Ahousat Regional District of Alberni-Clayoquot, British Columbia

Locality - A named place or area, generally with a scattered population of 50 or less. SE end of Flores Island, NW of Tofino, Clayoquot Land District

Mapped Location

Ahousat: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Ahousat

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Ahousat

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Ahousat Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Ahousat

References to Ahousat that document the origin of its place name

Ahousat (Post Office & Steamer Landing) adopted 3 April 1934 on C.340, as labelled on British Admiralty charts since 1861, and as labelled on BC map 2A, 1913 et seq, and as listed in 1930 BC Gazetteer. Form of name changed to Ahousat (Locality) 15 December 1982 on 92 E/8.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Named in 1861 by Captain Richards, after the tribe who inhabited the village, the Ah-ous-aht.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

"An [Indigenous] village inhabited by the Ah-ous-aht tribe, numbering, in 1905, 263 persons. The [Indigenous] meaning of the word is "people living with their backs to the land and mountains", because the original home of the tribe was on the sea front of Vargas Island near Foam reefs, there being no land to obstruct the full view of the ocean from the village. This abandoned home, Ahous, from which they derived their name, is occasionally used by members of the tribe as a fishing station... Mak-to-sis, on Flores Island, the present home of the Ahousats, was years ago a burying place of the now extinct tribe of Out-sos-aht, whose home was on the sea coast of Flores Island about 2 miles east of Rafael point.... 'The harbour in Ahasset' mentioned in Captain Kendrick's deed in 1791 is evidently meant to indicate this locality...."

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)  |  Province of British Columbia

Note that H.D. Parizeau, Hydrographic Service, reported in 1934 that the [Indigenous People] repudiate the meaning provided by Walbran, and say it is the whiteman's invention.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Regional District of Alberni-Clayoquot

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-09-26