Colony of British Columbia (1866–71)
United Colonies of Vancouver Iceland and British Columbia (English United Colonies of Vancouver Iceland and British Columbia) was the informal name for the 1866 resulting from the merger of the colonies Vancouver Iceland and British Columbia state formation, prior to joining the Canadian Confederation in 1871. capital was Victoria.
History
Background
The colony Vancouver Iceland was founded in 1849 to secure the British claim to the entire island and the adjacent Gulf Islands. Three years earlier, the United Kingdom and the United States the 49th parallel had agreed in Oregon compromise to set west of the Rocky Mountains as a border.
The mainland portion of present-day Canadian province of British Columbia ( then known as New Caledonia ) was before 1858 a legally unorganized territory in British North America. The region was under the de facto administration of the Hudson 's Bay Company and its branch manager James Douglas, who was governor of Vancouver Iceland at the same time. With the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, the non-native population increased within a short time of about 150 HBC employees to nearly 20,000 prospectors, speculators, real estate agents and distributors. The British Colonial Office reacted quickly and proclaimed on August 2, 1858, the colony of British Columbia.
Merger of two colonies
Douglas administered the mainland colony of the nearby city of Victoria on Vancouver Iceland. It was not until 1864 resided a second Governor Frederick Seymour, in New Westminster, the former capital of British Columbia. In the same year Arthur Edward Kennedy took over from Douglas as governor of Vancouver Iceland. Both colonies amassed large debts, mainly caused by large infrastructure projects that rapid population growth should be managed. As the revenue from gold mining declined, interest tore a hole in the coffers of the two colonies. The Colonial Office proclaimed on 6 August 1866, the merger and appointed Frederick Seymour for governor.
After the entry into force of the British North America Act in 1867, four colonies had merged to form Canadian Confederation, it seemed only a matter of time before Vancouver Iceland and British Columbia accession negotiations would resume. Influential members of the Confederation League as Amor De Cosmos, Robert Beaven and John Robson saw in the accession, the best way to enforce democratic reforms. They were supported by Canadian representatives, led by Samuel Leonard Tilley, Minister of Customs in the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. The terminally ill Governor Frederick Seymour should be replaced by Anthony Musgrave, the outgoing governor of Newfoundland. Just before the appointment became effective, Seymour died in June 1869.
After Musgrave had taken office, urging him, the British Colonial Secretary Lord Granville, to speed up negotiations with Canada, who took still two years to complete. Canada committed itself to take over the accumulated debt of the colonies and within ten years to build a transcontinental railway line to connect British Columbia with the rest of the country. British Columbia eventually joined as the sixth province of the Canadian Confederation on July 25, 1871.