History of British Columbia

The history of British Columbia , a province of Canada , dates back to at least the end of the last ice age in terms of human settlement . The descendants of the earliest inhabitants are today among many, as First Nations designated Indian groups . In total, the competent authority now recognizes almost 200 tribes in the province, including 130,000 people. Almost every fifth Indian in Canada lives in this province. When the first Europeans arrived in the region in the 18th century, perhaps every second Indian in Canada lived here.

British Columbia and Canada

The first contacts with Europeans led on the one hand to a mass death due to a smallpox epidemic in the south, in a region in which around half of all Canadian Indians lived. The population collapsed from half a million to 30,000 within a few decades. On the other hand, the contacts led to a profitable trade in fur from Vancouver Island to Alaska , in which a few tribes monopolized the trade. Russians, Americans, Spaniards and British competed for influence, but agreed in the Nootka Convention in 1790 not to set up any trading posts on the west coast. The provincial capital Victoria dates back to a fort built in 1843 by the Hudson's Bay Company , the largest trading company that dominated the west from 1821 to 1871.

The small European population grew by leaps and bounds due to several gold discoveries between around 1858 and 1898 . The area was also opened up by rail connections, which had been the condition for joining Canada in 1871. The increased immigration triggered, similar to the first contacts, severe epidemics among the indigenous peoples, who further decimated them. A little later, the survivors were pushed into reservations , which were small even by Canadian standards, even though they managed to play an important role in the province's economy. Contracts were withheld from most of the tribes, and the province was the only one not to recognize the tribes' land rights.

The HBC had already promoted immigration from Europe as a counterweight to the annex plans of the USA, and there were also immigrants from Asia, especially from China . The economy was strongly oriented towards the Pacific , so that it became closely intertwined with the western US states, especially California and Washington . British Columbia took on the role of supplier of raw materials, especially wood and energy , but the economic emphasis has recently shifted to other industries such as information technology and tourism. However, this economy was not concentrated in the capital, but in the greater Vancouver area , where every second inhabitant of the province lives.

Parties did not establish themselves in the provinces until the beginning of the 20th century, but liberals and conservatives were ousted by the Social Credit Party during the Cold War , which was the dominant force from 1952 to 1992. It was followed by the New Democratic Party for almost a decade . Since 2001 the Liberal Party has been the government of the province with the highest percentage of minorities.

Prehistory and early history

First human traces

For the southern migration of the first inhabitants of America, the coastal path, along with the ice-free corridor east of the Rocky Mountains , is one of the two most discussed routes. People could have lived on the west coast even during the last ice age, because there are several permanently ice-free areas called refugia on and around the Vancouver Island . Genetic and climatic historical studies also support this thesis.

In the Charlie Lake Cave , a cave near Fort St. John in northeastern British Columbia, tools have been found from the period from about 10,500 v. AD. At that time, migrated from the south bison herds into the resulting grassland with them hunters, projectile points from Clovis used type. These finds suggest a south-north migration. In the cave there were also two buried ravens - one with grave goods - that were buried 9,000 and 10,000 years ago, respectively.

One of the oldest certain finds from the Northwest comes from a cave in the Tongass National Forest (discovered in 1996) on Prince of Wales Island ; it is dated to an age of 10,300 years. Dundas Island, east of the coast near the coast, with the Far West Point site , which has dated finds of 9690 ± 30 BP , and thus the oldest on the British-Colombian coast, has traces that go back similarly .

Excavations at Namu on the mainland and at Lawn Point on Graham Island in the Haida Gwaii area show that the earliest known inhabitants were around 8000 to 9000 BC. Lived here.

Archaic phase, approx. 8000 to 4000 BC Chr.

The southwestern and northwestern coastal cultures can be traced back to at least 8000 BC. BC and thus already in the Archaic phase . However, it is unclear from which direction the settlement took place. The oldest site on Vancouver Island, Bear Cove (approx. 6000 BC), indicates a strong focus on hunting marine mammals, while salmon were already the basis of life in the hinterland . The oldest group with a constant location are the Haida on Haida Gwaii, which were formed by 7500 BC at the latest. Were settled.

The Mount Edziza volcano provided obsidian ten millennia ago

The first traces can also be found on the plateau since approx. 9000 BC. Prove. However, life in the drier hinterland was only partially based on fishing. Hunting and collecting were more important here. The oldest obsidian trade goes back to 8000 BC. BC and was based on a deposit on Mount Edziza in northern British Columbia. The range extends from the Queen Charlotte Islands to Alaska (Ground Hog Bay, about 7000 v. Chr.) And the upper Yukon , from Western Alberta ( Brule Lake , about 1000 to 1820) to Kwatna Inlet to the central coast of British Columbia.

The north already belongs to the subarctic cultural area , which only becomes tangible very late. The ancestors of the Taku , who belong to the Tlingit , the Tagish , the Dease River ( Tahltan ) and the southern Tutchone lived here .

From around 4000 BC Chr.

plateau

The middle plateau culture between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast Mountains developed around 2500 BC. The so-called pit house ("pit house"), which was partially dug into the earth. At the same time, the diet was increasingly based on salmon. In addition, mussels and game, right up to skunks, played a certain role. Today's coastal Salish are closely associated with this culture . Around 500 BC In BC Eyak Athapaskan speakers such as Chilcotin and Dakelh came to the region. The most important change is the transition to a semi-sedentary lifestyle with fixed winter villages and summer hiking cycles, according to the hunting and gathering requirements, as well as touching points with high ritual relevance (around 2000 BC).

The late plateau culture was characterized by its small size. Holes in the ground were used for storage purposes, hot stones for baking and cooking, which made cooking vessels unnecessary. Animal carvings appear to have increased, as does trade with coastal peoples. The villages grew larger and the population increased, but some of these large villages, which date back to the Middle Plateau Culture, were only inhabited for a short time, others for over a thousand years (e.g. Keatly Creek Site, 20 km above Lillooet ). Among the Kutenai in southeastern British Columbia, the influence of the plains cultures only became stronger with the introduction of the horse. The pit house has enabled more extensive stockpiling and thus better nutrition. Overall, a society developed that was based on family associations, cross-tribal relationships and hierarchization.

Coastal cultures

On the coast, settlement centers were formed around the Skeena River in the north, in the central north and on the central south coast, then on the west coast of Vancouver Island the early and middle Yuquot , which is related to the Nuu-chah-nulth , on the Strait of Georgia and on the lower Fraser as well as on the Gulf Islands and finally on the Fraser Canyon. The social hierarchy became clearer, wealth was amassed and trade increased. Salmon, candle fish and shellfish became the main foods. Therefore, numerous mounds known as shell middens appear, in which large amounts of organic artifacts have survived.

In many places it is very likely that local finds can be assigned to certain tribes in the same region, such as the Tsimshian , who lived no later than 2000 BC. Around the later Prince Rupert Harbor. At Nitinat Lake and the related Makah in Washington , the oldest finds have been found that can clearly be assigned to the tradition of Nuu-chah-nulth.

The coastal culture approached between 500 BC. and 500 AD approximates the expression found by Europeans at the end of the 18th century. The hereditary hierarchy was stricter from south to north, the hierarchy steeper. A class of leading families ruled trade, access to resources, and political and spiritual power. The simple tribesmen by no means had to make up the bulk of the people, just as little as the slaves, who were mostly prisoners of war and their descendants.

Fortified villages appeared more and more around 500 to 700 - especially in the south with dug moats, further north only with palisades. This warlike phase extended into the time of the first contact with Europeans, through which it was further intensified.

Gitwangak Battle Hill National Historic Site . The base of the hill is 80 m wide, the top 40 m. From 1979 onwards, archaeologists found rabbit and salmon remains, storage pits and house posts. The five houses had an area of ​​around 8 by 11 m, the largest house was probably that of chief 'Ne k t. The hill was abandoned at the latest in the 1830s in favor of a place five kilometers south. In 1905 a totem pole with 'Ne k t in grizzly armor and his dreaded war club k'i'la x (strike only once) was built there.

A famous relic of the consequences of the invasions that Haida and other tribes led in large-scale campaigns across the rivers far into the hinterland is the Gitwangak Battle Hill . The mother of a chief of the Gitwangak , one of the Gitxsan groups, is said to have been a Luut ' k ' isxw who was kidnapped by Haida. She beheaded her kidnapper in her sleep and fled in a canoe with her son. This son named 'Ne k t, as a war chief, established a fortress village on said hill around 1700 to control trade across the Kitwanga River . The main focus was on the more than 60 km long Grease trail (Grease is the buttery fat of the candle fish ), which connected the Nass and Skeena Rivers . The fortress was secured with palisades, besiegers failed twice on the fortress. From here the chief, dressed in armor made of grizzly skin and metal plates, attacked Kitimaat , Haida, Tsimshian and Nisga'a .

