A Little History... After Much Searching

Ok, history hasn't been high on the sight-seeing list here. Mostly because you don't really come to Canada for the history, but the scenery. That's not to say that there isn't any here! For starters Vancouver is named after Captain George Vancouver who, would you believe it, comes from King's Lynn! I know, strange isn't it!? Anyway, Captain Vancouver was not the first to navigate the west coast of Canada, other illustrious names which came before him included the legendary Captain James Cook - on whose ship he once served.

But Vancouver didn't name the city himself. That was decided by a meeting of townsmen in the 19th century, which no doubt included "Gassy" Jack Deighton. So-called for his long-winded stories and ceaseless talking (remind you of anyone?), Gassy-Jack was born in Hull, and ended up running a saloon near the Hastings Mill. It soon became the centre of the growing neighbourhood, and somehow his nickname got stuck to that little area of Vancouver which we now know as Gastown.

So, apparently Gastown is not named after its cute steam-clock, rather the clock was built in honour of Gastown:

Sorry for making you crane your necks - I'm still getting the hang of this video-taking business!

So there's a short-history of Gastown and Vancouver. I did learn more about the Island and First Nations in Victoria, and Canada's Northern House, but I think that can wait for another, less colonial, day.