Yuquot Strathcona Regional District, British Columbia

Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. SE. end of Nootka Island, Nootka Land District

Mapped Location

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

 

Information

General information on Yuquot

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Yuquot

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

Name Description
Yuquot Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Yuquot

References to Yuquot that document the origin of its place name

Yuquot (Indian Settlement) Adopted 6 November 1934 as established on British Admiralty Chart #569, 1866.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.  |  Province of British Columbia

The word means “windy place” in the Nuu-chah-nulth language. Yuquot (or Yucuatl) village was a traditional summer residence on the Mowachaht people, who are part of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribal confederacy. Archeologists have dated signs of habitation back at least 4,200 years. The village became the main point of contact and interaction between First Nation and European cultures in the PNW in the late 18th century. Captain James Cook visited the site in 1778 and was followed by a stream of traders eager to secure valuable sea otter furs. The name Friendly Cove, applied by James Strange in 1786, became synonymous with Yuquot, and Mowachaht chief Maquinna, well known to all the early traders, managed to control much of the fur business in the region. British trader John Meares built a post at Yuquot in 1788 and constructed the North West America there; it was the first European vessel built in the PNW. The Spanish occupied the sound the following year and established a fort beside Yuquot that they operated until 1795. They set off an international dispute later in 1789 by seizing several British trading vessels. A lighthouse station was built nearby in 1911. Yuquot was inhabited more or less permanently by the Mowachaht until 1968, when all but one family moved to a reserve at the mouth of the Gold River. The historic site is still visited by tourists and used for ceremonies.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009.  |  Province of British Columbia

Another name for this settlement was "Nootka."

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Strathcona Regional District

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-10-01