along the Fraser Canyon, which made him increasingly convinced of the colony's future prosperity. On returning to the capital, however, fiscal reality set in as it became clear that British Columbia's indebtedness was getting worse. Even as the colonial administration took drastic measures to augment revenues and improve the road system to attract prospectors and settlers, the economic situation grew increasingly dire, and agitation grew for an almagamation of the two colonies. Seymour opposed this proposal, but with pressure from various quarters of the colonial government, he eventually relented, recommending that British Columbia be the dominant partner, and (unsuccessfully) that the capital be located at New Westminster. And so it was that the two colonies were united by an Act of the British Parliament, and proclaimed on August 6, [[1866]] (see [[United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia]]). ==Governors of British Columbia== * [[James Douglas (Governor)|Sir James Douglas]], 1858-1864 * [[Frederick Seymour]], 1864-1866 ==See also== *[[Colony of Vancouver Island]] *[[United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia]] *[[List of Governors of Vancouver Island and British Columbia]] *[[Stikine Territory]] ==External links== *[http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=39077 Biography of Douglas at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''] *[http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=38821 Biography of Seymour at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''] {{Canadian colonies}} {{Territories of the British Empire}} [[Category:History of British Columbia|Colony of British Columbia]] [[Category:British North America|British Columbia, Colony of]] [[Category:Former British colonies]] [[de:British Columbia (Kolonie)]] [[es:Colonia de la Columbia Británica]] [[pl:Kolumbia Brytyjska (kolonia)]]