Coastal Salish

Today's coastal Salish can be traced back to the Marpole culture (400 BC - 400 AD). It was already characterized by the same social differentiation, by plank houses in which several families lived, by salmon fishing, rich carvings of often monumental proportions and complex ceremonies. By 1000 AD, an elite monopolized not only inherited prestige, but also means of power and resources. They were only reserved for the “nobility”. When the first Europeans came to the Pacific coast in the 18th century, the social hierarchy of the coastal Salish was much more pronounced than in the hinterland. In the process, it became more rigid from south to north.

The oldest permanent dwellings date back to around 3000 BC. BC, the oldest village was built on the Skeena River around 1000 BC. These houses were already standing close together in rows, as we know it from the late 18th century. But the construction was even lighter. In addition, from around 500 BC BC for the first time to prove post houses , which were characteristic of the West Coast culture. The first permanent winter villages are from 1200 BC. Chr. Tangible, common large buildings around the birth of Christ. Usually several families lived in the houses who ran a common but divided household. These houses were decorated with symbols such as totem poles and painted house walls.

Because of the now overwhelming importance of salmon fishing, immigration from the lower Frasertal or the plateau was assumed for a long time, but the Marpole culture seems to be regional. This way of life apparently allowed a relatively high population density. A height of complexity has been reached on the south coast. Permanent winter settlements can be proven, from around the birth of Christ also plank or long houses. The burial places show strong differences in status. Between around 500 and 1000 AD, many South Salish groups are characterized by cairns . There are hundreds of them around Victoria and Metchosin .

The oldest figurative representations date from around 2500 BC. On the south coast, from approx. 2500 BC. Until about 500 AD. Lip piercings can be found, but they disappeared again there, in contrast to the northern coastal areas, where they are still a tradition today.

The arch did not reach this region until around AD 400 . Pipes appeared probably around 500 . Tobacco was only smoked on the south coast and chewed in the north. There the tobacco was planted in gardens. Still, horticulture does not seem to have caught on with food.

Camassia quamash , whose onions are edible

The highly poisonous (hence the name Deathcamas), best distinguishable by the flower, Zigadenus

At least some Salish were around 1600 BC. Peasants already tied to a certain area, such as the katzie . They planted camas . Cultivation and maintenance of the soil transformed the landscape and gave it a park-like character.

In order to keep disputes within limits and to be able to survive, the tribes claimed a traditional area - often with overlaps - within which the rights of use were again determined according to lineage. The advantage of this way of life was that there were hardly ever any crop failures, and even if the harvest was less in climatically unfavorable years, one could still switch to trading via the sea. This is especially true of the Salish Sea . Crates were used to store and transport the goods.

However, while Tlingit , Haida and Tsimshian are referred to as matrilineal , the two-line relationship between father and mother prevailed among the Wakashan and Salish.

The chiefs of the tribes were mostly men, but women were often the heads of their houses. There was no formal, supra-personal authority when the first Europeans arrived. The concept of redistribution, especially through the potlatch in the sense of an ostentatious and at the same time wealth-balancing gift, strengthened the distribution of rank and tasks within societies.

Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw

Sun hat worn by a leading Nootka Sound whaler , 18th century

The early cultures of the west coast of Vancouver Island are best known through the excavations at Yuquot . Its remains are believed to have existed before 2000 BC. Dated. The culture differs significantly from the obsidian culture in the Königin-Charlotte-Straße area . There are practically no chipped stones here, but bone tools. Marine mammals were probably already predominant in the diet at this time.

Reconstructed homes in Gitselas Canyon, a National Historic Site, H.-J. Huebner 2009

While in southeast Alaska around 1000 BC Chr. Fish traps arose ( Favorite Bay ), to villages with small houses developed ( Gitselas Canyon , Paul Mason Site ) and burial sites from about 500 BC. BC, which already show signs of a social structure ( copper as an addition), and the first war weapons and injuries can be proven, there are still major dating problems on the central coast. Foundations and only bone tools are verifiable. Possibly there was a movement of the Wakashan to the north, maybe also to the south.

Despite certain similarities with the Eskimo culture , e.g. B. a certain form of harpoon , the toggling harpoon , it is now assumed that it is a direct descendant of the Charles culture. It is characterized by the growing use of ground stones , slate knives , points and nephrite axes. The procurement of food was based on game, a multitude of fish species, shellfish and marine mammals. At the Crescent Beach site , however, salmon and halibut dominated with 40% each. It is possible that salmon have already been preserved here because they are missing their heads. This also indicates that the site was never a good place to catch.

Contacts with Europeans

The Salish's first contacts with Europeans, trade and forts

The Indian trade played a role that was not entirely comparable to that of European trade. The trips served the exchange of goods, but also the establishment and consolidation of family relationships, which one could fall back on, even after the relationship had been idle for a long time. The coastal Salish had opportunities to stay practically everywhere in the huge residential area between British Columbia and Oregon , which in turn made trade easier. However, this knowledge was "private" and only belonged to one family at a time. The lower class was much more restricted regionally and had no such knowledge.

There was an intensive trade with Camassia quamash , especially with the Nuu-chah-nulth, because the majority of the coveted fruits grew in the less humid south of Vancouver Island. Even before white settlers settled there, Indians were growing tomatoes and potatoes , which they probably got from the first forts of the Hudson's Bay Company . Even beans have occasionally been planted, but they were apparently not a commercial product.

Hesquiaht woman with clothes made of tree fibers, Edward S. Curtis

Important commercial goods, on the other hand, were otter skins and beaver furs , oil and the buttery fat of the candle fish (eulachon), but also lumber for the plank houses and for the forts of the fur trading companies. There were also blankets, some of which were made from goat hair. Dogs were probably kept like flocks of sheep around Juan de Fuca Street , white and dark dog hair were made into blankets, mats, baskets and clothes that were widely exchanged. In addition to the sea routes, there was a wide network of trade routes, which the Europeans later also used and which were later converted into roads.

The coastal Salish's first contacts with Europeans were with the southernmost tribes. In 1774 Juan José Pérez Hernández made the first documented journey to take possession of the country for Spain. The expedition of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra followed a year later . With him, another Spanish ship appeared in 1775, the Santiago under the leadership of Bruno de Hezeta , which brought smallpox to the Quinaults . This catastrophic smallpox epidemic is estimated to have cost the lives of at least a third of the Indians on the Pacific coast. The Salish in today's USA were probably much higher, so high that they were against the attacks of the less affected peoples of the north in the following years could hardly fight back. The disease flared up again and again, for example in 1790 when a visit by a ship led by the Spaniard Manuel Quimper to the Beecher Bay First Nation in July transmitted the disease. Among the Lower Elwha Klallam alone, at least 335 skeletons were found near Tse-whit-zen in 2005. The epidemics hit one of the densest populations in North America, where probably half of all Canadian Indians lived, two thirds of them near the coast. They traded in about fifty different goods, including canoes, tusks, mountain goat skins, dried salmon, and seaweed.

Fort Langley 1862

Map of the Northwest Territories prepared by North West Company employee David Thompson 1813-14. It was based on research trips between 1792 and 1812 and reached from the Oregon Territory via the Great Slave Lake to the Polar Sea.

A fur trader named Charles Barkley reached Juan de Fuca Street in 1787. The Spaniards Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés y Flores and the British George Vancouver came in 1792. The Lewis and Clark Expedition explored on behalf of the US government the American West and reached lower Columbia and the Pacific in 1805, with which the United States declared its territorial claim. Simon Fraser , fur trader of the North West Company , drove down the Fraser River , later named after him, in 1808 and also reached the Pacific, or the Juan-de-Fuca Strait. In 1811 the first fur traders established themselves on Columbia, and there were forts such as Fort Shuswap (1812-13). The Hudson's Bay Company followed in the 1820s and built Fort Langley in 1827 . At this time, the northern tribes made extensive raids far south and, for example, attacked the Nanoose in the south of Vancouver Island in 1823 , of which only 159 lived in 1839. The predatory and looting expeditions of the tribes north of the Salish, especially the Haida , Kwakwaka'wakw and Tlingit , increased by the first fur traders and the steady influx of weapons , are likely to have caused considerable damage to the trade.

In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie , a member of the North West Company, was the first European to reach the coast from the east. There he met the Nuxalk belonging to the coastal Salish . Mackenzie's companion, John Finlay , founded Fort St. John in 1794 , the first permanent European settlement in British Columbia. Simon Fraser explored part of the interior in 1808. In 1811 David Thompson explored Columbia.

South of the border with Russian America (54 ° 40 'N), the North West Company, the Hudson's Bay Company and the American Fur Company were also active in the fur trade. Great Britain and the USA signed the London Treaty in 1818 , which provisionally regulated the joint use of the area then known as the Oregon Country . After the merger of HBC and North West Company in 1821, what is now British Columbia was divided into three commercial districts. The northern and central part of the interior formed New Caledonia (administrative seat Fort St. James ); the interior south of the watershed of the Thompson River and north of the Columbia River belonged to the Columbia District with the administrative seat Fort Vancouver ; the extreme northeast, known as the Peace River Block , was part of the Athabasca District administered from Fort Chipewyan , Alberta .

