Victoria Attractions

Only the narrow Juan de Fuca Strait separates it from the USA's Olympic Peninsula with its often snow-covered peaks. Sheltered in the lee of mountains and influenced by the warm North Pacific current the city enjoys the mildest climate in the whole of Canada. Even in January the temperature averages 5°C (41°F) (August 17°C (63°F)) as a result of which Victoria's parks and gardens are festooned with foliage and flowers throughout the year. In comparison with Vancouver (the province's commercial capital on the nearby mainland) Victoria is quiet, skyscraper-free and largely administrative and residential. To these charms is added a downtown area around the snug Inner Harbour which retains its Victorian buildings and atmosphere. Well-tended parks, flower baskets hanging from bright blue lamp standards, red double-decker buses and a leisurely rhythm to life, all help to foster the impression of a typically English colonial town. In the Empress Hotel people still gather for afternoon tea at five. Victoria today is more British than the UK and has been a favorite destination for American tourists since the early part of this century.

History

Victoria was founded in 1843 as a Hudson's Bay Company fort. Faced by the impending loss of its Oregon territories to the USA, the Company abandoned its western headquarters at the mouth of the Columbia River and moved to Vancouver Island, christening the new trading post Victoria in honor of the British Queen. Six years later the island became a British Crown Colony. When in 1858 there was a gold strike in the Cariboo Mountains, being the southernmost harbor on the west coast of Canada Victoria and its 800 inhabitants experienced turbulent times. More than 20,000 gold hunters and adventurers flocked to the province from California (among them a great many Chinese, and for a time Victoria had the largest Chinatown north of San Francisco). Overnight the little port became the base and supply depot for the prospectors. A town of tents sprang up around the harbor, the surrounding forest was cleared and a frantic building boom got under way. In next to no time new arrivals from America made up the vast majority of its residents and the sleepy pioneer settlement had become a typical gold-rush town with all the trappings of saloons, bars and dives. Even so Victoria's founding Governor James Douglas managed to maintain some semblance of law and order and in less than ten years the gold fever had subsided. In 1866 Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia were united into a single Crown Colony with Victoria as its capital, joining the Canadian Confederation five years later in 1871. With the arrival in Vancouver in 1887 of the trans-continental railroad Victoria gradually yielded economic supremacy to its mainland rival while itself remaining the seat of provincial government. Even as long ago as the turn of the century Victoria's peaceful ambience and mild maritime climate attracted more and more visitors, and the south-east coast of Vancouver Island quickly found favor among wealthy Canadians for holiday, second or retirement homes.