History
Before European development the Coast Salish Songhees people lived in settlements to the east of the harbour and the Esquimalt people lived to the west of it. They cultivated camas root and other crops in meadows lined with cultivated Garry Oak trees along the harbour. Shell middens along the Gorge Waterway are evidence of human habitation dating back 4000 years.
In the summer of 1790 Manuel Quimper, Gonzalo López de Haro, and Juan Carrasco aboard the Princesa Real explored the Juan de Fuca Strait where they claimed Esquimalt Harbour for Spain, naming it Puerto de Córdova.
Read more about this topic: Victoria Harbour (British Columbia)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)