2018 Victoria, British Columbia, Official Vacation Guide - 8

CAPITAL
CULTURE

HERITAGE SITES, DISTRICTS AND EVENTS REVEAL
GREATER VICTORIA'S HISTORICAL INFLUENCES
By Corey Van't Haaff
Totem Pole exhibit at the Royal BC Museum

From its early history as a
Hudson's Bay Company
trading post, Victoria has
seen many changes, but
the city's historical roots
predate its 1843 founding.
Customs from the area's First
Nations people, the British,
Scottish, Chinese and others
contributed to long-lasting
and meaningful impressions
on Victoria's look and feel.
These deep-rooted traditions
continue to shape many
activities and celebrations
throughout the city today.
8 | Tourism Victoria 2018 | 800-663-3883

FIRST NATIONS & EARLY SETTLERS
First Nations peoples have called Victoria home for thousands of years. It's easy to see
evidence of the First Nations' ancestral influence from the Nuu-chah-nulth and the Coast
Salish peoples, including the Esquimalt and Songhees (Lekwungen Nation) bands. You'll
find totem poles representing these cultures throughout the area, with one of the world's
tallest freestanding totem poles at Beacon Hill Park, and a substantial collection of
totem poles at Thunderbird Park. Stroll through the historic Crystal Garden, across the
street from the Victoria Conference Centre, to see several totem poles standing tall
beneath the sun-filled atrium. Of course, masks, carvings and the traditional oral history
have left indelible legacies throughout the land.
Settlers arrived in 1778 when Captain James Cook became the first recorded nonAboriginal person to set foot on Vancouver Island's soil. In 1843, James Douglas chose
Victoria for settlement, and soon thereafter, Fort Victoria, named after Queen Victoria,
was established. By 1849, Victoria became the seat of government when the colony of
Vancouver Island was created.
To learn more about the history of Victoria's earliest residents, visit the Royal BC
Museum's Living Languages interactive exhibit and hear the First Nations languages.
After, take a quick walk to Alcheringa Gallery and Out of the Mist Gallery, both
exceptional places to shop for authentic Aboriginal beadwork, button blankets or baskets.
The Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea in Sidney is your only opportunity to visit an
aquarium and cultural centre dedicated exclusively to the Salish Sea bioregion. If you
want to experience the food and music - as well as the hospitality - of the First Nations,



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