Various indigenous groups have inhabited southern Vancouver Island for thousands of years. The Spanish were the first Europeans to explore the region, and some islands and straits still bear Spanish names. They were followed by the English explorer Captain James Cook who landed on the west coast of Vancouver Island in 1778 and made contact with the Indians.

British settlement did not really begin until 1843, when James Douglas of the Hudson’s Bay Company chose the site of present-day Victoria to establish a trading post. The company moved its headquarters from Vancouver, and a new fort that came to be known as Fort Victoria was built on land now occupied by Victoria’s Old Town.

Vancouver Island subsequently became a Crown Colony, and a townsite was laid out at the southern end of the island in 1852. A gold rush on British Columbia’s mainland in 1858 attracted hordes of prospectors to the small port of Victoria. The City of Victoria was incorporated in 1862, and Victoria became the capital of the newly formed province of British Columbia nine years later.

Victoria remained British Columbia’s largest city throughout most of the 19th century. Today it is a thriving maritime, government, and tourism center, as well as one of the most pleasant cities to visit in North America.