Ucluelet

Ucluelet is a village on the west coast of Vancouver Iceland, the Canadian province of British Columbia. The settlement is situated on the southern tip of the peninsula Esowista and belongs to the administrative district Alberni - Clayoquot. The town's name derives from the term for a "safe harbor " from the language of the indigenous population from, specifically the Yu- cluth -aht, which belong to the Nuu- chah- nulth. The anglicized version of the name of the Ucluelet First Nation gave the name. Ucluelet was elevated to District 1997.

Originally the population lived from fishing, since the 1990s, has won ecotourism in the region of importance. Special offers are whale watching tours and hikes in the jungles of the ecosystem temperate rainforest in Clayoquot Sound. The 20 km long, continuous stretch of beach between Ucluelet and Tofino heard as the neighboring Long Beach to Pacific Rim National Park.

The peninsula is from Port Alberni, 100 km away accessible, either via a spur road from Highway 4 or by regular ferry service. Ucluelet also has a small seaplane.

History

The ancestors of today's Nuu- chah- nulth groups in the region were living here already about 4300 years ago. In the 19th century have here probably eight tribes lived, the majority of which joined the current band of Yu- cluth -aht. Besides live here only the Toquaht, the smallest group of Nuu- chah- nulth. In Ucluelet today is home to around 190 " Aboriginals ", with a total population of 1652 ( 2003).

The first Europeans who came to the region were fur traders who mainly studied commercial contacts in order to get the coveted otter pelts. After their extermination they hunted seals, whales, and sea otters. The Europeans did not begin until around 1870 to settle permanently. So Captain Francis established the first trading post in Ucluelet. Gold discoveries in the Wreck Bay, today's Florencia Bay, which, however, did not prove to be profitable, provided for a brief gold rush. On today reminds him of the Gold Mine Trail, which led into the bay.

The Presbyterian Church established a mission house and a school in 1898 was the first physician in the place. The Canadian Pacific Railway operated a small freight boat three times per month to Victoria, went to the provincial capital. In 1903 a whaling station in Barkley Sound. Then there was a lighthouse and a telegraph station. In 1914 began the industrial fishing.

In the twenties, some Japanese fishermen and their families came to Ucluelet. In 1930 lived 60 Japanese and only 18 white families in the village. But the attack of Japan on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 prompted the government to intern the Japanese, of which only a few were able to return after the war, because their property had been sold. Again in 2008 lived 15 Japanese in place. During the Second World War, Canada built a plane base and a land base at Long Beach. To this end, the planned for more than thirty years road was built to Tofino after a road to Port Alberni already planned in the 1890s, but was never completed. In August 1959, the road was opened to Port Alberni.

The granting of local autonomy for the church took place on February 26, 1952 ( incorporated as the City).

For a long time lived Ucluelet from the timber and the fishing industry, primarily salmon and tuna. Since the 1980s and especially the 1990s, tourism greatly developed, including the establishment of the Pacific Rim National Park contributed significantly, but also the awareness of Clayoquot Sound and Barkley Sound. They were hotly debated for several decades and were one of the reasons for the emergence of the environmental organization Greenpeace in Vancouver. So 2003 was the single largest employer with 250 workers still the fish processors Robert Wholey and Co., and International Forest Products employs more than 70 employees, but as the second largest employer already served the Canadian Princess / Wickaninnish Restaurant with around 170 employees. On the other hand, the state is still a major employer, which is, however, more and more overtaken by the number of employees in the national park. In 2003 he was employing nearly 60 residents Ucluelets, which he himself had the number of teachers in the district behind, while the district only 18 people employed in the administration. In addition, the residents increasingly rent part of their house as a Bed and Breakfast.

In 1999, the expansion of the twelve kilometers of Wild Pacific Trail began. In 2011 he divided into three sections, namely the Lighthouse loop, Big Beach and Brown's Beach.

A tidal power plant has not yet gone beyond the planning stage.

The Westerly News is the only weekly newspaper for the region Tofino Ucluelet.

Demography

The census in 2011 showed a population of 1,627 inhabitants of the district municipality. The city's population has thereby increased since the census of 2006 at 9.4%, while the population in British Columbia grew by 7.0 % at the same time.