POINT ROBERTS

village, Whatcom county, northwestern Washington state, U.S., near the Canadian border. Its peculiar location is at the tip of a small peninsula (Point Roberts) that juts southward from British Columbia and is bisected by the international boundary; it is surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Strait of Georgia (west and south) and Boundary Bay (east). This American village can be reached overland from the United States only via British Columbia (going through both Canadian and U.S. customs). The point was named by George Vancouver in 1792 in honour of a fellow officer, Captain Henry Roberts of the British navy. In 1846 the United States and Britain, acting for Canada, agreed to extend the 49th parallel as the boundary between the two countries, not noticing the anomaly of Point Roberts' being cut off from Canada. Settlement of the village began about 1858 and, for a time, there was substantial salmon fishing and canning, now much reduced. Many inhabitants are Canadian, the city of Vancouver being less than 20 miles (30 km) north.