Esquimalt, British Columbia
| Esquimalt | |||
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 View over Esquimalt.jpg |
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| Location in British Columbia | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Province : | British Columbia | ||
| Regional District : | Capital Regional District | ||
| Coordinates : | 48 ° 26 ′ N , 123 ° 25 ′ W | ||
| Height : | 10 m | ||
| Area : | 7.08 km² | ||
| Residents : | 17,655 (as of 2016) | ||
| Population density : | 2,493.6 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Time zone : | Pacific Time ( UTC − 8 ) | ||
Esquimalt [ ɪˈskwaɪmɔːlt ] or the City of Esquimalt is a place in the south of Vancouver Island , an island belonging to British Columbia off the west coast of Canada . East of the city is Victoria , south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca . To the west is Esquimalt Harbor to the northwest is an Indian reservation called New Songhees 1A and the town of View Royal . Esquimalt is part of Greater Victoria , a Capital Regional District that encompasses several locations.
In the port, with the Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt , is the Pacific fleet of the Canadian armed forces .
The word Esquimalt is the anglicized form of the coastal Salish word "Ess-whoy-malth", which probably means "place of shallow water". With Esquimalt also the namesake is First Nation ( Indian called).
history
Archaeological digs at Craigflower Farm have shown that the area was already inhabited during the so-called Locarno Beach phase. The oldest human traces in the place point to a settlement more than 4000 years ago. The local Indian groups were called "Kosampsom" by the representatives of the Hudson's Bay Company ; today they call themselves Esquimalt Nation . The Songhees , who the British called "Songish", now own a reservation in Esquimalt, but originally lived on Victoria's Inner Harbor. They were resettled from there in 1911. Both groups speak Lekwungen . Songhees and Esquimalt must have separated for good around 1850, but culturally they go back to the earliest inhabitants.
The first Europeans, like the Spaniard Manuel Quimper , reached the region in 1790. He mapped Esquimalt Harbor, which his first mate named Puerto de Córdova after the 46th Viceroy, and left a wooden cross to document the Spanish claim. But in 1794 the British put an end to the Spanish presence, and from 1843 Victoria emerged. Esquimalt rejected Governor James Douglas as the location for the future capital because there were too many trees there. At that time, around 1,600 Songhees lived in two villages on Esquimalt Harbor and Cadboro Bay. On March 24, 1850, John Sebastian Helmcken reached the region on the Norman Morrison , and he noted that there was nothing there, "except land, water, canoes and Indians". He was elected to the first Vancouver Island Colony Legislative Assembly in July 1856 to represent Esquimalt and the Victoria District. After he had intermittently advocated the connection to the USA, he campaigned for the connection to the newly formed Canada, but Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie rejected Helmcken's preferred route via the Bute Inlet to Esquimalt, which the island directly connects to Canadian route would have connected. Mackenzie put Vancouver through as the terminus.
Farms were established as early as 1850, such as the Viewfield Farm, which was soon followed by others such as Constance Cove Farm and Craigflower Farm. In 1852 the first path to Victoria was built by sailors on HMS Thetis (now Old Esquimalt Road). The Craigflower School Building was built in 1854 and still exists today and houses a museum. The farms were not very successful, however, and they had to be sold in the mid-1860s.
In 1855 a hospital with three buildings was built, which also accommodated victims of the Crimean War. In 1858 there was a massive influx of gold prospectors who came to Victoria en route to the Fraser River. Some of the men stayed in town and provided the descendants with equipment and food. The Esquimalt were ousted, in 1881 they had only 30 members, who were divided into 8 families. Since then, they have owned a reserve of 18.9 hectares, the Esquimalt Indian Reserve , which was assigned to them by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1850 and approved by the Joint Reserve Commission . It is located on Esquimalt Harbor in Plumper Bay. In March 2018, 171 of the 322 tribesmen lived there.
In 1865 the British fleet moved its main base in the Pacific from Valparaiso to the port of Esquimalt. Esquimalt became the home port of the Royal Navy Pacific Squadron . In 1880 the Victoria and Esquimalt Telephone Company installed a telephone line to Victoria, in 1887 the place received a railway connection, the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway . A military base was established at Work Point in the same year . In 1910 the Royal Canadian Navy moved in .
On September 1, 1912 Esquimalt was promoted to town, after the First World War it became one of the most important shipbuilding locations in Canada for a long time.
Neighborhoods
- Craigflower
- Colville Road
- Gorge Vale
- Esquimalt Village
- Parklands
- Panhandle
- Rockheights
- Saxe Point
- West Bay
- Work point
Demographics
The census carried out by Statistics Canada in 2016 showed a population of 17,655 inhabitants for the municipality, after the census in 2011 for the municipality still showed a population of 16,209 inhabitants. The population has increased by 8.9% compared to the last census in 2011 and is thus above the provincial average with a population increase in British Columbia of 5.6%. In the census period from 2006 to 2011, the population in the municipality decreased by 3.7%, while the provincial average increased by 7.0%.
For the 2016 census, a median age of 43.4 years was determined for the municipality . The median age of the province in 2016 was only 43.0 years. The average age was 43.2 years, or 42.3 years in the province. For the 2011 census, a median age of 43.5 years was determined for the municipality, while the median age for the province was 41.9 years.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ a b Esquimalt Community Profile. Census 2016. In: Statistics Canada . August 9, 2019, accessed September 6, 2019 .
- ↑ University of Victoria Report on the Kosapsom Archaeological Dig, 1995. Artefacts BC, accessed April 9, 2018 .
- ^ First Nation Profile - Registered Population. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada , accessed April 9, 2018 .
- ^ Esquimalt Community Profile. Census 2011. In: Statistics Canada . November 27, 2015, accessed January 12, 2016 .