Esowista Peninsula

Last updated March 30, 2019

The Esowista Peninsula is a peninsula in the Clayoquot Sound region of the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The name was adopted in 1934 in reference to Esowista Indian Reserve No. 3. The name originally applied to the neck of land between Templar Channel and Browning Passage, centred at 49°08′N125°54′W / 49.133°N 125.900°W / 49.133; -125.900 to the whole neck of land from Grice Bay, Long Beach and Tofino. It was originally charted as Low Peninsula by the Royal Navy in 1860.^[1] Much of the peninsula is within the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

A peninsula is a landform surrounded by water on the majority of its border while being connected to a mainland from which it extends. The surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such; one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit. A point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also sometimes said to form a "peninsula" within the loop of water. In English, the plural versions of peninsula are peninsulas and, less commonly, peninsulae.

Clayoquot Sound is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is bordered by the Esowista Peninsula to the south, and the Hesquiaht Peninsula to the North. It is a body of water with many inlets and islands. Major inlets include Sydney Inlet, Shelter Inlet, Herbert Inlet, Bedwell Inlet, Lemmens Inlet, and Tofino Inlet. Major islands include Flores Island, Vargas Island, and Meares Island. The name is also used for the larger region of land around the waterbody.

Vancouver Island Island on the western coast of Canada

Vancouver Island is in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 460 kilometres (290 mi) in length, 100 kilometres (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,134 km² (12,407 sq mi) in area. It is the largest island on the West Coast of the Americas.

Meaning of name

"Esowista" is a transliteration of the original Nuu-chah-nulth language word, hisaawista – "Captured by clubbing the people who lived there to death".^[2]

Nuu-chah-nulth (nuučaan̓uɫ), also known as Nootka, is a Wakashan language spoken in the Pacific Northwest of North America on the west coast of Vancouver Island, from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound in British Columbia by the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. Nuu-chah-nulth is a Southern Wakashan language related to Nitinaht and Makah.

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Ahousat settlement on Flores Island, in British Columbia, Canada

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Marktosis Indian reserve in British Columbia, Canada

Marktosis, also spelled Maaqtusiis in the Nuu-chah-nulth language, is one of the principal settlements of the Ahousaht First Nation, located off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, just southeast of the Hesquiat Peninsula on Flores Island. Accessible only by water or air, Marktosis is a small community predominantly composed of First Nations people from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation. Marktosis has approximately 900 residents. Marktosis Indian Reserve No. 15 was established around the site of the community and has 622 individuals living on the reserve in 2016.

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Bedwell Sound is a sound on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the Clayoquot Sound region to the north of Meares Island and the resort community of Tofino. The Bedwell River, originally the Bear River and called Oinimitis in the Nuu-chah-nulth language, empties into and gets its current name from the Sound.

Esowista Indian Reserve No. 3, also known as Esowista 3, is an Indian reserve located on the Esowista Peninsula in the Clayoquot Sound region of the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the head of Wickaninnish Bay, just east of Schooner Cove, it is part of the group of reserves under the governance of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. Its population in 2006 was 160.

The Hesquiat Peninsula is a peninsula on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, located northwest of the town of Tofino and Clayoquot Sound and Nootka Sound to the northwest. It marks the division between the two regions formed by those sounds and is named for the Hesquiaht people of the Nuu-chah-nulth, and is the location of Hesquiat Peninsula Provincial Park. The Estevan Point lighthouse is at the apex of the peninsula.`

Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve situated in Vancouver Island on the west coast of British Columbia. A diverse range of ecosystems exist within the biosphere reserve boundaries, including temperate coastal rainforest, ocean and rocky coastal shores.

References

↑ BC Names entry "Esowista Peninsula" and was still referred to as such in the BC Gazetteer in 1930.
↑ Source: Ha-shilth-sa newspaper, 2003. All translations were compiled with consultation from Nuuchahnulth elders. Ha-shilth-sa (meaning 'interesting news') is the official newspaper for the Nuu-chah-nulth nation.

Coordinates: 49°05′25″N125°49′30″W / 49.09028°N 125.82500°W / 49.09028; -125.82500

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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[1] BC Names entry "Esowista Peninsula" and was still referred to as such in the BC Gazetteer in 1930.

[2] Source: Ha-shilth-sa newspaper, 2003. All translations were compiled with consultation from Nuuchahnulth elders. Ha-shilth-sa (meaning 'interesting news') is the official newspaper for the Nuu-chah-nulth nation.