Colony of Vancouver Island

The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a British Crown colony on the Pacific coast of North America from 1849 until 1866. The Hudson's Bay Company had founded Fort Victoria in 1843, and in 1849 the company received the island on condition that it promote settlement. Richard Blanshard became the first governor, but the colony remained small until the Fraser Canyon gold rush of 1858 brought thousands of miners through Victoria. Representative government was introduced in 1856, and the capital, Victoria, became the commercial centre of British Columbia. Coal from Nanaimo and the fur trade supported the colonial economy, but the assembly clashed with the Hudson's Bay Company over land and finances. In 1866 the colony was united with the mainland Colony of British Columbia, and the united colony joined Canada in 1871. Victoria remained the capital of the province of British Columbia.