As is usually the case, the local Indians, in this case the Kwantlem , helped to build it, much like the Songhees helped build Fort Victoria. Some of the higher-ranking women married company employees. By moving their main settlements around the forts, some tribes tried to monopolize trade with the whites by displacing competing tribes and acting as middlemen.

Fur trade, European conflicts and regional rulers

On August 9, 1774, the Santiago was under the Spanish captain Juan José Pérez Hernández off the west coast of Vancouver Island, but there was no contact with the Nuu-chah-nulth. So they were spared the severe smallpox epidemic that hit the coastal Salish.

View of the residential buildings in Nootka Sound. in: "A Collection of Voyages round the World ... Captain Cook's First, Second, Third and Last Voyages ..." Volume V, London, 1790, p. 1767.

James Cook landed on Nootka Sound and Resolution Bay in 1778 , which was the first commercial contact. He registered that there was fighting between the tribes he called "Nootka". The main trigger was the dispute over the trade monopoly with foreigners.

During the years 1778-90 / 94 the Spanish and British tried to enforce their claim to this stretch of coast. The negotiations to settle the dispute took place with Maquinna , the chief of the Mowachaht . He bore the title Hyas Tyee ( important chief ), which was also used to designate the kings of the Europeans. Maquinna carried out a targeted war policy and made alliances for this purpose. At the same time he managed to control the fur trade and the profits from it. The fact that European weapons also came into his hand gave his rule superior assertiveness. This also raised the prestige of the ruling class, the “nobility”.

When the journals of the Cooks expedition were published in 1784, this triggered a run on sea ​​otter skins . Between 1785 and 1805 more than 50 merchant ships headed for the region. In 1788 the visitors occupied the land to establish a trading post, and the following year the Spaniards left a garrison . Maquinna temporarily withdrew from Friendly Cove and fled to Clayoquot Sound , where he lived with Wickaninnish , the second influential chief on the west coast. John Meares came into direct contact with this Tla-o-qui-aht chief in June . But in 1789 the four ships that Meares had sent out in consultation with Wickaninnish were boarded by the fleet of the Spanish captain Don Estevan José Martínez . Meares brought a petition in the House of Commons in May 1790 encouraging the Prime Minister to drive the conflict to the brink of open war.

Bodega Quadra , who represented the Spanish cause from 1792, tried to win allies against the British and courted the chiefs. Maquinna invited both Quadra and George Vancouver to Tahsis . Hardly ever was the presence of Europeans so dense as in the years 1792-94, when 30 ships anchored in the Sound, ten (or twelve) alone at the same time in September 1792. In March 1795, the Spaniards gave the northernmost settlement in the Pacific after the agreement with London.

Conflicts with Europeans generally revolved around ownership, but there were other cultural misunderstandings. It seems that cannibalism , which led Europeans to make the most violent threats of violence, has been used time and again to discredit the respective neighbors. It would have been a means of damaging the company's reputation and redirecting trading contacts in its own interest. This could go back to the lessons learned from the first encounter with James Cook, when the Indians believed that the whites were cannibals. Therefore they offered them body parts with the gesture of eating, which they rejected indignantly.

Further misunderstandings arose when the chiefs appeared on board after a potlatch in which they were extremely generous and expected the same from the captain and his officers. Their demands or “begging” met with contempt and led to serious insults. The question of whether female slaves were "offered" to foreign men and what goals were pursued by the chiefs remains completely unclear. After all, such anecdotes were a not to be underestimated lure of the advertisers, and they were perhaps only circulated in order to be able to recruit enough teams for the long journeys.

The fur trade was part of a triangular trade between Europe, China and Northwest America. Europeans drove to Nootka Sound with metals, Venetian glass beads, and anything known to be coveted. There they took otter skins and beaver pelts on board and sold them in East Asia. With the enormous profits they acquired porcelain , silk and other Chinese goods that were in demand in Europe. In the process, a trader's language was developed, which was called Chinook Wawa . It consisted of numerous Chinese, English, and Spanish words, but also words from the Chinook and Nuu-chah-nulth.

Nevertheless, the influence of the European visitors was initially felt mainly by those tribes that monopolized the fur trade, especially the Mowachaht and Tla-o-qui-aht. In 1805, the members of Ehatteshaht, who lived further north of the island, touched what was probably the first light-skinned English visitor, John R. Jewitt , who was wrapped in strange clothes .

Cannon balls handed over to a museum 100 years after the shelling of Ahousaht villages in 1864

But the fact that the fur traders avoided the Nootka Sound from 1803 after the attack on a ship soon made the chief hostile to the other tribes. By 1817 at the latest, the supremacy of the Mowachaht was apparently broken. The trade in sea otter skins finally ended in 1825.

Kwakwaka'wakw canoes, Edward Curtis

The Tla-o-qui-aht had a similar experience. In June 1811 the Tonquin , a ship of the Pacific Fur Company , anchored in Clayoquot Sound . Chief Nuukmis felt betrayed and a robbery broke out in which the Tla-o-qui-aht killed the crew. However, the last survivor on the ship blew up the entire gunpowder supply, killing around 150 warriors. After this event, the fur traders avoided the region for decades and the regional supremacy of the Tla-o-qui-aht was destroyed.

The decline of the Nuu-chah-nulth continued with severe smallpox epidemics from 1824, followed by measles around 1850 . Between 1850 and 1854, Governor James Douglas signed 14 land assignment agreements for little compensation. At the same time, the Tsimshian , Haida and Coast Salish fought long wars, which were now fought with modern rifles, such as between the Ahousaht and the Otsosaht, who fought for 14 years.

In 1862–1863, a particularly severe smallpox epidemic raged on the west coast , probably killing 20,000 Indians. In contrast to the early smallpox epidemics, this time the Nuu-chah-nulth were also affected. In 1864 violent clashes broke out in the course of which Ahousaht attacked a sloop and killed the crew. In the course of a vengeance, a fleet bombarded and destroyed nine villages.

John Douglas Belshaw recently estimated that the indigenous population in the province had collapsed from around 500,000 to below 30,000.

Fur trading companies, settlement by Americans

Map of Oregon County with British and American Territory Claims

The Hudson's Bay Company extended into what is now US territory, an area that roughly corresponds to the states of Washington , Oregon , Idaho , plus parts of Montana and Wyoming . The HBC received the exclusive right to trade with the "natives" in 1838 and founded a trading post in 1843 on the site of today's Victoria . It was secured by the border treaty between Great Britain and the USA of June 15, 1846, which struck Vancouver Island to British North America . London left the entire island to the company for ten years.

The HBC founded a subsidiary under the direction of George Simpson . Sawmills now cut wood for export to California and East Asia , salmon and cranberries were exported, and the Puget Sound Agricultural Company was established in Victoria for these purposes as early as 1843 . The first coal mine was built in Fort Rupert in the north and the SS Beaver was the first motorized ship to sail the American northwest in 1834.

In 1849 James Douglas was appointed governor of the newly created crown colony of Vancouver Island by the HBC , of which Victoria became the capital. New Caledonia, as the mainland part of the later province was called, remained a territory under the administration of the HBC, which had to withdraw from the south, which belonged to the USA from 1846. In 1859, an inaccuracy in the treaty nearly resulted in a military confrontation known as the Pig Conflict. It was not until a commission formed by the German emperor that the affected islands were sold to the United States, thereby ending the territorial dispute in 1872.

From 1852, London allowed the colony to sell uninhabited land. It sold for a dollar an acre . The population pressure increased rapidly with the first gold rush from 1858. Victoria, which had barely 300 inhabitants until April 25, 1858, grew by 450 gold prospectors on that day, because when gold was discovered on the Fraser , another 16,000 people came to Victoria in a very short time. Gold had already been found on the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1851, but the governor kept the find secret until 1856. The Indians had sold the HBC 800 ounces of gold by then .

Economic changes

Britain withdrew all land as Crown land (crown land) per se and later taught Reserves ( Reserves ) a. The tribes were divided into reserves according to their villages and a very fluctuating key that related families and land needs (10 to 600 hectares per family), which extremely fragmented the land - to date there are more than 1,700 reserves in British Columbia. The resulting farms made gathering and digging impossible for the Indian women. Then the increasingly industrial fishing, which the Canadian government assisted with restrictions on the Indians, destroyed the Salish fish trade. Buildings like the railway bridge over the Fraser even destroyed the fish ladder necessary for the fish and thus ended some of the massive fish runs . There were also dams. Lakes such as Lake Sumas were simply drained in the 1920s to gain farmland.

The Indians increasingly hired themselves as lumberjacks, sawmill assistants, and for a certain time even as miners in the coal mines and as seamen. Others worked in the fish industry, the men mostly as fishermen, the women gutting and packing. But the Japanese and Chinese displaced them first in railway construction, then in fishing. The legislation prevented commercial fishing among the Indians. They were increasingly dependent on day labor, unskilled work and seasonal employment.

