| Historical
Dates - British Columbia |
| 1778 |
1778
Great Britain's explorer, Captain James Cook, reached Nootka
Sound and became the first white man to set foot on British
Columbian soil. |
| 1787/8 |
John
Mackay was the first white man to live in BC - in Nootka on
Vancouver Island. |
| 1788 |
Frances
Barkley, the young wife of Captain Charles William Barkley,
was the first white woman to set foot on Vancouver Island. |
| 1790 |
October 28: Treaty of the Nootka Convention was accepted and
signed by Great Britain and Spain. |
| 1792 |
August 28: Captain George Vancouver reached Nootka. |
| 1793 |
July 22: Alexander McKenzie, the first European to complete
a journey across Canada, arrived at the Pacific Coast |
| 1808 |
May: Simon Fraser and his twenty-four adventures set out in
four canoes to descend the Fraser River. |
| 1807/8 |
Geographer David Thompson is credited with having recorded the
first systematic meteorological observations taken in British
Columbia. |
| 1835 |
Coal was discovered on Vancouver Island. |
| 1843 |
March 15: Fort Victoria was established by the Hudson Bay Company
- later to become Victoria. |
| 1846 |
June 15: The 49th parallel (Latitude) was decided upon as the
boundary between the United States and the British Colonies. |
| 1849 |
Vancouver Island was proclaimed a Crown Colony. |
| 1850 |
Gold quartz was discovered at Mitchell's Harbour on the west
coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands (renamed Haida Gwaii in
December, 2009). |
| 1852 |
The Queen Charlotte Islands became a dependency of the Crown
Colony of Vancouver Island. |
| 1857 |
Gold was discovered in the sandbars of the lower Fraser River.
The gold rushes of the following 8 years brought approximately
25,000 prospectors from around the world to the mainland. |
| 1858 |
November 19: The Colony of British Columbia was formed at a
ceremony in Fort Langley. |
| 1859 |
New Westminster became the capital of British Columbia. |
| 1866 |
August: An Imperial Act was passed, uniting Vancouver Island
and British Columbia, formerly separate colonies, with New Westminster
as capital. The Rocky Mountains were designated as BC's eastern
boundary, following the Continental Divide. |
| 1868 |
April 2: Victoria was named capital of British Columbia. |
| 1871 |
July 20: British Columbia became the 6th province of the Dominion
of Canada. |
| 1872 |
Three German Judges, at the request of Britain and the US, settled
the boundary dispute in the Strait of Georgia by ruling the
San Juan Islands as US territory. |
| 1885 |
November
7: The last spike in the transcontinental railroad was driven
at Craigellachie. |
| 1903 |
The boundary between BC and Alaska was established. |
| 1906 |
Official flag was registered with the College of Arms in London
and later authorised for use in the Province, 1960. |
| Historical
Facts - British Columbia |
 |
The first
Governor of Vancouver Island was Richard Blanshard, from 16
July 1849 to 30 August 1851. |
|
The first
Governor of British Columbia was James Douglas, from 2 September
1858 to 21 April 1864. |
|
The first
Governor of the United Colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver
Island was Frederick Seymour, from 24 October 1866 to 10 June
1869. |
|
The first
Premier of British Columbia was John Foster McCreight, from
13 November 1871 to 20 December 1872. |
|
The first
Lt. Governor of British Columbia was Joseph w. Trutch, from
5 July 1871 to 26 June 1876. |
|
In 1871,
under the terms of the Union of BC with Canada, three senators
were appointed to represent BC in Ottawa. |
|
In 1872,
six Members of Parliament were appointed to represent BC's provinces
in Ottawa. |
|
In 1917
women in BC were given the right to vote in federal elections.
|
|
The first
female member of the BC Legislature was Mary Ellen Smith in
1918. |
|
The first
female Cabinet Minister in Canada was Mary Ellen Smith in 1921
|
|
The first
female Cabinet Minister with Portfolio was Tilly Rolston - 1
August 1952 |
|
The first
female Premier of a Canadian Province was Rita Johnson - 2 April
1991 (British Columbia) |
|
Vancouver
Island was originally named Quadra and Vancouver Island by Captain
George Vancouver in 1793. The area which is now Northern Washington
and Southern BC, he named New Georgia, and the area that is
now Northern BC he named New Hanover. This region was named
New Caledonia by Simon Fraser in 1808 and subsequently changed
to British Columbia by Queen Victoria in 1858. |
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