Victoria British Columbia Canada

Victoria British Columbia is always in season! Victoria has the mildest climate in Canada, and is a place so green all year that flowers fall out of the sky and even the lamp posts bloom. It is no wonder that it is called The Garden City! The wild beauty of the Pacific coast and the adventure of the great outdoors are within the city limits and ocean and mountain vistas will follow you wherever you go.

Victoria remembers its colourful history with First Nations totem poles, heritage architecture and afternoon tea, and bustles with the energy of a university town, having the University of Victoria Canada within its limits. Shop windows are full of British imports, Native art and the latest trends. Restaurants and cafés serve the freshest cuisine. The harbour is alive with the romance of an era when tall ships moored alongside the wharf and evenings glitter as lights twinkle and cast their magic from atop the landmark British Columbia Legislative Buildings.

The Garden City is a year-round tourism destination that offers a friendly, safe haven for all visitors. Getting here is very easy, and, once here, you will feel a million miles away. With a clean environment and charming ambience, it is no surprise that Victoria BC is one of the world's favourite destinations.

Area History

In the spring of 1778, Captain James Cook became the first white man to set foot on what is now British Columbia, Canada. He landed on the west coast of Vancouver Island, at Nootka Sound, and discovered that First Nations peoples were already living in the rugged yet pristine wilderness of the island. Permanent occupation of the island by European settlers was gradual and resulted from the fur trade companies’ continual movement towards the Pacific coast.

On Southern Vancouver Island, there lived many aboriginal families who referred to themselves by distinct family group names. These First Peoples could be divided into three groups who spoke different dialects of the North Straits Salish or Lekwungaynung language. After the amalgamation of many aboriginal families, members of the three dialect groups became collectively known as the Songhees, the Saanich and the Sooke.

In 1842, James Douglas of the British Hudson’s Bay Company made a detailed examination of Southern Vancouver Island including: Sooke, Beecher Bay, Metchosin, Esquimalt and Victoria Harbours looking for the best site for a new trading post. On March 13, 1843, Douglas anchored off Clover Point in his ship, The Beaver, and the next day selected Victoria, then known as Camosack, as the site for a Hudson’s Bay Company post. The post was eventually named Fort Victoria, after the Queen of England, and quickly grew into a commercial and naval port, the seat of colonial and provincial governments and a modern city with international ties.

Relations between the settlers and the native groups were friendly. James Douglas wrote in his diary:

Put six men to dig a well, and six others to square building timber. Spoke to the Samose today, and informed them of our intention of building in this place, which appeared to please them very much, and they immediately offered their services in procuring pickets for the establishment, an offer which I gladly accepted, and promised to pay them a blanket for every 40 pickets which they bring. Five days later, more than 1,200 aboriginal people showed up at the site.

This was the first indication of their numbers.

In order to maintain the British claim north of the 49th parallel, the Hudson’s Bay Company received title to the whole of Vancouver Island by royal grant dated January 13, 1849. One condition was imposed on the grant: that colonization should be undertaken. By midsummer, James Douglas was in residence at Fort Victoria to begin the task with the assistance of his fur trade colleagues. In 1852, the name Victoria was adopted for the townsite that developed around Fort Victoria. Victoria was incorporated as a city on August 2, 1862. Mr. Thomas Harris was elected, by acclamation, as Victoria’s first Mayor, on August 16, 1862. The first City Council meeting was held on August 25, 1862, and was presided over by Mayor Harris.