2nd midterm Flashcards
Explain the concept of sovereignty
Sovereignty is the full right and power of a governing body over itself, without any interference from outside sources or bodies.
The concept of territory combines geographic space with political control, or sovereignty over that space.
What three commodities were the Chinese trading for ____ pelts harvested in the Pacific ________
sea otter
Northwest valued silks, teas and porcelain
What two motivations drove European interests in the Pacific Northwest?
The first, and more complex situation, involved exploiting the resources of colonial territories in exchange for the valued silks, teas, and porcelain of China.
The second quest was for the Northwest Passage and the prize money for its discovery.
San Francisco was the northernmost fort of what country?
Spain
Captain Cook arrived at Nootka Sound in
What was Cook searching for when he sailed to Nootka Sound?
How many £ (British pounds) would he receive if his search was successful?
- 1778
- The much sought-after Northwest Passage
- 20,000
Explain the Nootka Incident
The Nootka Sound Incident of 1789, in which a British officer was taken at sword point and three British ships were confiscated by the Spanish (and taken to San Blas in Mexico), brought to a head the rival claims. The skirmish may have been local, but its ramifications were global.
The resolution of this territorial conflict required 6 years of protracted negotiations in Europe. Between 1789 and 1795, Captain Vancouver for the British and Captains Malaspina, Galiano, and Valdés for the Spanish made a number of voyages up and down the coast, surveying the landscape and recording their impressions of the Aboriginal Peoples.
The increased harvesting of sea otters decreased their population to near extinction by
the early 1800s
In 1793, _____ trekked across BC towards Bella Coola
He worked for the ____ company which was a rival of ____ company
____ was the year the two companies merged
Sir Alexander Mackenzie
North West, Hudson’s Bay
1821
Name two fur traders working for the North West Company that influenced BC geography
Simon Fraser and David Thompson
Name the two regions that preceded the Colony of Vancouver Island and Colony of BC
The Columbia District and New Caledonia
What river was used as the dividing line between the two regions?
Columbia River
What factors lead to the decline of the fur trading industry in BC
Many rivers in BC were rough to navigate
In much of the province there were no birch trees for making canoes
Dependency on overland trails and horses
Some forts became horse ranches to answer the need, but this system added extra costs to the transportation of fur
Traders also encountered difficulties with respect to the sheer number of First Nation.
What was the difference between fur trading in BC and the prairies
What problems did the spatial distribution of First Nations’ settlements pose?
At the Prairies, fur companies negotiated with First Nations Chiefs to organized traps. In BC this practice was difficult because of the great number of indigenous groups and the overlap of their territories. As a result, the fur brigade was made of heavily armed men, instead of indigenous trappers. The trappers had to trespass through indigenous territories and the cost of production was high. These brigades would enter the area, do all the trap and transport the furs to east.
-First Nations were spread in the BC coast and interior. Because they were so many groups and their territory overlapped it was very expensive to hunt for fur in BC.
-1818 was the year the United States (US) and Britain agreed upon a border on the ___ parallel
-What effect did this decision have on BC?
What did the US call the territory of British Columbia
- 49
- The Oregon Treaty cut of Hudson’s Bay COmpany access to much of the Columbia River, the kay river system used for navigation for the fur trade. The transportation of fur had to rely much more on overland routes.
- ¨A bilateral free trade zone, not a colony.¨
Explain why the British feared the concept of manifest destiny
Because it promoted American to make a westward and northward expansion and to claim the whole Oregon territory.
Describe the events of the Pig War
How long did it occur and how was it solved?
The Oregon Treaty in 1946 resolved the conflict by extending the border along the 49-parallel from the Rockies to the Pacific and, for a time, kept the American from taking over New Caledonia. Is was not well defined in the Treaty to which part San Juan belonged. After gold was discovered, San Juan become was strategically important as the guardian of the waterway leading to Puget Sound and the gold-laden sand bars along the Fraser.
-24 years
In 1872, the Kaiser awarded all the San Juan Islands to the United States, ending the Pig War — and finally settling the boundary between Washington and the new Canadian province of British Columbia.
The treaty that restricted the Hudson Bay Company from using the Columbia River for
transportation was called ____ and signed in ___.
Oregon Treaty
1846
What year did BC become a province?
Why? Name three factors
- 1871
- The United States ́ purchase of Alaska in 1867 left BC facing American territory on two sides. (Risk of BC being taken by Americans).
- Many of BC ́s inhabitants were American, and they were agitating for annexation.
- Need to dissolve its debt
- Promised a trans Canada Railway
- Guaranteed federal transfer payment-
When did the Cariboo gold rush occur?
What was its effect on BC’s population?
When did Billy Barker arrive in BC?
- began in 1858
- With the discovery of Gold more than 100,000 miners migrate into the Bay area. Before that, there were only a few hundred non-native in the colony of Vancouver Island and on the mainland.
- 1862
What was the Cariboo Road?
it was a feat of Royal engineering stretching from Fort Yale to Barkerville in the Canadian province of British Columbia through extremely hazardous canyon territory in the Interior of B.C.
Who was James Douglas?
What efforts did he make to stop immigration by American miners?
What impact did he have on FN?
- The Chief Factor of the Hudsonś Bay Company that was appointed governor of the colony of Vancouver Island in 1851.
- He created a tax on Americans to remind them that they were in a foreign land.
