Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Island or Saltspring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada, and Vancouver Island. The island was initially inhabited by various Salishan peoples before being settled by pioneers in 1859, at which time it was renamed Admiral Island. It was the first of the Gulf Islands to be settled and the first agricultural settlement on the islands in the Colony of Vancouver Island, as well as the first island in the region to permit settlers to acquire land through pre-emption. The island was retitled to its current name in 1910. It is named for the salt springs found in the northern part of the island. Salt Spring Island is the largest, most populous, and the most frequently visited of the Southern Gulf Islands. Salt Spring Island, or ĆUÁN (čuʔén), was initially inhabited by Salishan peoples of various tribes. Other Saanich placenames on the island include: ȾESNO ̧EṈ ̧ (t̕θəsnáʔəŋ̕) for Beaver Point, S ̧ĆUÁN (sʔčuʔén) for Cape Keppel, W̱ENÁ ̧NEĆ (xwən̕en̕əč) for Fulford Harbour, SYOW̱T (syaxwt) for Ganges Harbour, and ṮÁȽEṈ (ƛ̕éɬəŋ) for Isabella Point. The island became a refuge for African Americans who had resided in California. They left California in 1858 after the state passed discriminatory legislation against blacks. Several of the families settled on this island including families of George Richardson and William Isaacs who occupied land behind the village of Shiya'hwt; others on Vancouver Island. Before the emigration, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs travelled with two other men up to the colony to interview Governor James Douglas about what kind of treatment they could expect there. The Governor was a Guyanese man of multi-ethnic birth, and assured them that people of African descent in Canada would be fairly treated and that the colony had abolished slavery more than 20 years before. Nevertheless the natives opposed the black settlers' presence. The island was the first of the Gulf Islands to be settled by non-First Nations people.