Victoria, the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. With a population of 91,867 in the city and 397,237 in the Greater Victoria area, it is the seventh most densely populated city in Canada. Victoria is the southernmost major city in Western Canada and is about 100 km southwest from British Columbia's largest city of Vancouver on the mainland. The city is also about 100 km from Seattle by airplane, seaplane, ferry, or the Victoria Clipper passenger-only ferry, and 40 km from Port Angeles, Washington, by ferry Coho across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Victoria, named for Queen Victoria, is one of the oldest cities in the Pacific Northwest, with British settlement beginning in 1843. The city has retained a large number of its historic buildings, in particular its two most famous landmarks, the Parliament Buildings (finished in 1897 and home of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia) and the Empress Hotel (opened in 1908). The city's Chinatown is the second oldest in North America, after that of San Francisco. The region's Coast Salish First Nations peoples established communities in the area long before European settlement, which had large populations at the time of European exploration.
The Spanish and British took up the exploration of the northwest coast, beginning with the visits of Juan Pérez in 1774, and of James Cook in 1778. Although the Victoria area of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was not explored until 1790, Spanish sailors visited Esquimalt Harbour (just west of Victoria proper) in 1790, 1791, and 1792.
In 1841 James Douglas was charged with the duty of setting up a trading post on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Upon the recommendation by George Simpson a new more northerly post should be built in case Fort
