1700's - European Exploration and Contact

A Bill Helin painting depicts the damage caused by B.C.'s tsunami of 1700. (Bill Helin)

The oral histories of coastal Indigenous groups of British Columbia have long told of a massive earthquake and tsunami in early 1700 which devastated the coast and its inhabitants. The painting here by Tsimshian artist Bill Helin depicts this event.

The 1700's marked a period of European exploration and contact with coastal Indigenous groups.

By the 1740's, Russians had begun trading on the B.C. coast.
In 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to set foot in British Columbia on his third expedition to the Pacific.
During this time, Spanish explorers Perez and Quadra were also exploring the coast. A fort was built in Nootka Sound.
In 1776, a devastating small pox epidemic hit Indigenous communities, other epidemics followed.
In 1793, Alexander MacKenzie became the first European to cross North America overland.

Useful Websites

BC Archives

The BC Archives is the archive of the Government of British Columbia, and provides research access to records of enduring value to the province for both the provincial government and public researchers.

City of Vancouver Archives

The City of Vancouver Archives, begun in 1934, is the largest collection of historical documents and photographs on Vancouver in existence.

Maritime Museum of British Columbia

The library at the Maritime holds a large and various amount of research materials related to all aspects of maritime studies. Some of the collection highlights include the first editions of the Cook and Vancouver volumes published in 1785 and 1798.

Museum of Anthropology

Museum of Anthropology, a place of world arts and cultures with a special emphasis on the First Nations peoples and other cultural communities of British Columbia, Canada. The Museum is built on traditional, ancestral, unceded land of the Musqueam people and it is fitting that the first artworks and words you encounter outside the Museum are a welcome from our generous First Nations hosts.

Museum of Vancouver (MOV)

Provides a look at the fascinating heritage, culture and natural history of the Lower Mainland. Includes information on the museum's exhibitions, collections and programs.

Royal BC Museum

Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives.

Vancouver Maritime Museum

As the primary local repository for maritime history, the Vancouver Maritime Museum houses over 15 000 objects and 100 000 images either in storage or on exhibit. Our holdings reflect the city’s long connection with Vancouver, the Pacific Northwest and the Arctic, and the collection represents European, Asian, North American and First Nations sources.

Digital Library Resources

British Columbia Index

Finding tool for historical information about BC in books, magazines and newspapers in the Vancouver Public Library collection.

Access:

Everywhere for everyone

Historica Canada

Includes the complete text of the Canadian Encyclopedia in English and French, interactive resources and timelines of Canadian and world events.

Access:

Everywhere for everyone

Points to the Past

Searchable primary source material dating from as early as the 16th century to modern times. Excellent for historical research. *Also suitable for research at the elementary, high school and post-secondary levels.

Access:

Everywhere for everyone

Recommended Titles

A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island

Layland, Michael

Call Number

971.12 L42p

Publication Year

2016

This book gathers the early recorded histories and personal accounts left by Chinese seafarers, Spanish and British naval officers, traders seeking sea otter pelts, colonial surveyors, as well as soldiers, settlers, and other adventurers, starting from many centuries ago.

British Columbia Waters: The Explorations of Vancouver and the Spanish

Blumenthal, Richard W. 1946-

Call Number

971.102 B65e

Publication Year

2014

This follow-up book resumes the saga and follows George Vancouver and the Spanish in 1792 through British Columbia waters while they complete their circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

French Canadians, Furs, and Indigenous Women in the Making of the Pacific Northwest

Barman, Jean

Call Number

979 B25f

Publication Year

2014

The history of the Pacific Northwest from the perspective of French Canadians involved in the fur economy, the Indigenous women whose presence in their lives encouraged them to stay, and their descendants.

In the Footsteps of Alexander Mackenzie: Archaeology and the Nuxalk-Carrier Grease Trail

Blacklaws, Carol

Call Number

971.175 B62i

Publication Year

2015

In the late 1970s an archaeological team was sent into a remote region of British Columbia to document the Nuxalk-Carrier Grease Trail--part of explorer Alexander Mackenzie's 18th-century crossing of North America.

Northwest History Index

This card index in Special Collection provides access to the Northwest History Collection, a heritage collection covering the early history and exploration of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

The collection includes:

magazine and newspaper articles
pamphlets
books
chapters in books
many other resources

As of August 1998, no new material has been added to the Northwest History Index. It is continued by the British Columbia Index.

1700's - European Exploration and Contact

British Columbia History

Useful Websites