Finely executed British Admiralty Sea Chart, illustrating Victoria, British Columbia and environs.

The chart shows a well developed waterfront around James Bay and the Harbor, with an outline of the streets shown in great detail in interior. At the southeast corner, Beacon Hill and the Rifle Range are shown south of the Public Park. North of the city, the Upper Harbor and Portage Inlet are shown, along with roads and railways.

Near the waterfront, many wharves, piers, warehouses and maritime facilities are shown along with private industry.

Victoria, BC

In 1841, James Douglas was tasked with setting up a trading post on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, upon the recommendation by George Simpson, in case Fort Vancouver to the south was lost to the Americans. Douglas founded Fort Victoria on the site of present-day Victoria.

Erected in 1843 as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post and briefly known as "Fort Albert", the settlement was renamed Fort Victoria in November 1843. Between the years 1850-1854 a series of treaty agreements known as the Douglas Treaties were made with indigenous communities to purchase certain plots of land in exchange for goods. These agreements contributed to a town being laid out on the site and made the capital of the Vancouver Island Colony (formed in 1849).

When news of the discovery of gold on the British Columbia mainland reached San Francisco in 1858, Victoria became the port, supply base, and outfitting center for miners on their way to the Fraser Canyon gold fields, mushrooming from a population of 300 to over 5000 within a few days. Victoria was incorporated as a city in 1862. In 1865, the North Pacific home of the Royal Navy was established in Esquimalt and today is Canada's Pacific coast naval base. In 1866 when the island was politically united with the mainland, Victoria was designated the capital and became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871.

In the latter half of the 19th century, the Port of Victoria became one of North America's largest importers of opium, serving the opium trade from Hong Kong and distribution into North America. Opium trade was legal and unregulated until 1865, when the legislature issued licenses and levied duties on its import and sale. The opium trade was banned in 1908. In 1886, with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway terminus on Burrard Inlet, Victoria's position as the commercial center of British Columbia was irrevocably lost to the city of Vancouver, British Columbia.