History of British Columbia - Early European Explorations (1774-1788)

Early European Explorations (1774-1788)

The arrival of Europeans began around the mid-18th century, as fur traders entered the area to harvest sea otters. While it is thought that Sir Francis Drake may have explored the British Columbian coast in 1579, it was Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra who completed the first documented voyage, which took place in 1775. In doing so, Quadra reasserted the Spanish claim for the Pacific coast, first made by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513.

In 1774, the Spanish navigator Juan José Pérez Hernández, a native of Majorca, sailed from San Blas, Nueva Galicia (modern-day Nayarit), with instructions to reach 60° north latitude to discover possible Russian settlements and take possession of the lands for the Spanish Crown. Hernández reached 55° north latitude, becoming the first European to sight the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island. He traded with the natives near Estevan Point, although apparently without landing. The expedition was forced to return to Nueva Galicia, due to the lack of provisions.

Since Pérez Hernández's first expedition failed to achieve its objective, the Spanish organized a second expedition in 1775 with the same goal. This expedition was commanded by Bruno de Heceta on board the Santiago, piloted by Pérez Hernández, and accompanied by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra in La Sonora. After illnesses, storms, and other troubles had affected the expedition, de Heceta returned to Nueva Galicia, while Quadra kept on a northward course, ultimately reaching 59° North in what today is Sitka, Alaska. During this expedition, the Spanish made sure to land several times and formally claim the lands for the Spanish Crown, while verifying the absence of Russian settlements along the coast. In the following years, several other Spanish expeditions would set sail from Nueva Galicia bound for the Pacific Northwest.

Three years later, in 1778, the British Royal Navy Captain James Cook arrived in the region, searching for the Northwest Passage, and successfully landed at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, where he and his crew traded with the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation. Upon trading his goods for sea otter pelts, his crew in turn traded them for an enormous profit in Macau on their way back to Britain. This led to an influx of traders to the British Columbian coast, and ongoing economic contact with the aboriginal peoples there.