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History General

British Columbia in the Balance

1846–1871

by (author) Jean Barman

Publisher
Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.
Initial publish date
Oct 2022
Category
General, Native American, Canadian Studies
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781550179897
    Publish Date
    Oct 2022
    List Price
    $24.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781550179880
    Publish Date
    Oct 2022
    List Price
    $36.95

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Description

Esteemed historian Jean Barman brings new insights on the seemingly disparate events that converged to lay the foundation of the present-day province.

By examining newly accessible private correspondence exchanged with the Colonial Office in London, Barman pieces together the chain of events that caused the distant colony of British Columbia to join the Canadian Confederation as opposed to the very real possibility of becoming one or more American states.

Following the division of the Pacific Northwest between Britain and the United States in 1846, it took British Columbia just a quarter of a century to be transformed from a largely Indigenous territory in 1871, into a province of the recently formed Canada Confederation. In this detailed exploration of colonial politics, including fur trader and politician James Douglas’s governance and the critical role played by the many unions between white settlers and and Indigenous women, Barman expertly weaves together seemingly disparate events that converged to lay the foundations of today’s Canadian province.

About the author

Jean Barman, professor emeritus, has published more than twenty books, including On the Cusp of Contact: Gender, Space and Race in the Colonization of British Columbia (Harbour Publishing, 2020) and the winner of the 2006 City of Vancouver Book Award, Stanley Park’s Secret (Harbour Publishing, 2005). Her lifelong pursuit to enrich the history of BC has earned her such honours as a Governor General’s Award, a George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award, a Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing and a position as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She lives in Vancouver, BC.

Jean Barman's profile page

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