BRITISH COLUMBIA, FLAG OF

Canadian provincial flag that is horizontally divided, bearing an elongated Union Jack emblem in its upper half and wavy stripes of white and blue and a stylized portion of the sun in its lower half. In the centre of the Union Jack is a golden crown. A new seal was established in 1896 for British Columbia, based on a design by the clergyman Arthur John Beanlands. To emphasize loyalty to Great Britain, he placed the Union Jack on a shield; the maritime nature of British Columbia was reflected in the wavy white and blue stripes in the chief (upper part of the shield). Beanlands used the stylized sun on the stripes to refer to the far west location of British Columbia. The provincial motto, Splendor sine occasu (Splendour without setting or Splendour without diminishment), was set below the shield. In the royal warrant of March 31, 1906, the Union Jack and the stripes were reversed: the chief (upper part) now bears the Union Jack while the blue and white stripes fill the rest of the shield. In addition the warrant added an antique crown at the centre of the Union Jack. Some 60 years later, Premier William Andrew Cecil Bennett learned that the 1906 grant of arms allowed the shield to be transformed directly into a flag and that this usage was supported by heraldic law. His government thus avoided political debate about the propriety of any proposed design. An order in council established this armorial banner for British Columbia on June 20, 1960; however, the horizontal shape of the flag meant that the Union Jack of the arms stretched more than twice its normal length while the sun and stripes were similarly distorted. In keeping with heraldic tradition, no symbolism is associated with the colours of the design. Whitney Smith History At the time of initial contact with white explorers, Indians in present-day British Columbia numbered about 80,000. The coast was dominated by Coast Salish, Nootka, Kwakiutl, Bella Coola, Tsimshian, and Haida, whose economy was based on the products of the sea and on the huge coastal cedars. Expert fishermen, they utilized traps, nets, hooks, spears, and even an ingenious toggling harpoon for hunting whales. Their clothing was made of skins and cedar bark covered by beautifully patterned blankets woven from the wool of mountain goats. Indian dwellings were large rectangular buildings of cedar beams and planks, divided into compartments for families. Houses were located in clusters along beaches suitable for canoe landings and just above the high-water mark. These Indians were already enterprising traders in copper, blankets, elk hides, furs, shells, candlefish oil, and slaves along the intertribal routes that ran northsouth into California and eastwest into the interior. They also enjoyed a rich social life in this land of the potlatch. Rival families competed with each other to distribute blankets, food, jewelry, and other favours to guests, often invited from hundreds of miles away, to mark the birth, adolescence, marriage, or death of an important member of the tribe. Explorations and trading posts The area that was to become British Columbia first caught the attention of European nations in the late 18th century. Spanish ships visited the coast in 1774, followed by Captain James Cook, who was searching for the Northwest Passage. The latter's account of the fur wealth of the area stimulated the interest of British and American traders, who soon arrived to trade with the Indians for the highly prized sea otter pelts. The growing interest of Great Britain in the area was indicated by the dispatch of Captain George Vancouver, who circumnavigated Vancouver Island and charted the mainland's intricate coastline. Simultaneously, other British fur traders penetrated the region from the east. Alexander Mackenzie of the North West Company of Montreal entered the region through its winding waterways; he completed the first overland journey across the entire continent when he arrived at Bella Coola, at the mouth of Dean Channel, in 1793. A fur trade based on fixed posts in the interior followed the establishment, by Simon Fraser in 1805, of the first trading post at McLeod Lake. Three years later he descended the Fraser River to its mouth, the site of present-day Vancouver. After the southern boundary was fixed at the 49th parallel, Vancouver Island was recognized as solely British territory, following years of near-conflict with the United States. Fort Victoria became the western headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1849 Vancouver Island was made a crown colony by the imperial government, which expected that an orderly settlement in this distant outpost of empire would follow. However, the determination of Governor James Douglas to encourage the fur trade and the lure of the California goldfields impeded settlement so successfully that in 1855 the total population of European origin in the colony was only 774, most of them involved in the pursuit of the fur trade.