| Fort Victoria | |
|---|---|
| inVictoria, British Columbia, Canada | |
 Inside of Fort Victoria looking towards the east gate, c. 1850s | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Fur trading post |
| Controlled by | Hudson's Bay Company |
| Website | bcheritage |
 | |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1843 |
| In use | 1843–1864 |
| Demolished | November 1864[1] |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | James Douglas Roderick Finlayson |
| Official name | Fort Victoria National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | 4 June 1924 |
Fort Victoria began as afur trading post of theHudson's Bay Company and was the headquarters of HBC operations in theColumbia District, a large fur trading area now part of the province ofBritish Columbia, Canada and theU.S. state of Washington. Construction of Fort Victoria in 1843 highlighted the beginning of a permanentBritish settlement now known asVictoria, the capital city of British Columbia. The fort itself was demolished in November 1864 as the town continued to grow as a commercial centre serving the local area as well as trading withCalifornia,Washington Territory, theUnited Kingdom, and others.
The location of Fort Victoria was designated aNational Historic Site of Canada in 1924.[2]
The original headquarters of HBC operations on the Pacific Coast of North America at the time of Victoria's founding wasFort Vancouver (nowVancouver, Washington) on the lowerColumbia River, but its location was difficult to defend, ships often had difficulty entering the mouth of the Columbia, and it was far from the lucrative furs inNew Caledonia farther north. With American settlers beginning to come into the region, in 1843, the company sentChief FactorJames Douglas to build a fort some distance north onVancouver Island and made him its superintendent. The signing of theOregon Treaty in 1846 settled the matter of Fort Vancouver's further suitability as the United Kingdom gave up its claims in the area to the United States and in return kept Vancouver Island while the Americans dropped their claims north of the49th parallel.
Erected in 1843 on a site originally calledCamosun (a variant of the Lekwungen word "Camossung", the name of a girl turned into stone by the spiritual beingHayls, the Transformer to watch over the resources in what is now known as theGorge waterway[3]); her name derives from theCamas. The fort was known briefly as "Fort Albert", but on June 10, 1843, by resolution of HBC's Council of the Northern Department, it was officially named Victoria in honour of the youngQueen.[4][5][6] The fort was built using labour from localFirst Nations people, who were paid oneHudson's Bay blanket for every 40 pickets they cut.[7] TheSonghees people soon established a village across the harbour from the fort. The Songhees' village was later moved to the north shore ofEsquimalt Harbour. In 1844, a dispute led to a gathering of warriors led by Tzouhalem, aQuamichan chief, who peppered the fort with threats and musket balls for two days until the fort's Chief FactorRoderick Finlayson demonstrated the power of the fort'snine-pounder cannon.[8]
In 1849, theColony of Vancouver Island was established and the HBC was granted exclusive proprietary rights over Vancouver Island. The condition imposed by theColonial Office was that the company would establish a settlement within five years or see their grant revoked. It was also to spend ninety percent of what it made on land sales on infrastructure such as roads and schools. A town was laid out on the site and made the capital of the colony. London sentRichard Blanshard to be its governor.
Even as the settlement began to grow, the nature of the company's business was changing. Animal populations were beginning to dwindle from overtrapping, slowing the fur trade, but theCalifornia gold rush created a huge demand for resources with few places to buy them on the unsettled west coast. By 1850 there were several sawmills operating at Victoria to feed the hungry California market. The company was soon trading salted salmon with Hawaii and outfittingRoyal Navy ships with supplies for theCrimean War.
The Colony prospered and grew with thegold rush and by 1860, a smalllegislature was formed. However, GovernorJames Douglas turned down any suggestion of aresponsible government.
Chief Factor James Douglas, who remained superintendent of the fort, was made the second governor of the Vancouver Island colony in 1851, and would be the leading figure in the early development of the city until his retirement in 1864, and of theMainland Colony from 1858 to 1862 when he was replaced as governor of that colony byFrederick Seymour. The fort was demolished in November 1864. In June 1924, the site of the fort was designated aNational Historic Site of Canada.
National Historic Sites of Canada by location | |
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| Provinces | |
| Territories | |
| Other countries | |
HistoricHBC operations in the Pacific Northwest | ||||||||
| Columbia Department |
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| New Caledonia District |
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48°25′33″N123°22′07″W / 48.42579°N 123.36851°W /48.42579; -123.36851
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