In 1905, Canada was made up of nine provinces that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Located on the West CoastCoast – A coast is an area where the land meets the sea. Côte – Une…, British Columbia was a province that was very different from the others. Having been occupied by Indigenous Peoples for millennia, its territoryA territory is an area of land, or sometimes of sea, that we can say “belongs”… had been explored in 1743 by the La Vérendrye brothers who were seeking a route to Asia. It took another 100 years for the European colonizationColonizationColonization occurs when one country takes control of another country, territory, or people. It happens when… of the territoryA territory is an area of land, or sometimes of sea, that we can say “belongs”… to actually begin.
In the early years, the territoryA territory is an area of land, or sometimes of sea, that we can say “belongs”… was operated by the Hudson’s Bay Company, which traded furs with Indigenous hunters. British Columbia entered the Canadian ConfederationThis is a group of people or nations or tribes or provinces that form an “alliance”…. in 1871 because it saw certain advantages:
- its populationPopulation comes from the Latin populus, meaning “the people.” We say population when we talk about a group… was predominantly of British origin, like the rest of Canada;
- its economy needed the railway and
- it needed to define its territoryA territory is an area of land, or sometimes of sea, that we can say “belongs”… in order to stop the expansion of the U.S. to the south and north of its borders.
Borders
To the west, British Columbia was bordered by the Pacific Ocean. To the east were the Rocky Mountains and a shared border with the province of Alberta. The province also shared borders with the United States both to the north and to the south, namely with the State of Washington to the south and with the State of Alaska to the north. In 1905, British Columbia was an important province, thanks in great part to its many natural resourcesResources are anything taken from the earth or nature that people need, use, and are “valued”…. and the railway. It also served as a hub for tradeTrade is when we buy, sell, or just exchange goods (things, foods, etc.) or services (helping… with Asia. It was for these two reasons that colonists from all over the world came to settle in British Columbia.
AuthorAuthor – A person who writes something Auteur – Une personne qui écrit quelque chose: Service national du Récit de l’univers social
