Colony of Vancouver's Island Inaugurated - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 48° 25.253 W 123° 22.146
10U E 472691 N 5363147
A monument on the northwest corner of Government Street and Belleville Street opposite James Bay marks the spot where the colony of Vancouver's Island was inaugurated by Richard Blanschard, the Governor Vancouver Island.
Waymark Code: WM108Z1
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 03/23/2019
Views: 7
According to Wikipedia:
Link
"With the signing of the Treaty of Washington in 1846, the mainland of Oregon Territory below the 49th parallel became American territory. Thus in 1849, HBC (Hudson's Bay Corporation) moved its western headquarters from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River (present day Vancouver, Washington) to Fort Victoria. Chief Factor James Douglas, was relocated from Fort Vancouver to Fort Victoria to oversee the Company's operations west of the Rockies."
Vancouver's Island was designate a territory a Crown colony on 13 January 1849 and Richard Blanshard, an English barrister from a wealthy mercantile family, see link, was named the colony's governor. However, Blanshard did not arrive in Fort Victoria, the colonial capital, until March of 1850. At that time the official ceremony took place marking the transition of Vancouver's Island from a territory to a colony.
An 8' tall field stone obelisk marks the site of Fort Victoria where in 1850 the colony of Victoria was inaugurated. A bronze plaque on the obelisk is inscribed:
FORT VICTORIA
WAS ERECTED BY
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY
1845
HERE THE COLONY OF VANCOUVER'S
ISLAND WAS INAUGURATED BY
RICHARD BLANSHARD
1850
VANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND
BRITISH COLUMBIA UNITED
1866
TWO YEAS LATER VICTORIA
BECAME THE CAPITAL OF
BRITISH COLUMBIA