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The Colony of British Columbia was a British Crown Colony that resulted from the 1866 merger of two British colonies, the Colony of Vancouver Island and the mainland
Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada: * Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) * Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) See also * History of ...
. The united colony existed until its incorporation into
Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation () was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion, Dominion of Ca ...
in 1871 as the Province of British Columbia.


Background

The Colony of Vancouver Island was created in 1849 to bolster British claims to the whole island and the adjacent
Gulf Islands The Gulf Islands is a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia Coast, mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia", the original term used by Geor ...
, and to provide a North Pacific home port for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
at Esquimalt. By the mid-1850s, the Island Colony's non-indigenous population was around 800 people; a mix of mostly British, French-Canadian, Hawaiians, but with handfuls of Iroquoians, Métis and Cree in the employ of the fur company, and a few Belgian and French Oblate priests. First Nations' populations had not recovered from smallpox epidemics in the 1770s and 1780s. Three years earlier, the
Oregon Treaty The Oregon Treaty was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to ...
had established the boundary between British North America and the United States west of the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
along the 49th parallel. The mainland area of present-day
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
was an unorganized territory under British sovereignty until 1858. The region was under the de facto administration of the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
, and its regional chief executive, James Douglas, who also happened to be Governor of Vancouver Island. The region was informally given the name
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
, after the fur-trading district which covered the central and northern interior of the mainland west of the Rockies. All this changed with the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1857–1858, when the non-aboriginal population of the mainland swelled from about 150 Hudson's Bay Company employees and their families to about 20,000 prospectors, speculators, land agents, and merchants. The British Colonial Office acted swiftly, proclaiming the Crown
Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866 that was founded by Richard Clement Moody,Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Volume 90, Issue 1887, 1887, pp. 453-455, ...
on 2 August 1858, and dispatching Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, to establish British order and to transform the newly established Colony into the British Empire's "bulwark in the farthest west" and "found a second England on the shores of the Pacific".Jean Barman, ''The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia'', (Toronto: University of Toronto), p.71 Moody was appointed Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.


United colonies

Moody and the Columbia Detachment disbanded in July 1863, and Moody returned to England. Douglas continued to administer the mainland colony from Victoria, but Sir Arthur Kennedy was appointed to succeed him as Governor of Vancouver Island. New Westminster would welcome its first ''resident'' governor, Frederick Seymour, in 1864. Both colonies were labouring under huge debts, largely accumulated by the completion of extensive infrastructure to service the huge population influx. As gold revenues dropped, the loans secured to pay for these projects undermined the economies of the colonies, and pressure grew in London for their amalgamation. Despite a great deal of ambivalence in some quarters, on 6 August 1866, the united colony was proclaimed, with the capital and assembly in Victoria, and Seymour was designated governor. Seymour continued as governor of the united colonies until 1869, but after the '' British North America Act, 1867'' joined the three colonies (
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
, and the
Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...
) into the Dominion of Canada in 1867, it seemed increasingly only a matter of time before Vancouver Island and British Columbia would negotiate terms of union. Major players in the Confederation League such as Amor De Cosmos, Robert Beaven, and John Robson pushed for union primarily as a way of advancing both the economic health of the region, as well as increased democratic reform through truly representative and responsible government. In this effort, they were supported and aided by Canadian officials, especially Sir Samuel Tilley, a Father of Confederation and Minister of Customs in the government of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald. Seymour, ill and beset by protests that he was dragging in his feet in completing negotiations for the HBC's territory, was facing the end of his term, and Macdonald was pressing London to replace him with Sir Anthony Musgrave, outgoing governor of the
Colony of Newfoundland Newfoundland was an English overseas possessions, English, and later British, colony established in 1610 on the Newfoundland (island), island of Newfoundland. That followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, which was at first ...
. Before the appointment could be finalized, however, Seymour died. With Musgrave's appointment, the British colonial secretary, Lord Granville, pushed Musgrave to accelerate negotiations with Canada towards union. It took almost two years for those negotiations, in which Canada eventually agreed to shoulder the colonies' massive debt and join the territory to a transcontinental railway, to be finalized. His efforts led to the admission of British Columbia as the sixth province of Canada on 20 July 1871.


Governors of the united Colony of British Columbia

* Frederick Seymour, 1866–1869 *Sir Anthony Musgrave, 1869–1871


Legislative Council of the united Colony of British Columbia

1866 to 1869 14 members were appointed by the governor and 9 were elected by the public.
1869 to 1872 13 members appointed by the Governor, 8 elected by the public.


Elections to the Legislative Council of the united Colony of British Columbia

* 1866 Colony of British Columbia general election * 1869 Colony of British Columbia general election


Supreme Court

In 1869 Supreme Courts were established on the mainland ("The Supreme Court of the Mainland of British Columbia") and on Vancouver Island ("Supreme Court of Vancouver Island"), which merged in 1870 as the Supreme Court of British Columbia. In 1858 the British Government had sent over Matthew Baillie Begbie as Chief Justice for the colony. Although trained at
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
he had never practised law, but soon published a Rules of Court and a timetable of sittings. He held the post, under consecutive administrative regimes, until his death in 1894.


See also

* Former colonies and territories in Canada * Territorial evolution of Canada after 1867 * Alaska boundary dispute


Reference List


External links


Order in Council determining British Columbia's terms of union with the Dominion of Canada, 1871
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:British Columbia, Colony of (1866-1871) British North America Colony of British Columbia (1866-1871) Colony of British Columbia (1866-1871) Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas States and territories established in 1866 1871 disestablishments in North America 1866 establishments in the British Empire Former colonies in North America 1866 establishments in North America 1870s disestablishments in the British Empire States and territories disestablished in 1871