Overall, the financing of the British presence suffered from an insufficient number of settlers - in 1813 a first attempt was made to farm to supply Fort Vancouver , and in 1826 an attempt was made to supply the trade routes in the Okanagan Valley in this way - but this was made possible by the income from the gold discoveries Fraser and the Cariboo area . Soon the economic focus of the province shifted to the export of raw materials such as coal and wood, but also fish. Accordingly, competition was only allowed as long as it lowered the wage level or was limited to areas that were not (yet) accessible. Under the same conditions, the immigration of Chinese and Japanese was initially encouraged.

Epidemics and mission

But such considerations were initially made obsolete by severe population losses. Protective measures against unknown diseases by some missionaries and doctors such as 1853 and 1862 only helped selectively. Numerous Salish survived around Victoria and in Puget Sound , but this time the north was helplessly exposed to the disaster. The mission stations benefited from these catastrophes, because the loss of cultural knowledge through the death of the shamans and medicine men , the elderly and healers, plus the belief in the weak power of their own forces, prompted many Indians to convert to Christianity. Little by little , the indigenous people became a minority for the first time, violent resistance arose, such as in the Chilcotin War or in the resistance of the Ahousaht , but the mostly small groups had little opportunity to assert themselves against the colonial power equipped with modern weapons.

The first missionary was Modeste Demers , a Catholic missionary who reached Fort Langley in 1841. With St. Mary's, an oblate mission was established on the Fraser in 1861 . The later Bishop Paul Durieu (from 1875) even managed to enforce a state of God among the Sechelt . In 1859 the Methodists in Hope joined them.

Gold finds and raw material industries

Barkerville (1865)

When Governor James Douglas shipped a shipment of ore to San Francisco for investigation in 1858 , it sparked the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush , and Victoria quickly turned into a large tent city. The Fort Langley HBC served many prospectors as a starting point, although Governor Douglas had only access via Victoria allowed. Tensions arose between prospectors and the Thompson ( Nlaka'pamux ) and eventually the Fraser Canyon War .

New Westminster at Fraser, ca.1865

With thousands of Americans present, Douglas feared losing British influence. A gunboat he had requested forced license fees on the Fraser River for boats and ships that wanted to go on the river. The British Colonial Ministry finally declared the mainland part of the Crown Colony of British Columbia on August 2, 1858 , with New Westminster as its capital. Douglas proclaimed the new colony at Fort Langley and was appointed governor of both colonies.

As soon as the Fraser Canyon gold rush was over, gold was discovered again further inland. During the Cariboo gold rush in 1861/62, tens of thousands of people poured into the Barkerville and Lillooet area . They brought in unknown diseases against which the local Indians, such as the St'at'imc , were defenseless.

Section of Cariboo Road, ca.1867-68

BC Express station at Ashcroft, 1905

In order to facilitate access for Europeans and to better control the Cariboo area, the government of the colony had a road built, the Cariboo Road (also called Cariboo Wagon Road or Great North Road ). With the income from license fees, it financed the provision of a basic infrastructure in the rapidly growing gold cities. However, the government ran a large deficit. The two colonies were therefore merged on August 6, 1866 to form the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia , with Victoria as the capital.

The "old settlers" had quickly become a minority, which led the colonial government to encourage immigration from Great Britain. Douglas had turned towards reservation policy some time ago. So in 1861 he ordered the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works to take action and demarcate the reserve. However, the expansion of the Indian reserves should be set out by the natives themselves. This comparatively mild Indian policy ended in 1864 with Joseph William Trutch as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works , who in 1870 was the first to deny the "savages" any claim to land, and in 1872 withheld their right to vote.

In 1854 the Muir family built a steam-powered sawmill near Victoria, and in 1861 one was built in Port Alberni . The coast, which is rugged by fjords, made it possible to transport raw materials by ship when there were practically no roads opening up the country. The raw materials, in turn, encouraged the use of steam ships. The timber industry neither promoted the infrastructure nor did agriculture follow it, as in Ontario for example. This was more due to the coal industry, which caused the construction of railroads to Nanaimo (the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway ), where coal had been mined since 1851.

But the capital base was initially thin. The only banks that settled were the Bank of British North America and the Bank of British Columbia , whose capital owners were in Great Britain. The only bank with local capital was Macdonald's Bank (founded in 1862 by Alexander Macdonald), but went bankrupt in 1864 after a robbery.

The influential regional elite not only managed to fend off the governor sent by London, who gave up in frustration, but also achieved an undisputed position. They held extensive land holdings on behalf of and through the HBC. Their position is definitely comparable with the Family Compact in Ontario and the Chateau Clique in Québec .

New Westminster , the capital of the mainland province, was in competition with the Victoria Freeport. In addition, the logging of the sawmills around Port Moody, near the Burrard Inlet , was much more successful. But the Canadian Pacific Railway decided against New Westminster because it had no port, but also against Port Moody, where land speculation had driven prices to unaffordable heights. Granville, later Vancouver, became the economic center of the region.

Canadian Province (since 1871)

1873 British Columbia map listing the province's natural resources

The decline in economic power after the end of the gold rush and the desire for self-government and an independent government led to the formation of a political movement that demanded the colony's accession to the Canadian Confederation . This was created in 1867 from the union of four British colonies in the east of the continent. In particular, the Confederation League , led by the three later Prime Ministers Amor De Cosmos , John Robson and Robert Beaven , represented this concern. Their main arguments were the fear of a possible annexation by the USA and the large deficit due to the strong population growth - the population was estimated at 60,000 in 1871.

On July 20, 1871, after long negotiations in Ottawa in which Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken played a crucial role, eventually joining the Confederation. In return, the Canadian state undertook to assume the debt and promised to build the Canadian Pacific Railway within ten years. However, the fulfillment of this promise was delayed by several years. With the setting of the symbolic final nail in Craigellachie on November 7th, 1885 by Donald Smith , the transcontinental railroad was completed.

View of Vancouver in 1898

Favored by the easier accessibility, numerous coal and iron ore mines as well as iron works were built, especially in the southeast of British Columbia . Several new cities were founded in their vicinity. In addition to mining , forestry , agriculture, and fishing also began to play a significant role, and the prospect of job opportunities attracted many immigrants. This encouraged the development of the old fur trading posts (such as Victoria , Nanaimo , Prince George , Kamloops, and Fort St. John ) into larger locations. However, Vancouver became the largest city in the colony . The city owed its rapid rise above all to the fact that the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) moved its western terminus there in 1887, and that extensive port facilities were built there, from which the province's mineral resources could be exported.

Although settlement sites based on the American model began to be established as early as 1874, agriculture proved to be a weak export branch, which the CPR did not change. After all, wheat and cattle from Alberta and Saskatchewan came to Vancouver on this route , which was nevertheless significantly more involved in the Pacific trade than in intra-Canadian trade. The shortage of mainly British immigrants was felt to be so severe that the Canadian government did not hesitate to bring around 80,000 children to Canada between 1867 and 1917 in cooperation with the British poor law institutions.

Territorial claims in the Alaska Panhandle (red: western border claimed by Great Britain; blue: eastern border claimed by the USA; yellow: today's border)

It was not until 1903 that the boundaries of the province were finally established. Although Great Britain and Russia had already defined the border between their possessions in an agreement in 1825, the wording was kept very imprecise. When Alaska was bought by the US in 1867 and British Columbia joined Canada in 1871, Canada requested a survey of the Alaska Panhandle , which the US refused for reasons of cost. In 1903, US Secretary of State John Hay and British Ambassador Michael H. Herbert negotiated a compromise.

Indian policy

With the establishment of the province, British Columbia also took on the role of Indian Affairs , which the Department of Indian Affairs directed. First of all, the natives should be Christianized more intensively, then their land should be opened up for the settlers. In 1864, during the Queen's birthday celebrations, the Indians of British Columbia asked the governor to protect their land, but the following year the Vancouver Island Legislature called for a bid for Indian land to be freed. In 1866, the Indians were also prohibited from purchasing their land themselves ( Pre-Emption Ordinance ).

