British Columbia

BRITISH COLUMBIA was chosen as the name for the new colony created on 19 Nov 1858. The mainland area comprising the colony had been known as NEW CALEDONIA to the FUR TRADERS active there and at first it was suggested that this name be given to the new jurisdiction. In a letter to Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, the British colonial secretary, Queen Victoria gave her reasons for choosing British Columbia instead. "If the name of New Caledonia is objected to as being already borne by another colony or island claimed by the French, it may be better to give the new colony west of the Rocky Mountains another name. New Hanover, New Cornwall and New Georgia appear from the maps to be names of subdivisions of that country, but do not appear on all maps. The only name which is given to the whole territory in every map the Queen has consulted is 'Columbia,' but as there exists also a Columbia in South America, and the citizens of the United States call their country also Columbia, at least in poetry, 'British Columbia' might be, in the Queen's opinion, the best name." Following the merger of the mainland with VANCOUVER ISLAND in 1866, British Columbia was retained as the name of the united colony.