The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a body of water about 96 miles long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre of the Strait.
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 456 km (283 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,100 km2 (12,400 sq mi) in total area, while 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) are of land. The island is the largest by area and the most populous along the west coasts of the Americas.
Nootka Sound is a sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Pacific Northwest, historically known as King George's Sound. It separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island, part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It played a historically important role in the maritime fur trade.
Robert Gray was an American merchant sea captain who is known for his achievements in connection with two trading voyages to the northern Pacific coast of North America, between 1790 and 1793, which pioneered the American maritime fur trade in that region. In the course of those voyages, Gray explored portions of that coast and in the year 1790 he completed the first American circumnavigation of the world. He was also noted for coming upon and naming the Columbia River, in 1792, while on his second voyage.
Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The West Coast Trail, originally called the Dominion Lifesaving Trail, is a 75 km (47 mi) backpacking trail following the southwestern edge of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It was built in 1907 to facilitate the rescue of shipwrecked survivors along the coast, part of the treacherous Graveyard of the Pacific. It is now part of the Pacific Rim National Park and is often rated by hiking guides as one of the world's top hiking trails.
Port Renfrew is a small unincorporated community located on the south shore of Port San Juan, an inlet on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Port Renfrew has a population of 262 and has been touted as "the Tall Tree Capital of Canada".
Dionisio Alcalá Galiano was a Spanish Navy officer, cartographer, and explorer. He mapped various coastlines in Europe and the Americas with unprecedented accuracy using new technology such as chronometers. He commanded an expedition that explored and mapped the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia, and made the first European circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. He reached the rank of brigadier and died during the Battle of Trafalgar.
The Vancouver Island Ranges, formerly called the Vancouver Island Mountains, are a series of mountain ranges extending along the length of Vancouver Island which has an area of 31,788 km2 (12,273 sq mi). The Vancouver Island Ranges comprise the central and largest part of the island. The Geological Survey of Canada refers to Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and the Alaska Panhandle as the Insular Belt including the sea floor out to 100 km (62 mi) west of Vancouver Island. The Vancouver Island Ranges are a sub-range of the Insular Mountains.
The Insular Mountains are a range of mountains in the Pacific Coast Ranges on the Coast of British Columbia, Canada, comprising the Vancouver Island Ranges and Queen Charlotte Mountains. The Insular Mountains are rugged, particularly on Vancouver Island where peaks in Strathcona Provincial Park rise to elevations of more than 2,000 m (6,562 ft). The highest of these mountains is Golden Hinde on Vancouver Island, which rises to 2,196.818 m (7,207 ft).
The Vancouver Expedition (1791–1795) was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy. The British expedition circumnavigated the globe and made contact with five continents. The expedition at various times included between two and four vessels, and up to 153 men, all but 6 of whom returned home safely.
During the Age of Discovery, the Spanish Empire undertook several expeditions to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Spanish claims to the region date to the papal bull of 1493, and the Treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494. In 1513, this claim was reinforced by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, when he claimed all lands adjoining this ocean for the Spanish Crown. Spain only started to colonize the claimed territory north of present-day Mexico in the 18th century, when it settled the northern coast of Las Californias.
Francisco de Eliza y Reventa was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest. He was the commandant of the Spanish post in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, and led or dispatched several exploration voyages in the region, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia.
José María Narváez was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Gulf Islands and Lower Mainland of present-day British Columbia. In 1791, as commander of the schooner Santa Saturnina, he led the first European exploration of the Strait of Georgia, including a landing on present-day British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. He also entered Burrard Inlet, the site of present-day Vancouver, British Columbia.
Juan Carrasco was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century. He was second in command of the 1791 voyage of José María Narváez, the first European exploration of the Strait of Georgia.
In 1864 the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition explored areas of the Colony of Vancouver Island outside the capital of Victoria and settlements in Nanaimo and the Cowichan Valley that were then unknown. The expedition went as far north as the Comox Valley over four and one half months during the summer and fall of 1864. The result was the discovery of gold in one location leading to a minor gold rush, the discovery of coal in the Comox Valley, an historical record of contact with the existing native population, the naming of many geographic features and a series of sketches recording images of the time.
Nitinat Lake is a large lake and inlet on the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The lake is about 150 km (93 mi) northwest by road from Victoria, BC's capital on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, and about 60 km (37 mi) southwest by road from the town of Lake Cowichan. The city of Port Alberni is about 80 km (50 mi) by road to the north.
San Juan River is a river that flows from east to west through southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The river originates in the Seymour Range, flows westward through the San Juan Valley to Port San Juan at Port Renfrew.
The San Juan Valley is a small valley located in the Capital Regional District of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
North West America was a British merchant ship that sailed on maritime fur trading ventures in the late 1780s. It was the first non-indigenous vessel built in the Pacific Northwest. In 1789 it was captured at Nootka Sound by Esteban José Martínez of Spain during the Nootka Crisis, after which it became part of the Spanish Navy and was renamed Santa Gertrudis la Magna and later Santa Saturnina.