British Columbia's Indian policy has always been more ruthless than that of the Ottawa government . This is partly related to the immigration of gold diggers from California. On the other hand, it was also related to a group around William Trutch and the later Prime Minister William Smithe , who saw the Indians primarily as "savages". Smithe once said: “When the whites first came among you, you were little better than the wild beasts of the field” (When the whites first came to you, you were hardly better than the wild animals in the field). While Ottawa had thought 160 acres of land per family was appropriate, the provincial government wanted to allow only 25. However, the passages of the British Columbia Land Act of 1874 that nullified Native American claims were cashed in in 1875. In the same year an Indian Reserve Commission was set up to settle the land issue. The reserves should be managed in trust and be reduced or enlarged according to the population development. In 1877 Gilbert Malcolm Sproat became the only Indian Reserve Commissioner , but in 1880 he was overthrown because he had given too much land. Peter O'Reilly , Trutch's brother-in-law, followed him until 1898. The federal government repeatedly came into conflict with provincial politics and in 1908 the commission began to be dissolved. In 1911 the case should go to the Supreme Court , but the province refused to cooperate. On September 24, 1912, the McKenna-McBride Commission was set up, which visited the reservations from 1913 to 1916. In the end, she recommended 54 reserve reductions totaling 47,000  acres , after protests the reduction was reduced to 35 affected reserves or 36,000  acres . The remaining 733,891  acres were divided into over 1,700 parcels.

In 1875, the government ended the Indian Board system through a system of superintendencies , to which executive power was granted. After all, in 1884 the government rejected an initiative whereby Indians could be driven from any kind of valuable land. Instead, most of the tribes were assigned reservations between 1875 and 1889. Still, the government transplanted the Songhees from the Victoria area in 1903 , a policy that was officially abandoned in 1908. It is still operated in Ontario and Québec to this day.

The Hereditary Chiefs or Traditional Chiefs posed a particular “problem”. Although they fulfilled the British basic demand for indirect rule, which the Canadian government also initially pursued, they also prevented access to their “subjects”. In the eyes of the government, they opposed their ideal of equality between individuals. An addition to the Indian Act in 1951 therefore stipulated that the chiefs and their advisors had to be elected. This led to disputes among many tribes.

Legislative Assembly Session , 1921

Commercial fishing was prohibited to the Indians by the government from 1871 to 1923. It was not until 1922 that Indians were allowed to fish commercially. They were also deprived of their right to vote in the provinces from 1872 to 1949, and in 1876 even the communal. It was not until 1960 that they were allowed to vote in elections for all of Canada. From 1880 to 1927 they were also denied the right to assemble and until 1970 they were disadvantaged when buying land. In 1885 the potlatch was banned , which was not lifted until 1951.

Soon the Indians spoke English and increasingly understood the system of government. In 1906 a delegation of British Columbia chiefs, led by Squamish chief Joseph Capilano, met with King Edward . In 1910, the Conference of Friends of the Indians of BC was founded , just as the traditional chiefs began to organize. The number of Indians in 1913 was only estimated at 21,489. Even if the epidemics had led to drastic population losses - in 1835 the number of Nuu-chah-nulth is estimated at only 7,500, while before 1780 their number is estimated at around 25,000, it was the sum of the following disadvantages brought the nations to the brink of extinction. By 1924 their number had shrunk to 1,459.

Soon the remaining tribes pursued a policy of liaison with one another, and the Allied Tribes of British Columbia came into being (1916-1927). 1923 they put the government against claims for the first time for compensation (2.5 million to CAD ) turned then to enlargement of the right to 160 acres per person in the reserve size, as well as certain hunting and fishing rights. There was also educational and health aids. The government countered with the Great Settlement of 1927, which rejected all land claims. In addition, the Indians were not allowed to employ lawyers in order to exercise their rights. In 1932 the tribes founded the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia , which published the monthly newspaper Native Voice . In addition, he worked for the Indian Homemakers' Association and the Confederation of British Columbia Indians .

The worst long-term blow came in 1920. All children between the ages of 7 and 15 were now forced to attend the residential schools , boarding schools that separated the children from their parents for months. The "Indian problem" should be solved by educating them to be "new Canadians". It was not until the 1960s that they were allowed to use their mother tongue again. The last Residential School was closed in Tofino in 1983 . In 1998 Canada's Minister of Indian Affairs officially apologized to the former students, followed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008 . However, the cultural losses can hardly be compensated, many languages ​​have disappeared.

The economic role of the Indians

Early industrialization would not have been possible without the labor of immigrants. In the early stages, the Indians played a crucial role until they were sidelined by Indian policy. Until 1862 their role in economic life was even decidedly dominant. Above all, the growing city of Victoria was provided with building materials, labor and food. In 1859 over 2,800 Indians camped near the city, several hundred lived in the city. They had integrated the “newcomers” into their extensive and long-standing trading system. To the Nuu-chah-nulth belonging Makah in northwest Washington went a step further and founded in 1880 the Neah Bay Fur Sealing Company . They chartered the ship Lottie in Port Townsend , eventually Chief James Claplanhoo bought the ship, three more schooners were purchased, and finally the Discovery in Victoria. In 1886 Chief Peter Brown bought the schooner Champion . But even these efforts were destroyed by restrictive Indian laws.

The fact that extensive coal deposits were discovered at all was thanks to the "Nanaimo Coal Tyee" who asked the Hudson's Bay Company whether they were interested in the black mountain that burns. He himself had already shipped coal to Victoria from there. In 1852, Joseph MacKay, senior officer at Fort Nanaimo , was satisfied with the work the Indians were doing in the pits. Of the first 1,400 barrels that came to light, half were from them. Many of them also became members of the trade unions. With the construction of the railway line from Esquimalt to Nanaimo , exports via Victoria took off. In 1890, Nanaimo resident Thomas Salmon was sent to Ottawa to represent the Miners and Mine Laborers Protective Association . During the coal strike in Nanaimo from 1912–1914, Indians refused to work as strike breakers and ended up on black lists. They were increasingly being ousted by the Chinese played against them.

But most of the Indians worked in the fishing industry. While 1,500 to 2,000 were still working as fishermen and rowers around 1900, by 1929 there were already 3,632. Here too they organized themselves and took part in the first fishermen's strike in 1893. They were also involved in the formation of unions, such as the Squamish in 1912 when the International Longshoremen's Association was founded . They also took part in the dock strikes in Vancouver in 1923 and 1935.

Since the 1960s, numerous positions have been created in self-government through state funds. These positions were often held by women. In the meantime, many tribes are trying to make themselves economically more independent again by using their area for tourism after a large part of the natural resources has been used up or destroyed. Since 1993 they have also been allowed to operate limited salmon fishing on the Fraser for commercial purposes. However, the salmon stocks are falling massively, which is partly due to the numerous fish farms. In 2009 the Ahousaht and four other Nuu-chah-nulth tribes sued for permission to fish for commercial purposes (Ahousaht Indian Band And Nation v. Canada Attorney General, 2009 BCSC 1494).

The traditional basketry and, above all, carving in traditional motifs are better known to the public and benefit from a rapidly expanding art market.

In 1990 the protracted negotiations resulted in the Indian Self-government Enabling Act , which was intended to strengthen self-government . A fundamental agreement was reached in 2001, and further contracts were concluded in 2007, but numerous groups are suspicious of the government's changed strategy, and some tribal groups are even divided.

Industrialization, immigration

The exploitation of natural resources required a great deal of manpower, which, under the conditions at the time, amounted to a large number of immigrants, because the working reservoir of the Indians and the early settlers was far too small. The immigrants came not only from Europe, but increasingly also from China , British India and Japan , which soon led to racist attacks. At the political level, the immigration of non-European people was increasingly restricted. The enactment of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 made immigration of Chinese virtually impossible. Only dealers and investors were excluded.

Until then, there was a particularly high demand for Chinese workers in railway construction and coal mining. In 1914, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a second transcontinental railway line alongside the Canadian Pacific Railway . It led through the north of the province from Yellowhead Pass via Prince George to Prince Rupert . Shortly before the turn of the century, the first automobiles appeared in Victoria, and in 1906 200 of them were registered in the province. However, given the road conditions, they were not yet a competition for the railroad.

In 1933 an attempt was made - only for board and lodging - to employ men in road construction. This led to protests in 1934.

1916–1917 unemployment rose to 20%. Thousands participated in the construction of the Stanley Park Seawall in Vancouver without pay . At the same time, political parties emerged for the first time. The Socialist Party of British Columbia (SPC) , founded in 1904, was very popular, but the Social Democratic Party of British Columbia split off from this Marxist party in 1907 and became the Social Democratic Party of Canada in 1911 . In 1920 the Federated Labor Party of Canada emerged from the British Columbia Federation of Labor . In 1912 the SPC won around 11% of the vote, but in 1921 the Marxists left the party to join the Workers Party , the legal part of the Communist Party of Canada , which was banned again and again until 1924 . The SPC disbanded in 1925.

In 1917 the alcohol prohibition came into force, but it was lifted again in 1921 because it could not be enforced due to the black market trade and rampant corruption . Since the production and sale of alcohol in the contiguous United States remained banned, developed in British Columbia a thriving alcohol industry that their products through smuggling brought across the border. One of the hubs of this smuggling was Discovery Island , where the province's first lighthouse keeper, Mary Ann Croft, supplemented her meager salary by helping smugglers.

