Geography of British Columbia: Regions, History, Deterritorialization, and Physiography

Comprehensive practice flashcards for the Geography of British Columbia covering regional frameworks, early contact, depopulation, fur trade dynamics, gold rushes, colonial deterritorialization, residential schooling, and physiographic/tectonic history.

According to geographer Charles F. Gritzner, what three fundamental questions define human geography?

"What's where? Why there? Why care?"

Which American author's quote is used in the course to emphasize that regional geographers study time as well as space?

William Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." (from Requiem for a Nun, $1951$).

Which academic disciplines contribute directly to the physical and human sub-fields of regional geography?

Human geography draws on history (historical geography), political science (political geography), economics (economic geography), anthropology/psychology/sociology (cultural geography), and demography (population geography). Physical geography draws on geology (geomorphology), meteorology (climatology), and biology (biogeography), integrated via techniques like cartography, GIS/remote sensing, and statistics.

Identify the eight distinct physiographic/economic regions of British Columbia defined by Brett McGillivray (2000).

1. Peace River / Northeast
2. North Coast / Northwest
3. North Central Interior
4. Vancouver Island / Central Coast
5. South Central Interior
6. Okanagan
7. Kootenay
8. Lower Mainland

How long did travel between London and Victoria typically take prior to 1850 compared to 1885 via the Canadian Pacific Railway?

Prior to $1850$, travel from London to Victoria took approximately $1.5\text{ years}$. By $1885$, the Canadian Pacific Railway connected Montreal to Vancouver in $137\text{ hours}$ ($5\frac{1}{2}\text{ days}$).

What three major travel constraints were nullified by the introduction of railroads in British Columbia in the 1870s?

Night, weather, and seasons.

What was the legendary 'Sea of the West' (Mer de l'Ouest) that appeared on early European cartographic depictions of the Pacific Northwest?

An imagined inland sea or passage based on an unsubstantiated account by Juan de Fuca in $1592$, who claimed to have discovered a broad inlet between $47^\to$ and $48^\to$ latitude.

What economic realization arose from Vitus Bering's 1740 expedition to the Pacific Northwest?

After Bering's expedition ran aground, acquired sea otter pelts, and sold them in Guangzhou, China, Europeans first recognized the immense economic potential of the Pacific Northwest fur trade.

What did Captain James Cook's expedition to the Pacific Northwest coast in 1778 trigger in Great Britain?

After landing at Nootka Sound and learning in China of the high prices paid for sea otter pelts, news spread to England upon Charles Clarke's return, sparking a commercial rush for Pacific Northwest furs.

When did smallpox first arrive at the Strait of Georgia, and how did this precede direct European contact with Coast Salish peoples?

Smallpox arrived at the Strait of Georgia in $1782$ via overland Indigenous trade networks stemming from a $1779$ Mexico/Plains outbreak, a full decade before direct European contact occurred in $1792$.

What mortality rate do modern historical estimates assign to the smallpox epidemics that struck Indigenous populations in British Columbia?

While traditional conservative estimates cited $75\%$, current scholarship estimates mortality rates reached $90\% - 95\%$.

What international incident occurred at Nootka Sound in 1789, and how was it resolved?

Spanish authorities seized British ships and property belonging to trader John Meares. In response, the British Parliament voted $£2{,}000{,}000$ for potential war, culminating in the Nootka Convention of October $1790$, which granted mutual trading rights in the Pacific Northwest.

What historic inscription did Alexander Mackenzie make upon reaching the Pacific Ocean overland in 1793?

"Alexander MacKenzie, from Canada, by land, the twenty second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three" carved onto a rock at Bella Coola.

Which explorer charted the Fraser River through Hells Gate in 1808 mistakenly believing it was the Columbia River?

Simon Fraser, who reached Yale and Hope before realizing the river emptied at $49^\to\text{N}$ rather than the Columbia's mouth at $46^\to\text{N}$.

How did the balance of power in the coastal fur trade differ fundamentally from that of the interior fur trade according to Cole Harris?

In the coastal trade, Indigenous peoples held the advantage, were commercially shrewd, and traders remained on ships without monopolies or territorial control. In the interior, corporate fur companies established fixed on-land forts, claimed Crown sovereignty, and enforced corporate discipline and racial control.

Why does historical geographer Cole Harris refer to interior fur trade posts as 'power containers'?

They were heavily fortified islands of security housing $5$ to $60$ armed men, designed to impose order and project authority over an unmanaged, alien landscape without the formal presence of British civil courts or common law.

What was the 'politics of fear' utilized by fur trade companies against Indigenous nations?

A strategy using public spectacles of power and violent retribution (floggings, irons, firearm displays, threats of biological warfare like smallpox in a bottle, and the destruction of whole villages) to compel social conformity and safeguard company property.

What unusual pack animals were introduced to the Cariboo region in 1862 to transport freight?

Bactrian camels (the "Cariboo Camels"), imported to pack supplies along the trail to the goldfields.

