Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
adic visits by Russians, Spaniards and
Britons looking to trade pelts for fab-
rics and objects from the Orient, the
Aboriginal people were still living ac-
cording to the traditions handed down
to them by their ancestors. In fact,
European infl uence on their lifestyle
remained negligible until the mid-19th
century, at which point colonization of
the territory began slowly.
this region once and for all. The em-
ployees of the North West Company
combed the valley of the Fraser River
in search of furs. Not only did they en-
counter the coastal Aboriginals, whose
precious resources they were deplet-
ing, but they also had to adapt to the
tumultuous waterways of the Rockies,
which made travelling by canoe nearly
impossible. In 1827, after the Hudson's
Bay Company took over the North West
Company, a large fur-trading post was
founded at Fort Langley, on the shores
of the Fraser, some 90km east of the
present site of Vancouver, which would
remain untouched for several more
decades.
In 1818, Great Britain and the United
States created the condominium of
Oregon, a vast fur-trading zone along
the Pacifi c bounded by California to
the south and Alaska to the north. In
so doing, these two countries exclud-
ed the Russians and the Spanish from
6
A fur merchant with his cargo.
© Archives Canada; C-001229
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