Great Depression

The returning veterans of World War I encountered a labor market that was mostly in the low-wage sector. At the same time, the protective tariffs kept the prices of goods artificially high, because the Canadian government tried to protect its economy against imports from the USA. In addition, large parts of the war production had become superfluous. The global economic crisis plunged the province into a recession from 1929 onwards, because the falling raw material prices hit the province particularly hard.

In addition, there was a long period of marked drought, which caused great damage to agriculture and the fishing industry. In Vancouver, unemployment rose to 28% and around 8,000 families lived on welfare. In addition, the more moderate climate of the south attracted more settlers who could no longer bear the higher costs in the colder regions. In this situation, the trade unions and the Communist Party were very popular, and the unemployed in the state-organized employment camps also united. On June 18, 1935, the so-called Battle of Ballantyne Pier took place , in which more than a thousand strikers fought against wage breakers who, however, were accused of attempting communist coups. The strike lasted until the end of the year.

North Vancouver and Burnaby went bankrupt. In Vancouver neighborhoods were built without any urban supply, some of which were evacuated because the conditions there were so unhealthy.

In 1928, Thomas Dufferin Pattullo was elected leader of the Liberals after the party lost the election. When the ruling Conservative Party split into several groups and failed to even put up a candidate, the Liberals won a landslide election victory on November 2, 1933, and Pattullo became Prime Minister on November 15. His policy of "socialized capitalism", in which the state supported the unemployed more and intervened in the economy, met with resistance from liberals outside the province. "Duff", as he was called, won the 1937 elections, but lost his majority in 1941. This was not only due to internal opposition, but also to the rise of 1933 as a local section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) emerged British Columbia New Democratic Party . The CCF, in turn, emerged from the Socialist Party of Canada and the League for Social Reconstruction and represented socialist concepts.

Second World War

Internment camp for Japanese

With the outbreak of the Second World War , there was strong growth in the arms industry. This, together with the increased demand for raw materials, led to an economic upswing and, as a result, to a considerable increase in population. In addition, unemployment fell through the sending of numerous soldiers to the theaters of war. In Richmond , parts were built for the American air fleet, numerous mines attracted investors and miners, the timber industry deforested huge areas without any restrictions. In February 1942, the largest passenger ship in the world, the Queen Elizabeth , was converted into a troop transport in Esquimalt.

In 1942, a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor , the Canadian government viewed the Japanese-born Canadians as a threat to national security, much like the Germans during World War I. 21,000 of them were expropriated and interned in inland camps or had to do forced labor on farms. It was not until 1988 that the Canadian government officially apologized and made compensation payments.

Liberals and conservatives joined forces under the leadership of the liberal John Hart , who ousted Pattullo, who after eight years of government failed to win a majority. Although the Liberals won fewer votes than the Socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation , they won more seats in parliament. Pattullo, in turn, refused to form a coalition with the conservatives and left the party. When the CCF, the socialist party in Saskatchewan won a surprise victory in 1944, the coalition continued government to prevent this success in British Columbia. Hart was elected prime minister on December 9, 1941 and re-elected in 1945.

From April to September 1942 the Alaska Highway was built , which connected the area around Fort St. John via Whitehorse with Alaska in order to be able to transport war material and troops for the Pacific War against Japan. Canada took over the road sections located on its territory according to the contract after the end of the war.

After 1945

In 1947 Byron Ingemar Johnson took over the post of Prime Minister. He won 61% of the vote in 1949. In addition to his spending program, Johnson owed this to his campaign to support the victims of the previous year's Fraser Flood, which inundated 50,000 acres of land and lost thousands. Since tensions between the coalition partners had been increasing for some time, he ended the cooperation. The previously dominant Liberals and the Conservatives, however, suffered a heavy defeat in the 1952 elections and sank into insignificance.

Under Prime Minister WAC Bennett , a former Conservative, the British Columbia Social Credit Party rose to be the strongest party - one seat ahead of the CCF. During Bennett's twenty year reign, British Columbia experienced an unprecedented economic boom. Central industries were nationalized, such as energy supply, which was grouped under the name BC Hydro from 1961 . Huge dam projects that served to supply the Vancouver region, but also the greater Seattle area and the Puget Sound in the USA, were carried out, making BC Hydro one of the largest energy suppliers in the world and one of the most important employers in British Columbia. Apart from a brief reign of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) from 1972 to 1975, the Social Credit Party remained in power until 1992.

However, due to numerous political scandals during the reign of Bill Vander Zalm , the party collapsed completely. Their electoral base turned almost completely to the resurgent British Columbia Liberal Party , which had been in government since 2001, after an equally scandalous and economic slump ten-year reign of the NDP.

The government now aimed to privatize the Crown Land and planned the economic use of all forest areas on this land ( Working Forest Plan ). However, it provisionally failed in 2004. In 2005 the Green Party won 9.2% of the vote. The government increasingly focused on privatization in the field of electricity production, using the production of green energy , i.e. electrical energy without high carbon dioxide emissions, as the main argument. As a result, from 2002 to 2010 around 800 rivers and streams came into the focus of national and US companies such as General Electric . In order to enforce their claims and to build dams there, the rights of the local authorities, such as the municipalities and the First Nations, were curtailed, as well as the possibilities to protect the local ecosystems or cultural sites. In the area of Bute Inlet alone , 17 dams are to be built. BC Hydro was obliged to buy the electricity.

Jobs were increasingly created in administration, industrial production and in education, tourism and leisure, as well as in trade. The original production played an increasingly minor role.

In addition, the government tried to conclude agreements with the numerous tribes that stipulate part of their land claims, but which also provide for the privatization of the reserves. So far only one treaty has been ratified. In 2005 the government was confirmed, which is mainly due to the success of its economic policy, especially since unemployment fell to 4% by 2007. However, the US economic crisis since 2007, Canada's highest tax rate and negative trade balance are putting the government under increasing pressure. In addition, the permission to export raw wood was the first time the unions in the woodworking industry were against the government. In March 2009, the province lost the most jobs in Canada with 23,000 jobs, 69,000 since October 2008. The unemployment rate rose from 5.2% to 7.9%, but fell to 7.4% by September 2009. In March 2010 it was 7.9%.

In 2010 the Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver, West Vancouver , Richmond and Whistler . Before the games were awarded, a vote was held in Vancouver in February 2003 on the organization of the games, which resulted in 64% of the games being held (turnout 50%).

Loss of culture, cultural diversity

The cultural decline of indigenous arts and crafts, sometimes referred to as "Dark Ages of Northwest Coast Art", happened at very different times and has been reinterpreted for several years. The massive art theft, which took place for almost a century, is now undisputed. The wood carvings, especially the stakes, had long drawn the attention of anthropologists , ethnologists, and those interested in art. In 1904 the largest structure, the Whalers' Shrine of the Mowachaht in Yuquot, was sold, dismantled and taken to New York . Today it consists of 88, z. Some monumental, figurative representations that were probably created between the 18th and 19th centuries. On the other hand, the return and occupation with the works scattered all over the world was one of the prerequisites and consequences of the revival.

Language courses have been increasing rapidly since the 1990s, and the number of admissions to secondary schools and universities has also increased. The First Nations House of Learning at the University of British Columbia made a significant contribution to this . The same applies to efforts to cultivate other segments of culture.

Klallam men in Sunday clothes on the beach, in the background a Shaker church

The revitalization in the religious area took other paths. The Indian Shaker Church , which combined Christian and indigenous concepts, is based on the personal death and rebirth experiences of a coastal Salish from the Puget Sound named John Slocum . From there, the teaching launched in 1882 spread to British Columbia.

The winter spirit dance has been rediscovered since the 1950s and reached its first peak in the 1990s. In 1960 there were only around 100 dancers, but in the 1990s there were often 500 or more dancers.

The arts of carving, painting and weaving were also revived. Then there is the canoe construction. Canoeing now attracts numerous tourists, but there are also competitions between tribes and clans, often across national borders.

Powwows , cross-tribal dance gatherings, have also grown in popularity. These celebrations culminate each year in a large, cross-border meeting of all coastal Salish, the participants of which are received by the tribes in turn.

The conflict over Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island is exemplary of the severity of the conflict . The dispute was sparked off by fishing: in 1955 the (bribed) Minister of Forestry granted logging rights for more than half of the Clayoquot Sound to the predominant timber company. Soon rains poured mud into the rivers, causing vital fish stocks to collapse. In 1958, tribes united to form the West Coast Allied Tribes , from which in 1978 the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council emerged . In 1984 the inhabitants of the island of Meares proclaimed the island , which was directly threatened by deforestation, to be a tribal park and demanded - for the first time - protection in recognition of its cultural autonomy. In 1985, a restraining order stopped the deforestation. In 1989, nature conservation associations and representatives of the tourism association allied for the first time, which also suggests a shift in the province's economic focus. In 1992 the dispute went beyond the narrow provincial framework and also crossed national borders. International boycotts of wood meant that a small part was placed under protection, but the rest was allowed to be cut down.

