Main article: History of British Columbia
From 1818 to 1846, British Columbia south of 54°40′ and west of the Rocky Mountains was part of a region named by the Americans (after they started claiming it, even though there were none actually in the territory), the Oregon Country, after an old name for the Columbia River coming from the French word ouragan (hurricane). The land was under the control of - but unlike Rupert's Land not owned by - the Hudson's Bay Company, who had a monopoly within the region on trade with the Indians. Hudson's Bay territories west of the Rockies were divided into the departments of Columbia, vaguely defined as to the (south of the Thompson River) and New Caledonia (north of the river).
In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the territory along the 49th parallel to Georgia Strait, with the area north of this boundary (and all of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands) becoming exclusively British territory. The Colony of Vancouver Island was created in 1849, with Victoria designated as the capital. New Caledonia — the mainland — continued to be an unorganized territory of British North America, "administered" by individual HBC trading post managers.
With the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858, the mainland was organized into the Colony of British Columbia, with New Westminster as its capital. The name was chosen by Queen Victoria, to differentiate the British part of the Columbia District from that portion lost to the United States, i.e. the remaining US portion of the Oregon Country. The name "Columbia" does not derive directly from Christopher Columbus, as does the name of the country Colombia or as in the District of Columbia, but instead comes from the name of the ship sailed up the Columbia's lower reaches (allegedly) by American Captain Robert Gray. That voyage, foregone by Captain Vancouver a few years before during his charting of the Coast, was one of the determining factors in the final surrender of what had been clearly a British fur dominion into the hands of expanding Americans. Unlike other names in Canada and elsewhere, the name Columbia (as in the river) is not translated in French, since it is a ship's name, although the province secondarily-named for it is rendered la Colombie-Britannique (the province's official name in French).
In 1858, in response to the Fraser Canyon gold rush, the mainland portion of the former Oregon Country was organized into the colony of British Columbia as a preventive against the risk of annexation by the American-dominated mining population, many of whom had defied the Governor's orders to enter the Colony via Victoria and instead came overland via Whatcom County and the Okanagan Trail. The Cariboo region ("Central Interior") of British Columbia experienced a gold rush in the years 1862 to 1865. This created a rapid influx of miners and settlers, about 30,000 in all. The colonial authorities feared the gold rush might spread beyond B.C.'s northern border (54°40′ north), so the Stikine Territory was created in 1862. However, the following year this new territory was disestablished, most of its area going to B.C., whose northern limit was increased to its current location, 60° north.
This period in the province's history is acknowledged today in the Gold Rush Trail: historic and other sites along the route from Lillooet to Barkerville and beyond. Some of the towns along this route are numbered according to their distance from the end of the navigable part of the Fraser River at Lillooet. Best known of these is the town of 100 Mile House which, along with the residential hub of 108 Mile Ranch, forms a substantial trading, tourism, and population centre for this region.
After the mainland's gold rushes collapsed and the colony almost went bankrupt from building roads in its interior, the two colonies of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia agreed to merge and share the debt. The merger was effected in 1866, with the name British Columbia being applied to the newly united colony.
Several factors played in the decision of British Columbia to join Canada on July 20, 1871. These included fear of annexation to the United States, the overwhelming debt created by rapid population growth, the need for government-funded services to support this population, and the economic depression caused by the end of the gold rush. The decision was made largely because the Canadian government offered to link British Columbia to the more settled parts of Canada via the Canadian Pacific Railway and offered to pay off the $1,000,000 British Columbian debt.
The completion of the CPR in 1885, and its upgrades during 1886, was a huge boost to Vancouver, the line's terminus founded in 1886, and it rapidly grew to become one of Canada's largest cities. The province became a centre of fishing, mining, and especially of logging throughout the twentieth century.
In 1903, British Columbia's territory shrank somewhat after the Alaska Boundary Dispute settled the vague boundary of the Alaska panhandle.
B.C. has long taken advantage of its Pacific coast to have close relations with East Asia. However, this has caused friction, with frequent feelings of animosity towards Asian immigrants. This was most manifest during the Second World War when many people of Japanese descent were interned in the interior of the province.
The post-World War II years saw Vancouver and Victoria also become cultural centres as poets, authors, artists, musicians, as well as dancers, actors, and haute cuisine chefs flocked to the beautiful scenery and warmer temperatures. Similarly, these cities have either attracted or given rise to their own noteworthy academics, commentators, and creative thinkers. Tourism also began to play an important role in the economy. The rise of Japan and other Pacific economies was a great boost to the B.C. economy