BC History

Archaeological evidence shows that coastal Indians had settled the west coast of North America 10, 000 years ago. The most famous of the early European explorers was British naval captain George Vancouver who explored the area in 1792. In the winter of 1824 the Hudson's Bay Company starting setting up a network of fur-trading posts on the Pacific slope.

In the decade of the 1860's, the Colony of British Columbia came to the attention of the world. GOLD had been discovered on Fraser's River and in Cariboo - land occupied by Salish and Chilcotin Indians, as well as by fur trappers and traders. The search for gold was a major force in opening British Columbia for settlement and in shaping our landscape, our government and laws. The story of the Cariboo Goldrush is an exciting chapter in the history of Canada..

In the 1870s Vancouver was founded as a sawmill settlement called Granville. In 1871 British Columbia, assured by Canada that its entry would bring it the railway, joined Confederation. Now British Columbians were also Canadians. When the CPR announced Vancouver would be the railway's terminus, the town's population was about 400, four years after the railway arrived, it was 13,000.

BC during the mid 1900's will be remembered for it's damming of many of BC's large interior rivers, including the Columbia River. BC is now one of the worlds number one exporters of hydo-electric energy. In 1986 the World Expo was held in Vancover BC.