Fort Langley, birthplace of British Columbia


Title Cover Image: Fort Langley, birthplace of British Columbia

Co-authored by B.A. McKelvie and Charles Lillard, Fort Langley, Birthplace of British Columbia chronicles the foundational history of the Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post established along the lower Fraser River in 1827. The book details how the fort evolved from a modest trading stockade dealing in salmon and beaver pelts into the geopolitical staging ground where British colonial rule was officially proclaimed in 1858. Drawing on historical journals and company records, the text illustrates the complex economic web linking fur traders, maritime supply ships, and local Indigenous populations. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the romantic narrative of a colony's "birthplace" obscures its corporate origins; by tracing British Columbia's administrative roots directly back to a commercial trading monopoly, the authors reveal that the region's political foundation was engineered less by heroic statecraft than by the ruthless logistical demands of the fur trade.

Author(s): B. A. McKelvie, Charles Lillard
Document: Book · Paperback · CIRC [ 1 ]
Edition: 1st Edition
Published: 1991
Physical Description: 112 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
Genre: History
Subjects:

British Columbia Fort Langley, Canada, British Columbia, Fort Langley History, Fort Langley (B.C.) History, Fort Langley (C.-B.) Histoire, History

Related Places: Metro Vancouver Regional District Fort Langley

 

Circulation

Here are a list of places where this title can be found and the various formats it can be found in.

Collection Resource Available Edition Published Publisher
The Cascade District: Encyclopedia Library Book Paperback 1st Edition 1991 Porcépic Press, Victoria, B.C., 1991

 

Last updated: 2026-09-13