page_title: Vancouver Island
section_title: British settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Vancouver Island / History / British settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Great Seal of Colony of the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies (c. 1849). Designed by Benjamin Wyon (1802-1858), Chief Engraver of Her Majesty's Seals. Original held at British Museum. This seal is on the classic pattern of British colonial seals from the Nineteenth Century, and combines the Royal Arms of Queen Victoria in the top third of the image with the symbols of the colony in a highly stylised shield or badge on the bottom two thirds. The principal symbols of the badge are Trident of Neptune and the Caduceus of Hermes crossed in saltire. These represent the sea and trade respectively. Above this is set a pine cone, and below is a beaver sitting on a small island surrounded by water. These represent the forest and other natural resources of the colony and perhaps also the early connection of the colony to the Hudson’s Bay Company (who also bore a beaver on their arms). The seal was only in use from the time of its creation until the union of Vancouver Island with its neighbouring colony on the mainland, British Columbia, in 1866. The united colony would, in turn, join the Canadian confederation in 1871. These symbols have, however, lived on, with a similar version of the British Royal Arms and colonial badge being featured on the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper, which originates in from the colonial period. In addition to this there is the flag of Vancouver Island, which is a British blue ensign flag with the badge of the colony in a white disk on the fly, which is still commonly flown on Vancouver Island. Sources consulted: Swan, Conrad. Canada: Symbols of Sovereignty, University of Toronto Press, 1977 (pp 181)
context_page_description: Vancouver Island is in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 460 km in length, 100 km in width at its widest point, and 32,134 km² in area. It is the largest island on the west coasts of the Americas.
  The southern part of Vancouver Island and some of the nearby Gulf Islands are the only parts of British Columbia or Western Canada to lie south of the 49th parallel. This area has one of the warmest climates in Canada, and since the mid-1990s has been mild enough in a few areas to grow subtropical Mediterranean crops such as olives and lemons.
  The population of Vancouver Island was 870,297 as of 2019. Nearly half of that population live in the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. Other notable cities and towns on Vancouver Island include Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Parksville, Courtenay, and Campbell River.
  Indigenous peoples had inhabited Vancouver Island for thousands of years, long before the arrival of British and Spanish naval expeditions in the late 18th century.
context_section_description: In March 1843, James Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Company and a missionary had arrived and selected an area for settlement. Construction of the fort began in June of that year. This settlement was a fur trading post originally named Fort Albert (afterward Fort Victoria). The fort was located at the Songhees settlement of Camosack (Camosun), 200 m (660 ft) northwest of the present-day Empress Hotel on Victoria's Inner Harbour.
  In 1846, the Oregon Treaty, which ended the Oregon boundary dispute, was signed by the British and the United States to settle the question of the U.S. Oregon Country borders. The Treaty made the 49th parallel latitude north the official border between the two countries. In order to ensure that Britain retained all of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands, however, it was agreed that the border would swing south around that area.
  In 1849, the Colony of Vancouver Island was established. The Colony was leased to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) for an annual fee of seven shillings; the company's responsibility in return was to increase the population by promoting colonisation. The first independent settler arrived that year: Captain Walter Grant started a homestead in Sooke. Following the brief governorship of Richard Blanshard, James Douglas, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay post, assumed the role in 1851.
  The island's first legislative assembly was formed in 1856. Government buildings were built and were occupied in 1859; the replacement, today's Parliament Buildings, were opened in 1898.
  Fort Victoria had become an important base when prospectors, miners and merchants began arriving for the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858. The Hudson's Bay lease expired in 1859 and the island reverted to Great Britain. The burgeoning town was incorporated as Victoria in 1862. Victoria became the capital of the colony of Vancouver Island, retaining this status when the island was amalgamated with the mainland in 1866.
  A British naval base, including Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard and a naval hospital, was established at Esquimalt in 1865 and eventually taken over by the Canadian military. Today, as CFB Esquimalt, it is the home port of the Maritime Forces Pacific and parts are designated as National Historic Sites of Canada.
caption: The Great Seal of the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies was designed by Benjamin Wyon, Chief Engraver of Her Majesty's Seals, c. 1849. The symbolic badge he designed was the basis for the flag of Vancouver Island, which is still unofficially flown today.[16]
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