British Columbia, Canada History

By | October 11, 2021

According to shopareview, British Columbia, or British Columbia, is a Canadian province located in Western Canada on the Pacific Ocean. Important cities include the capital Victoria, Vancouver and Abbotsford.

To the south of the west coast are the islands of Vancouver Island and to the north the archipelago of Haida Gwaii. The Coast Mountains follow the west coast of British Columbia in parallel. To the south lies the sparsely populated Lower Mainland with the Fraser Valley. In the border area of Alberta is the Rocky Mountains and at the border with Alaska lies the province’s highest mountain Mount Fairweather 4663 m.

TIMELINE:

1740s – The Russians began to trade around the coast of British Columbia.

1741 – The Danish explorer Vitus Bering explores the BC coastline and discovers that Asia and North America are not connected. When he reached Alaska, he was forced to interrupt the expedition due to scarce supplies and scurvy among the members. Bering’s ship had to be abandoned, and the crew landed on an uninhabited island named after him ( Bering Island ). Nearly half of the crew, including Vitus Bering himself (December 19), perished. He also named the sea between Alaska and Russia – the Bering Sea.

1778 – Captain James Cook was the first from Britain to reach Nootka Sound, and the first white man to land in BC Read more here. Cook’s exploits as a discoverer and sailor are so significant and valuable that one can compare him to the great nautical explorers, Christoffer Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan and Abel Tasman. His skills in mathematics, navigation and cartography were quite exceptional.

1855 – The gold rush begins after the discovery of the Thompson River and continues on to the Fraser River.

1858 – The discovery of gold in Canada In 1858, a race began with more than 30,000 gold diggers coming up the Fraser River. Most came from the gold fields of California. Fearing that the Americans would take over the area, the British government suspended the monopoly that the Hudson’s Bay Company had had so far and declared direct control of the area. The Crown Colony of British Columbia was proclaimed by Governor James Douglas in the name of Queen Victoria on 19 November 1858.

1862 – A smallpox epidemic breaks out, killing 14,000 Indians along the coast from Vancouver to Alaska.

1875 – The steamship SS Pacific collided with Orpheus on November 4, en route to Victoria, but both ships continued their voyage, and later around southwest of Cape Flattery the ship sank, killing 275 passengers. Only 2 of them survived.

1896 – A tram crammed with 143 passengers on their way to attend the celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday in Victoria mysteriously crashed into Point Ellice Bridge, ending in the Gorge Waterway, resulting in 55 deaths. It’s one of BC’s worst disasters.

1907 – Riots break out in Chinatown, Vancouver, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

1916 – Snow chaos in Victoria when 79 cm of snow fell in 24 hours.

1917 – Women win the right to vote on an equal footing with men.

1917-21 – Alcohol ban in BC

1956 – The world’s tallest free – standing totem pole is hoisted in Beacon Hill Park.

1962 – Typhoon Freda hits Vancouver on October 12, costing $ 55 million in casualties, killing seven and injuring hundreds.

1996 – Out of the blue, Fraser Valley was hit by 65 cm of snow in 24 hours, breaking the 1916 record. With more snow waiting, more records were broken as temperatures dropped. Over four long days, the snow reached a height of about 150 cm.

British Columbia, Canada History