The Resettlement of British Columbia: Essays on Colonialism and Geographical Change

The Resettlement of British Columbia examines the colonial transformation of British Columbia through a geographical and historical lens. The book focuses on the period between 1774-1874, documenting the dramatic changes in land use, demographics, and power structures during this critical century. Through a collection of linked essays, Harris analyzes the displacement of Indigenous peoples and the establishment of European settlements across the region. The text draws on archival records, maps, and firsthand accounts to reconstruct the physical and social landscape of early British Columbia. Indigenous perspectives and experiences are central to Harris's examination of how colonization reshaped British Columbia's human geography. The book tracks the complex interactions between Native peoples, European settlers, and colonial administrators as they competed for resources and territory. The work presents colonization not just as a political process, but as a fundamental reorganization of space and human relationships to land. These essays reveal how geographical change and social transformation were inseparable in the creation of modern British Columbia.

Readers appreciate Harris's deep archival research and use of historical maps to trace the displacement of Indigenous peoples by settlers in British Columbia. The book's analysis of geography and power dynamics receives consistent mentions in academic reviews. Several academics note the book's value as a teaching resource due to its clear depiction of colonialism's practical mechanics through land surveys, population movements, and government policies. A reviewer on Goodreads highlighted the "thorough breakdown of BC's colonial development." Some readers found the academic writing style dense and the focus too narrow on administrative details rather than Indigenous perspectives. One Amazon review noted "limited engagement with First Nations oral histories." Reviews are limited online: Goodreads: 4.0/5 (5 ratings, 1 review) Amazon.ca: No ratings WorldCat: No ratings The book appears more frequently cited in scholarly work than reviewed by general readers, with citations focusing on its contributions to colonial geography studies.

Making Native Space by Cole Harris This historical geography examines the creation of Indian reserves in British Columbia and their impact on Indigenous spatial relationships.

Imperial Canada Inc.: Legal Haven of Choice for the World's Mining Industries by Alain Deneault and William Sacher The text reveals how British Columbia and Canada's colonial structures shaped modern resource extraction practices and corporate law.

Contact and Conflict: Indian-European Relations in British Columbia, 1774-1890 by Robin Fisher This examination traces the evolution of relationships between Indigenous peoples and European settlers in British Columbia through economic and social perspectives.

Colonialism and Geographic Change: The Impact of European Settlement on Vancouver Island by Kenneth Brealey The work documents the transformation of Vancouver Island's landscapes through colonial settlement patterns and Indigenous displacement.

Lords of the Western Coast by Donald Graham The text chronicles British Columbia's maritime fur trade and its role in establishing colonial power structures along the Pacific Coast.

🌲 Cole Harris spent over 30 years researching British Columbia's colonial history, making this book a culmination of his life's academic work. 🏛️ The book examines how European diseases decimated the indigenous population of British Columbia by up to 90% before significant settler colonization even began. 🗺️ Harris uses detailed cartographic analysis to show how colonial surveyors systematically divided and cataloged indigenous lands, transforming them into property that could be bought and sold. 👥 The research reveals that many early British Columbia settlers were not farmers or pioneers, but speculators who acquired land solely to resell it at a profit. 📜 The book draws heavily from previously unused archival sources, including hundreds of colonial correspondence letters and early hand-drawn maps that had never before been analyzed in an academic context.