In 1994 the indigenous peoples were given a provisional right of veto. An autonomy statute for the First Nations has been discussed in Canada since 1995 . In 1997, the Regional Aquatic Management Society (RAMS) was founded, a society in which Nuu-chah-nulth and non-indigenous people came together, fishermen, environmentalists, members of the government and communities, a total of over 70 groups, came together to protect the coastal region. In 2000, UNESCO made the entire Clayoquot Sound a biosphere reserve . Since then, several protected areas have been created in the form of provincial parks , in 2001 the Pacific Rim National Park .

immigration

Not only the Indians and the initially dominant English, Welsh, Scots and Irish contributed to the cultural diversity of the province, but also immigrants from all over Europe. Numerous traditional associations shape the image of the larger towns, especially Vancouver and Victoria. The ethnic conflicts between whites and Indians were heavily overlaid by other ethnic conflicts. Immigration from Asia in particular contributed to this. While the Japanese immigrated relatively late and played their economic role almost exclusively in fishing, mines and, above all, railway construction attracted numerous Chinese who were employed there as cheap labor. They displaced both Indians and whites. As a result, the unions that fought wage depressions became one of the driving forces behind the restrictions on immigration.

Japanese

British Columbia tried to stop Asian immigration as early as 1895, although the smaller group of Japanese had only immigrated since 1877. In 1901 there were 338 Japanese in the Victoria district and 1,062 in the Vancouver district. After riots broke out in Vancouver in 1907, Japan limited the number of immigrants to 400 per year, in 1923 even to 150. In 1919 the Japanese fishermen were so successful that they were held almost half of the fishing licenses. A few years later, however, the government had withdrawn around 1,000 of the more than 3,000 licenses. In 1920 the first trade union organization was established, which from 1924 onwards published its own newspaper called Minshu .

After the attack on Pearl Harbor , all Japanese were expropriated and their 1200 fishing boats confiscated. First they were interned in Hastings Park in Vancouver, then from January 16, 1942 they were sent to internment camps . A first detention camp was set up in Greenwood in April , followed by Kaslo, New Denver, Slocan, Sandon and Tashme. 572 farms were forcibly sold. In 1946, 3,964 Japanese were forced to leave for Japan. In 1967 the last restrictions were abandoned and it was not until September 22, 1988 that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney officially apologized.

Chinese

The first Chinese immigrants came from California as early as 1858 . Most of them lived in Victoria . As early as 1880, the Chinatown there was the largest in Canada. In 1911, 3,458 Chinese lived in the city, many of whom had long since brought their families. The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association tried to resolve conflicts with non-Chinese people. Chinatowns also developed in other places, such as Nanaimo , but their economic base was more trade and coal mining. In 1887, 53 Chinese were killed in the Nanaimo mine accident . There were also Chinatowns in Cumberland , Wellington , Northfield , South Wellington, and Extension . In 1901 there were 3,004 Chinese in the Victoria district alone.

The first larger community came into being in 1863 in Barkerville at the foot of the Cariboo Mountains . It comprised 300 men. Like the First Nations , the Qualifications of Voters Act in 1872 prevented the Chinese from voting, and from 1878 onwards they were no longer allowed to be employed for construction projects in the province. Instead, thousands of them worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway between 1880 and 1885 . With the completion of the railway, the Chinese were only allowed to immigrate if they paid a head tax of 50 dollars. This was doubled in 1900/02 and increased to $ 500 in 1903. Many now migrated eastwards. In 1907 there were anti-Chinese riots in Vancouver, where by 1919 there were already 6,000 Chinese. In 1923 the federal government stopped further immigration with the Chinese Immigration Act 1923 .

In 1895 the Chinese Board of Trade was founded to intensify trade with China. During World War II , China and Canada were allies, and the Chinese rallied for the Allies to wage war . In 1947, all Chinese got the right to vote, including in British Columbia. Ten years later, Douglas Jung was the first Chinese to sit in parliament and later became Canada's representative to the UN. It was not until 1967 that the Chinese received the same immigration rights as all other immigrants. The Chinese Canadian National Council was founded in 1979 after racist attacks on CTV . Before 1999, when Hong Kong was ceded by Great Britain to the People's Republic of China , numerous Chinese immigrated to Canada, especially to Vancouver, which is now derisively called "Hongcouver".

Multicultural society

Today the visible minorities , especially Asians, make up around a seventh of the Canadian population, in British Columbia it is almost a quarter, in Vancouver it is around 40%. Nowhere else in Canada is their percentage so high. This development continues, because over 80% of the immigrants belong to these minorities, of which over 80% move to the greater Vancouver area. More than half the population of the entire province now lives there. The proportion of Chinese (10%), Indians and Pakistani (6.4%), Filipinos (2%) and Southeast Asians is growing rapidly. In British Columbia, the Chinese make up around 44% of the visible minorities . The First Nations, who are not counted among the visible minorities , make up around 4.5% of the population, plus 1.2% who are referred to as Métis . Around 60% of the population have ancestors from Great Britain or Ireland. 561,000 had German ancestors.

Additional information

Periodicals

Important periodicals on the history of the province are

• BC Studies, University of British Columbia, since 1968.
• British Columbia Historical Quarterly, 1937 to 1958.
• The Beaver, Hudson's Bay Company, since 1920.

US magazines are also of importance for the early history of the province, such as

• Oregon Historical Quarterly, since 1900.
• Pacific Historical Quarterly, called Washington Historical Quarterly from 1906 until 1936

literature

prehistory

• RG Matson, Gary Coupland: The Prehistory of The Northwest Coast. Academic Press, San Diego 1995.
• Roy L. Carlson, Luke Dalla Bona: Early Human Occupation in British Columbia. University of British Columbia Press, 1996. (Reprint: 2000)

history

• Jean Barman: The West Beyond the West. A History of British Columbia. revised edition. University of Toronto, 1996. (Reprinted in 2004)
• Hugh Brody: Maps and Dreams. Indians and the British Columbia Frontier. Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver 1981, ISBN 0-88894-338-5 .
• Robin Fisher: Contact and Conflict. Indian European Relations in British Columbia, 1774-1890. UBC Press, Vancouver 1977.
• Darren Friesen: Canada's Other Newcomers. Aboriginal Interactions with People from the Pacific. Thesis. University of Saskatchewan 2006.
• Barry M. Gough: Gunboat Frontier. British Maritime Authority and Northwest Coast Indians. University of British Columbia Press, 1984.
• Jean Gould: Women of British Columbia. Hancock House, Saanichton 1975.
• James E. Hendrickson: The constitutional development of colonial Vancouver Island and British Columbia. In: WP Ward, RAJ McDonald (Eds.): British Columbia. Historical readings. Vancouver 1981, pp. 245-274
• Hubert Howe Bancroft: History of British Columbia, 1792-1887. San Francisco 1887 ( online ) (obsolete)
• Anita Pascoe: Recapturing the History and Rights of First Nations Peoples of British Columbia. A Political Analysis of Past and Present Relationships with the Dominion of Canada. Victoria digital (PDF, 1.2 MB).

History of science

• Allan Smith: The Writing of British Columbia History. In: BC Studies. 45, 1980, pp. 73-102.

Bibliographies

• Wilson Duff, Michael Kew: A Selected Bibliography of Anthropology of British Columbia. University of British Columbia Library, 1973.
• Robert Steven Grumet: Native Americans of the Northwest Coast. A Critical Bibliography. Indiana University Press for the Newberry Library 1979.

swell

• James E. Hendrickson (Ed.): Journals of the Colonial Legislature of the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, 1851-1871. Provincial Archives of British Columbia, Victoria 1980, ISBN 0-7718-8183-5 .
• Terry Ann Young: Recording the History of Aboriginal Peoples in British Columbia. A Guide to Resources at the British Columbia Archives and Records Service and BC Lands. 1992, ISBN 0-7718-9178-4 .

