Victoria

Victoria exists because the Hudson's Bay Company feared American expansion. In 1843, George Simpson directed James Douglas to establish a fort on Vancouver Island's southern tip—far from American claims on the Columbia River. The Coast Salish peoples, Lekwungen (Songhees and Esquimalt Nations), had lived on this site they called Camosun for over 10,000 years. The HBC steamship Beaver arrived on March 14, 1843, and Fort Victoria rose on the harbour.

The fort quickly became HBC headquarters for the entire Columbia District. When gold was discovered on the mainland in 1858, Victoria transformed overnight from a settlement of 300 to over 5,000—the supply base and outfitting centre for miners heading to the Fraser Canyon. Vancouver Island had become a British Crown Colony in 1849 with Fort Victoria as capital; when the island merged with the mainland colony in 1866, Victoria remained the capital over the mainland's New Westminster.

Today, Victoria is Canada's most isolated provincial capital—so distant from the Lower Mainland that premiers often conduct business in Vancouver instead. The provincial government remains the city's largest employer, but technology has become Victoria's largest private industry: over 880 tech companies generate $3.15 billion annually with 15,000 employees. The Royal Canadian Navy's Pacific headquarters at CFB Esquimalt provides military employment. The University of Victoria and Camosun College contribute 33,000 students and staff.

By 2026, Victoria faces an identity question sharpened by the Hudson's Bay Company's 2025 liquidation—the company that founded it no longer exists. The oldest corporation in North America, established in 1670, closed its final stores. Whether Victoria can sustain its tech sector while maintaining its government-and-tourism identity determines if the city remains merely a pleasant provincial backwater or becomes something more.