Until this great work is completed, our dominion is little more than a geographical expression - Sir John A. Macdonald

Travel through the eras of  history and the development of the various nations that make up Canada today.

The Nootka were located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Their main settlement was named Yuquot. They were great seafarers and travelled the coast in large cedar canoes that could carry 15 - 20 people. The lived off of the sea. The salmon provided food for much of the year, but whales, seals and sea otters supplied additional food and clothing. These were the first people of the Canada's west coast that Captain Cook came in contact with at Nootka Sound.  As with other native groups, the original contact with Europeans brought new items which the Nootka found very useful but with Smallpox and other disease decimating the populations and other cultural influences changing their social structure, their traditional social structure began to fracture and breakdown. They also used the cedar from the great rain forests which covered Vancouver Island for shelter, canoes, clothing and fuel.  In 1906 there were about 2, 594 Nootka and it is only in recent times that these numbers have once again been exceeded.