- He was concerned with the possibility of was with Aboriginal peoples, whose lands were being trespassed upon and violated. He Negotiated a number a number of small treaties on Vancouver Island and established large reserves in the interior. THe reserves were not created through treaties, however, and therefore were not accompanied by any formal rights.
Explain the concept of “Frontier Mentality”
When were the current boundaries of BC defined?
- The attitude of people who came to the frontier in search of wealth but had no intention of staying
- What were some of the consequences of this mentality
- Actions prompted by this attitude were particularly destructive to the environment. MInes that were particularly destructive to rivers and streams that were the habitat of salmon, the staple food for many First Nations. Destruction of forests for fuel. The Cattle drivers for the market of beef (destruction of the original bunch grass that nowadays is full of sagebrush)
- 1863/1866
What factors influenced the current boundaries?
Northern border - 60°N
Southern border - 49°N
Alaskan Panhandle - 54°40’
Eastern border - 120°W and Rocky Mountains
Who was Mathew Baillie Begbie?
The famous Hanging Judge that left the reputation of a lawful British frontier as opposed to an unlawful American one.
When was the CPR built across BC creating a transcontinental railway from Montreal to Vancouver?
Where and when was the Last Spike driven?
What was the effect of this railway on BC?
-1881-1885
-The Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was the ceremonial final spike driven into the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) at Craigellachie, British Columbia at 9:22 am on November 7, 1885.
-The province was strengthened as a frontier of expanding industrial capitalism and linking BC with Canada.
Facilitated transportation and communication.
Diversified economy.
What year did the first train from Montreal arrive in Vancouver?
1886
Describe the ‘push’ factors that lead to increased Chinese immigration to BC
The fixed amount of agricultural land could not support the number of people residing in southern China. The subdivision of family’s lands to sons was no longer possible, as the plots were too small to support even one family. As a result, second, third and following sons became landless and left home to gain income by selling their labour.
The xenophobic Ch’ing dynasty was being seriously challanged by Europeans, who used their military superiority to introduce opium to southern China and to demand trade.
The Taiping Rebellion in southern China from 1850 to 1864 claimed an estimated 30 million lives
The decision to leave China was facilitated by a family or lineage system that often pooled the meagre family resources to send landless sons to the new country with the expectation that they would remit any income.
what were the ‘pull factors that lead to increase Chinese immigration to BC
Gold Rush of 1858
Expectations of owning land and returning money to families in China
Freedom and protection
1880’s: CPR
Where did the majority of the Chinese immigrants originate from?
Guangdong province in southern east China - Cantonese speaking, single men.
BC’s white population was intolerant towards the immigration of minorities, name three laws, or discriminatory actions that were instituted in BC
Provincial law passed in 1885 denied Chinese the vote
Chinese Immigration Act, 1923
Gentleman’s Agreement of 1908 created 4 categories of Japanesse immigrants,and two of these categories had # restrictions
What was the first year of the Chinese Head tax, and how much was it?
name the year and the increases in the Head Tax.
-1885 -50$
-1901- $100
1904-$500
Explain the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the influence of Chinese labour?
The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway was another boom time that promoted a major influx of Chinese immigration - and a racial backlash.
The main construction years in BC were between 1881 and 1885. The railway line was divided into many individual contracts, and each contract meant an increase in demand for labour in a province that had a limited population of white workers. This provided the CPR the rationale for importing Chinese labour.
They were paid half the wages of white labourers and many were promised return passage to China. This promise was never fulfilled.
The end of the contracts created a serious condition of surplus labour and unemployment. The Americans anticipated the crisis and passed in 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act, trapping the Chinese in BC.
With the significant increase in Chinese immigrants, many of whom were unemployed and viewed as a threat, more racial legislation was enacted.
Racism often led to Chinese ppl being placed in hazardous work situations as well as being subject to physical violence. The many deaths from unsafe working conditions in the building of the CPR are well documented.
Outline the Chinese Head Tax including all increases and its abolishment and the eventual apology and settlement.
1885 - 50 dollar head tax on all Chinese immigrating to BC
1901 - 100
1904 - 500
(By the 1890s the number of Chinese paying the tax had increased considerably; as a consequence, it was raised. Again, the tax reduced immigration, but only for a short period of time. By 1908, the number was up to 1482 and another 7078 in 1913 – reflecting the conditions of chaos and lack of economic opportunity in China).
Abolished by the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which basically stopped all Chinese immigration.
This Act was repealed in 1948.
In 2006 PM Harper formally apologized for the head tax and made a symbolic payment of $20,000 to the ~20 surviving head-tax payers and to ~200 living spouses. No payment to the children.
What were the Labour Day Riots?
-when and where did they occur?
Rumours of the new Grand Trunk Pacific Railway demanding even more Asian labour, along with a plan by the CPR to bring in 1000 Japanese for an irrigation project in southwestern Alberta, added fuel to anti-Asiatic feeling and provoked the Labour Day race riot.
Anti-Asiatic feeling was whipped up by fire-and-brimstone speakers calling for a white Canada.
-1907 - Vancouver’s Pender Street Chinatown as well as “Little Tokyo”, the Japanese district on Powell Street. Most establishments were damaged as a result.
discuss some of the changes to immigration policies that resulted from the pressure put on Government during this period of time. (labour day riots)
Following the riot, the Chinese went on strike, and eventually, the City of Vancouver paid $26990 in compensation for the damages. The event made headlines around the world and became an embarrassment to Canada bc of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
The embarrassment of the 1907 race riot resulted in Canada’s labour minister being sent to Japan to make amends and to work out immigration limits.
