European
Exploration in
BC the first
100 years
Ideas and several questions for this worksheet came from:
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/lessonplans/index.html
2010 - Licensed for non-commerical, educational use.
European Exploration in BC the first 100 years.
Website you’ll need for this exercise. The North West Coast History
Attention parents and teachers, if above link is broken use: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/ghost/contents.html (At
the time of writing: this website uses the word ghost in the title but is not about ghost stories. In fact, only in one of the songs
(Ghosts of Read Island ) is it mentioned as we think of the word, but is not a “ghost” website. As always, use your discretion)
Questions for the “Voyageur!” and “Steamboatin’ Jamiesons”
Explore the “Voyageur!” chapter and the “Steamboatin’ Jamiesons” chapter in the North West Coast
History website, then answer the following questions. Think about what it was like to travel in earlier
times as you answer the questions.
1. What kinds of technologies were involved in the sea passage from Europe to Canada?
2. How might the the explorers felt when they were traveling in very difficult conditions?
3. How would have following God’s word prevented some of the difficulties?
4. How did difficult conditions affect the health of explorers?
5. How did explorers get supplies such as food and tools?
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...Questions continued
6. Why were Steamboats used rather than some other form of transport?
7. Draw a picture of the S.S. Beaver below (or on a separate piece of paper).
8. Draw a map below (or on a separate piece of paper) of the Fraser river showing New Westminster, Fort
Langley and Yale.
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Questions for “The Ghosts of Read Island”
Explore “The Ghosts of Read Island” chapter in the North West Coast History website. Answer the
following questions. (DO NOT read the song Part 1 or 2.)
1. What kinds of tools did loggers use to clear the forests of Read Island?
2. What was life like in the logging camps on Read Island?
3. What commandments were not being followed? Write out the answer and include the Bible reference.
4. How would keeping God’s commandments have prevented some of the troubles?
5. Describe how they cut down a tree?
6. Does your family get firewood or log?
How is logging done today?
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Questions for “Spanish Banks” and “Richard Moody”
Explore the “Spanish Banks” chapter and/or “Richard Moody” chapter in the North West Coast History
website.
1. What kinds of technologies & tools were involved in a sea passage from Europe to British Columbia?
2. What kinds of technologies & tools were involved in a land crossing of Canada?
3. What kinds of health issues did they have to worry about?
4. Do we need to worry about those same issues?
5. How is your diet different from the explorers?
Mine
Why or why not?
Explorers
6. List some of the tasks a Royal Engineer would perform.
7. How did the arrival of Europeans in British Columbia change the lives of the Aboriginal peoples?
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Questions for John Antle” and “Auld Lange Syne”
Look at the above chapters. Have you been to the Lower Mainland? (If not explore these websites to see
what that area looks like today. Think about the communities of the Lower Mainland. Please answer the
questions below. Websites: Vancouver Chilliwack Langley
1. Who was John Antle and what did he do?
2. What are the geographic features of the Lower Mainland?
3. What animals and plants live in these environments?
4. How have people changed the land in the last hundred years?
5. Why have people changed the land?
6. How can people use the environments better?
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How Do We Know Where We Are?
Making a map of a large area depends on the help of many people. It is difficult work. It demands
knowledge of science and good drawing abilities. You can certainly make a fairly good map of your
neighbourhood. Drawing a map of your town would be a much bigger job. Mapping a province or a
country is a huge job and takes many years.
A detailed map of British Columbia will have your home town on it. It will also have the names of
mountains and the shapes of rivers. How did we get this knowledge? Who put it together?
Early Exploration and Mapping
The first known European explorer of British Columbia was the Danish navigator Vitus Bering. He arrived
off the coast in 1741. The Spanish explorer Juan Perez followed in 1774. But surveying truly began
with the arrival of the British seaman Captain James Cook. He charted Nootka Sound in 1778. The next
important European mapping occurred in 1792. Spanish and British explorers met in Georgia Strait and
charted much of the Strait and Puget Sound together.
Mapping in the 1800s
Captain George Richards and Captain Daniel Pender also helped map the area in the 1850s and 1860s.
(If you live in Vancouver, you probably know the streets named after them.) The two most famous
explorers and geographers in the early mapping of the British Columbia interior are probably Alexander
MacKenzie and David Thompson. Their work was difficult, adventurous, and dangerous.
In 1851, the government appointed the first Colonial Surveyor for the Colony of Vancouver Island. Since
then the government has organized mapping the province. In 1858, Sir James Douglas, the colony’s first
governor, asked for a company of Royal Engineers from England to do engineering works connected to
the Fraser River gold rush. Some of these men made surveys of the mainland.
Before 1891, the Surveyor General gave surveyors the right to practice. In 1891, the provincial legislature
passed a law that required anyone wanting to be a surveyor to pass an exam.
Surveying the Province Today
Today, a land surveyor in British Columbia must have a “commission,” a kind of diploma from the
government saying that he or she has the knowledge to do mapping and surveying. And, yes, surveying
and mapping do still go on because the landscape is always changing.
Surveyors once used a staff compass, open plate transit, and Gunters chain. Today, high tech instruments
have replaced these. Satellite receivers, electronic instruments, and data recorders help in this
challenging work. Computers are used to calculate measurements made in the field.
The exciting early work of mapping the province was finished long ago. Surveyors and map-makers
today are still busy, though, and help us to know where we are.
More about BC Heritage: www.bcheritage.ca
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Exploring Together
There is still a lot to know about the world! After you have carefully read the previous page: “How Do We
Know Where We Are”, you will be asked to go on a mission of exploration with a partner or by yourself. In
books or on-line, find old maps of the world and, if possible, of Canada and British Columbia. Copy two
or three of these maps to compare old and new styles of map-making. Answer these questions:
1. Do old maps and new maps show the same places?__________
2. Do they have the same names for the same location? __________
3. How else do the old and new maps compare? What are the similarities and differences?
4. In books or on-line, find out about the life of one of the explorers mentioned. Present a short 5 to 10
minute oral history of that person’s life. Check here when done:_____
ORAL REPORT
Date:_____________________
Explorers Name:___________________________________
_____ Listener of the oral report check this box if student covered at least 3 of these things: How that
explorer affected history, where that explorer came from, where he explored, what was his daily life like,
or distinguishing remarks about that explorer.
5. In books, magazines, or on-line find out how some of the early European explorers of British Columbia
are remembered in the province today. Hint: Look for names of schools, of streets in major cities, rivers,
islands, and so on. Make a list of places and names and attached it to this lesson handout.
6. In books or on-line, find out about the tools used by map-makers and surveyors in the past and those
used by these map-makers and surveyors today. Collect pictures of these tools and label the pictures
with their names. Find out how these tools work. Make a small picture book with these pictures. Check
here when done:_______
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