Fort Victoria, erected in 1843 as a…
March 1843 CE
Prior to the arrival of European navigators in the late 1700s, the Victoria area was home to several communities of Coast Salish peoples, including the Songhees.
The Spanish and British took up the exploration of the northwest coast, beginning with the visits of Juan Pérez in 1774, and of James Cook in 1778.
Although the Victoria area of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was not penetrated until 1790, Spanish sailors visited Esquimalt Harbour (just west of Victoria proper) in 1790, 1791, and 1792.
In 1841 James Douglas had been charged with the duty of setting up a trading post on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, upon the recommendation by George Simpson a new more northerly post be built in case Fort Vancouver fell into American hands.
Douglas founds Fort Victoria on the site of present-day Victoria.
The Songhees establish a village across the harbor from the fort.
The Songhees' village will later move north of Esquimalt.
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