colony · North America and Oceania

Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866)

1858 CE – 1866 CE · capital New Westminster

A mainland British colony created in haste in 1858 to control the tens of thousands of miners drawn by the Fraser River gold rush.

Origins

When gold was found on the Fraser River in 1858, some 30,000 miners, mostly from California, poured into territory held only by Hudson's Bay Company posts. To assert British sovereignty, Parliament created the colony of British Columbia in August 1858. James Douglas, governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island, also became its governor after cutting his ties with the Company.

Royal Engineers under Richard Clement Moody surveyed the land and founded New Westminster as capital in 1859. Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie enforced law in the mining camps. The Cariboo gold rush from 1862 led to the building of the Cariboo Wagon Road. Miners' violence against Nlaka'pamux villages in the Fraser Canyon War of 1858 and the Tsilhqot'in War of 1864 marked relations with First Nations.

Douglas retired in 1864 and was succeeded by Frederick Seymour. Costly road building left heavy debts as gold output fell, and in 1866 Britain united the mainland with Vancouver Island as the Colony of British Columbia.

Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866) was a colony of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland1858 CE – 1866 CE

Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866). In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-british-columbia-1858-1866
MLA: “Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866).” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-british-columbia-1858-1866. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866).” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-british-columbia-1858-1866.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866)’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-british-columbia-1858-1866 (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