See also

• First Nations history
• History of the Coastal Salish
• History of Canada
• History of Alberta
• History of Washington
• List of National Historic Sites of Canada in British Columbia

Web links

• The West Beyond the West. British Columbia's history, heritage and culture
• Coastal Salish on firstnations.de by Karen Wonders (English)
• Kwakwaka'wakw on fristnations.de (English)
• Map of the First Nations in British Columbia ( Memento from August 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, 540 kB)
• The Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia

Remarks

1. ^ See First Nations in British Columbia . As of October 2014, there were exactly 198 First Nations tribes recognized, nearly a third of the recognized tribes in Canada.
2. ^ ^{A b} Cf. John Douglas Belshaw: Cradle to Grave. A Population History of British Columbia. University of British Columbia Press 2008, ISBN 978-0-7748-1545-1 .
3. ↑ In the Port Eliza Cave , a cave on the north west coast, there were also 16,000 to 18,000 year old remains of mammoths , mountain goats , as well as various types of pollen that indicate vegetation with grass and trees. See the article by Simon Fraser University: Port Eliza Cave .
4. ↑ See Mitochondrial Population Genomics Supports a Single Pre-Clovis Origin with a Coastal Route for the Peopling of the Americas. In: The American Journal of Human Genetics 82/3 (March 3, 2008) 583-592.
5. ↑ See Renée Hetherington, Andrew J. Weaver, Álvaro Montenegro: Climate and the migration of early peoples into the Americas. Geological Society of America Special Papers 2007, 113-132.
6. ↑ See article by Simon Fraser University , or the interview with Dr. Jon Driver.
7. ↑ Associated Press reported the return of these finds to the Tlingit , more precisely to the two communities of Craig and Klawock: US officials return ancient remains to indigenous Tlingit tribes after scientific testing. In: Herald Tribune. October 19, 2007.
8. ↑ Knut R. Fladmark: Lawn Point and Kasta. Microblade Sites on the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. In: Canadian Journal of Archeology 10 (1986) 37-58.
9. ^ Roy Carlson, Luke Dalla Bona: Early Human Occupation in British Columbia. University of British Columbia Press 1996, ISBN 0-7748-0535-8 .
10. ^ Catherine C. Carlson: The Early Component at Bear Cove. In: Canadian Journal of Archeology. 3, 1979, pp. 177-209.
11. ↑ The tiny blades that were also found there are striking. Cf. (PDF, 144 kB): Aubrey Cannon: An Example of Precision Microblade Technology from the Central BC Coast ( Memento from December 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).
12. ↑ See Obsidan from Mount Edziza ( Memento October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) from the Royal British Columbia Museum . General information on prehistoric trade in British Columbia: Roy L. Carlson: Trade and Exchange in Prehistoric British Columbia. In: Timothy G. Baugh, Jonathon E. Ericson (Eds.): Prehistoric exchange systems in North America. Plenum Press, New York 1994, pp. 307-362.
13. ^ Timothy G. Baugh, Jonathon E. Ericson: Prehistoric Exchange Systems in North America. Plenum Press, New York 1994, pp. 352f. Six other obsidian sites existed in the province.
14. ^ Keatly Creek ... a look into the past, Simon Fraser University 1996
15. ^ Thomas H. Richards, Michael K. Rousseau: Late prehistoric cultural horizons on the Canadian Plateau. Simon Fraser University, Department of Archeology 1987.
16. ↑ I'm following Alan D. McMillan: Early Nuu-chah-nulth Art and Adornment: Glimpses from the Archaeological Record. In: Alan L. Hoover: Nuu-chah-nulth. 230-256.
17. ↑ On the slave trade: Leland Donald: The Slave Trade on the Northwest Coast of North America. In: Barry L. Isaac (Ed.): Research in Economic Anthropology. 6, 1984, pp. 121-156.
18. ^ Grant R. Keddie: The Use and Distribution of Labrets on the North Pacific Rim. In: Syesis. 14, 1981, pp. 59-80.
19. ↑ See Brian Lewis, Katzie heritage site being bulldozed for bridge. Only three per cent of artifacts have been recovered so far. In: The Province, June 22, 2008.
20. ^ RG Matson, H. Pratt: The Crescent Beach site and the Place of the Locarno Beach Phase. 2008.
21. ↑ See: Lynda V. Mapes: Unearthing Tse-whit-zen. "How could so many die?" Graves may tell story of terrible epidemic. In: Seattle Times 22.-25. May 2005 .
22. ↑ Martin Brook Taylor, Doug Owram: Canadian History: Beginnings to Confederation (= Canadian History. A Reader's Guide, Volume 1, ed. By Brook Taylor, University of Toronto Press 1994, p. 363.)
23. ↑ The full title of the map is: "Map of the North-West Territory of the Province of Canada from actual Survey during the years 1792-1812. This map made for the North West Company in 1813 and 1814 and delivered to the Honorable William McGillivray then agent Embraces the Region lying between 45 and 60 degrees North Latitude and 84 and 124 degrees West Longitude comprising the Survey's and Discoveries of 20 years namely the Discovery and Survey of the Oregon Territory to the Pacific Ocean the Survey of the Athabasca Lake Slave River and Lake from which flows Mackenzie's River to the Arctic Sea by Mr. Philip Turner the Route of Alexander Mackenzie in 1792 down part of Fraser's river together with the Survey of this River to the Pacific Ocean by the late John Stuart of the North-West Company by David Thompson Astronomer and Surveyor "
24. ↑ Pascoe, note 110.
25. ↑ After Griffith: Tonquin. The Ghost Ship of Clayoquot Sound. Tofino 2007, 15-20. Similar to The Search for the Tonquin published by the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia .
26. ↑ The range of this epidemic is shown on this map ( memento of August 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) from the Seattle Times .
27. ^ Reuben Ware, The Lands We Lost: A History of Cut-Off Lands and Land Losses from Indian Reserves in British Columbia , Vancouver: Union of BC Indian Chiefs 1974, 4f.
28. ^ Journals of the House of Commons of the Dominion of Canada from 15th February to 14th April, 1871 ... being the 4th session of the 1st Parliament of Canada, session 1871, p. 185.
29. ↑ On this phase: WN Sage: The critical period of British Columbia history, 1866–1871. In: Pacific Historical Review 1 (1932) 424-443.
30. ^ On this, Roy Parker: Uprooted. The Shipment of Poor Children to Canada, 1867-1917. UBC Press, ISBN 978-0-7748-1540-6 .
31. ↑ See Terry Eastwood: The Indian Reserve Commission of 1876 and the Nanaimo Indian Reserve. UBC Press and Robin Fisher: Exercise in Futility: The Joint Commission in Indian Land, 1875-80 Historical Papers, Canadian Historical Association 1975.
32. ↑ Basic: Paul Tennant: Aboriginal People and Politics. The Indian Land Question in British Columbia 1849–1989. UBC Press 1990.
33. ^ Eugene Y. Arima / John Dewhurst, Nootkans of Vancouver Island, in: Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast, Washington 1990, p. 408.
34. ↑ Estimates and results of the censuses: Four Directions Institute - Nootka .
35. ↑ Full text: 'We are sorry for failing them so profoundly', in: Canada's 'Sad Chapter', in: National Post, June 12, 2008
36. ^ Rolf Knight: Indians at Work: An Informal History of Native Labor in British Columbia. Vancouver: New Star Books 1996, ISBN 0-921586-50-7 , p. 186.
37. ↑ Ahousaht Indian Band And Nation v. Canada Attorney General, 2009 BCSC 1494 , Indigenous Peoples. Issues and Resources, November 13, 2009
38. ↑ See Michael Kevin Dooley, "Our Mickey": The Story of Private James O'Rourke, VC.MM * (CEF), 1879–1957. In: Labor / Le Travail 47 (2001) ( Memento of June 27, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
39. ↑ On this, Todd McCallum, The Great Depression's First History? The Vancouver Archives of Major JS Mathews and the Writing of Hobo History , Canadian Historical Review 87 (2006) 79-107.
40. ↑ See Japanese Canadian Internment ( Memento June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) - University of Washington Libraries.
41. ↑ Voices of Bute Inlet (film) and Voices of Bute Inlet, 2 .
42. ^ Statistics Canada
43. ↑ Table 4-10, Selected labor force characteristics (seasonally adjusted) - British Columbia , Statistics Canada
44. ↑ Will Jennings : Olympic Risks. Palgrave Macmillan , New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-230-30006-4 , p. 211.
45. ^ Ronald W. Hawker: Tales of ghosts: First Nations art in British Columbia, 1922-61. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003.
46. ↑ Aldona Jonaitis: The Mowachaht Whalers' Shrine: History Revealed by Carvings. In: Alan L. Hoover (ed.), Nuu-Chah-Nulth Voices. Histories, Objects & Journeys. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria 2000, 2nd edition. 2002, 292-305.
47. ↑ For more information on the biosphere reserve at Clayoquot Sound, see Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve .
48. ↑ Last on this: Greg Donaghy and Patricia E. Roy: Contradictory Impulses. Canada and Japan in the Twentieth Century. UBC Press 2008.
49. ↑ See Chronology of Expropriations and Forced Relocation ( Memento from October 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).
50. ↑ The National Nikkei Heritage Center Society has existed since 1992, followed in 1995 by the Japanese Canadian National Museum & Archives Society , which provides information about Japanese Canadians as part of the foundation. See Patricia E. Roy: The Triumph of Citizenship. The Japanese and Chinese in Canada, 1941-67. UBC 2007, ISBN 978-0-7748-1380-8 .
51. ↑ A floor plan of Victoria's Chinatown can be found here (BC Archives): Victoria's Chinatown Land Utilization 1909 ( Memento of February 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
52. ^ The Chinese Experience in British Columbia: 1850–1950 , University of British Columbia project , accessed March 5, 2014.
53. ↑ This map shows how they are distributed according to the 2006 census.
54. ↑ This map illustrates their distribution .
55. ↑ Information based on the 2006 census .