New Caledonia

NEW CALEDONIA was the name early FUR TRADERS gave to the central Interior of BC between the ROCKY MTS and the COAST MTS, essentially the region drained by the upper FRASER R and its tributaries. Alexander MACKENZIE was the first European to penetrate the area on his way to the Pacific Ocean in 1793, but it was Simon FRASER who named it when he arrived in 1805 to establish trading posts for the NORTH WEST CO. The name, meaning New Scotland, was a reference to the Scottish Highlands; Fraser had not seen them but his mother had described them to him. The headquarters of the NWC fur-trading district was FORT ST JAMES on Stuart Lk. The NWC merged with the HBC in 1821. By 1828 New Caledonia as an administrative entity was absorbed into the Columbia Department for purposes of accounting and supply, though the name survived in common usage. It was the original name for the mainland colony created by the British in 1858, but to avoid confusion with French possessions of the same name in the S Pacific it was changed at the last minute to BRITISH COLUMBIA, a choice of Queen Victoria. New Caledonia as the informal name for the central Interior slowly faded from use.