The meaning of the name Yuquot is “where the winds blow from many directions”. It has been dubbed "the birthplace of British Columbia". On May 5, 1789,
Spanish navigator and
explorer Esteban José Martínez established the settlement of
Santa Cruz de Nuca. It was the first
European colony in what is now
British Columbia, the only Spanish settlement in what is now
Canada, and the northernmost verified Spanish settlement in the
Americas. The colony was protected by the cannon of
Fort San Miguel and was maintained until the resolution of the
Nootka Crisis in 1795.
Nootka Crisis Yuquot was the scene of the
Nootka Crisis, which nearly led to war between Spain and Britain. Negotiations in Europe calmed the situation and led to the first
Nootka Convention. Each nation sent a commissioner to Nootka Sound in order to carry out the terms of the Nootka Convention and related diplomatic issues. Arriving in 1792,
George Vancouver was commissioner for Britain and
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra for Spain. Quadra also served as the commandant of the Spanish settlement at Yuquot, hosting Vancouver and his crew. Quadra and Vancouver had to engage in diplomatic negotiations due to the Nootka Convention's vagueness and lack of detail over how it was to be implemented. In addition both commissioners had been given incomplete, differing, and confused instructions by their governments. They negotiated for months but in the end failed to reach an agreement. The matter was sent back to the British and Spanish governments. The primary problem was a differing interpretation of the Nootka Convention. Vancouver's position, as instructed, was that the entire Spanish settlement was to be turned over to him. Quadra's position was that there was nothing left to turn over in accord with the Nootka Convention, but he made various offers, such as turning over a small cove in Nootka Sound, where
John Meares had built the
North West America in 1788, or turning over the entire settlement in exchange if Britain agreed to set the boundary between Spanish and British territory at the
Strait of Juan de Fuca. Chief
Maquinna played a role in the negotiations, identifying the cove where Meares had built his vessel, swearing that no land had ever been sold to the British and that the Spanish were the rightful occupants at Yuquot—and that only on the condition that the site be restored to his people as soon as possible. Unable to reach an agreement, Vancouver and Quadra left in late 1792 and the settlement at Yuquot remained under Spanish control until 1795, when the terms of the third Nootka Convention, calling for the "mutual abandonment" of Nootka, were carried out, after which the site was reoccupied by the Maquinna and the Mowachaht people.
19th century John R. Jewitt, an English blacksmith, was held there for three years 1803-1805 as Maquinna's slave, following the capture of the trading ship
Boston and the murder of the captain and all but one other crew members. Jewitt's memoirs form an important record of Yuquot at that period. The whole of Vancouver Island was declared part of the
Colony of Vancouver Island in 1849. This was amalgamated into the
Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and later into Canada in 1871.
20th century In 1911, the government of Canada erected the
Nootka Lighthouse atop San Rafael Island, a small rocky island that overlooks Yuquot and forms part of its
natural harbour. The original lighthouse was later replaced with the current lighthouse in 1958. It serves as a navigational aid to vessels transiting
Nootka Sound.
21st century Recently, the lighthouse has been home to a seasonal Canadian Coast Guard Inshore Rescue Boat station with a crew of three (two deckhands and a
coxswain) and an fast rescue craft at their disposal. ==See also==