What was British Columbia's 'first mega-project', constructed between 1862 and 1865?

The Cariboo Wagon Road, a $650\text{-kilometre}$ road engineered by the Royal Engineers connecting Yale to Barkerville.

What demographic initiative did the Reverend Robert C. Brown establish in Lillooet during the Cariboo Gold Rush?

The Columbia Emigration Society, formed to recruit young women from England to immigrate to the Cariboo as prospective brides for male miners.

Under colonial legal conventions, what three legal methods existed for acquiring territory from Indigenous peoples?

1. Settlement (if the land was completely unoccupied/terra nullius)
2. Conquest
3. Cession via Treaty (requiring Indigenous consent and financial compensation)

What core principle regarding Indigenous lands was affirmed in British law by the Royal Proclamation of 1763?

It recognized that Indigenous peoples possessed rights to use and occupy their unceded lands and resources, establishing that land could only be acquired through formal treaties negotiated directly with the Crown.

What were the Douglas Treaties, and how many were negotiated?

A series of $14$ treaties negotiated between $1850$ and $1854$ on southern Vancouver Island by Governor James Douglas, recognizing Indigenous ownership and guaranteeing reserve lands surveyed to Indigenous preferences.

How did Joseph Trutch alter reserve policies after becoming Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works in 1864?

Trutch denied the existence of Aboriginal title, refused to sign further treaties, and in $1868$ drastically reduced existing reserves surveyed under Douglas (e.g., slashing Stó:lō reserves from $39{,}900\text{ acres}$ down to $3{,}430\text{ acres}$).

What restriction did the Canadian federal government place on Indigenous legal action under the Indian Act in 1927?

It made it illegal to raise funds for land claims or to retain legal counsel to pursue claims, a ban that remained in effect until $1951$.

What was the constitutional significance of the Supreme Court of Canada's 1973 Calder Decision?

Brought forward by Nisga'a leader Frank Calder, the court confirmed that Aboriginal title had existed in Canadian law prior to colonial sovereignty, forcing the federal government to establish a formal Comprehensive Land Claims process in $1981$.

What core legal precedent was established by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1997 Delgamuukw decision?

It confirmed that Aboriginal title constitutes an exclusive right to the land itself (not just traditional hunting and fishing rights) and ruled that Indigenous oral histories are admissible as valid legal evidence in court.

Which Indigenous nation of the West Kootenay region was declared 'extinct' by the Canadian federal government in 1956?

The Sinixt Nation, renowned historically for their distinctive sturgeon-nosed canoes and traditional territory spanning the upper Columbia River watershed.

What stated objective did Duncan Campbell Scott express in 1920 regarding Canada's residential school policy?

"Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department…"

How did the architectural layout of Indian Residential Schools function as a disciplinary 'panopticon'?

They featured long, straight hallways, large open gathering rooms, and constantly monitored dormitories to ensure students remained permanently within the supervisory gaze of school staff.

What is the geological definition of a craton?

The ancient, stable foundation, basement, or nucleus of a tectonic plate, such as the $600\text{-million-year-old}$ ancestral North American craton.

What distinguishing grain size differentiates intrusive igneous rocks from extrusive igneous rocks?

Intrusive igneous rocks cool slowly beneath the Earth's surface, allowing large, visible mineral crystals to develop (e.g., granite), whereas extrusive igneous rocks cool quickly at the surface, forming fine-grained or glassy textures without visible crystals (e.g., basalt, tuff).

At what rate is the oceanic Juan de Fuca Plate currently subducting beneath the North American Plate along the Cascadia Subduction Zone?

$4\text{ cm/year}$.

Which four ancient terranes made up the Intermontane Superterrane that collided with North America between 181 and 150 million years ago?

Stikinia (volcanic island arc), Cache Creek (ocean floor), Quesnellia (island arc), and Slide Mountain (ocean floor).

What structural mountain belts formed during the second major terrane collision (84 to 40 million years ago) in British Columbia?

The Coastal Belt (Coast Mountains) and the Insular Belt (Insular Mountains on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii), created by the accretion of the Insular Superterrane.

What tectonic event 60 million years ago created the Rocky Mountain Trench and the Okanagan Valley?

Crustal relaxation and extension, where compressive orogenic pressures eased and down-dropped grabens/valleys opened.

What tectonic mechanism generated the Anahim Volcanic Belt and the Wells Gray - Clearwater Volcanic Field?

Mantle hot spots rising toward the crust beneath the continental plate.

Where did Canada's most recent known volcanic eruption occur, and approximately when?

The Tseax River cone in the Nass Valley during the $1770\text{s}$.

How does glacial erosion characteristically alter the cross-sectional geometry of pre-existing stream valleys?

It erodes narrow, steep V-shaped river valleys into broad, flat-bottomed, steep-sided U-shaped glacial valleys.

What suspended material gives glacial lakes in British Columbia their characteristic vibrant turquoise-blue color?

Glacial "flour" (extremely fine, silt-sized rock particles generated by glacial abrasion and held in suspension).