British Columbia: Confederation
Confederation
In 1866, Vancouver Island and British Columbia were merged, and in 1871 the united British Columbia, lured by promises of financial aid and the building of a transcontinental railroad that would link it to the rest of Canada, voted to join the new Canadian confederation. The Canadian Pacific Railway finally reached the coast in 1885, and a new era began. By providing access to new markets, the railroad furthered agriculture, mining, and lumbering; steamship service with Asia was inaugurated, and Vancouver grew as a busy port, serving many provinces. The opening (1914) of the Panama Canal further boosted trade and commerce. A long dispute with the United States over the Alaska boundary was finally settled by the Alaska Boundary Commission in 1903.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries
- Confederation
- The Hudson's Bay Company Era
- Early History
- Economy and Higher Education
- Geography
- Bibliography
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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