Esquimalt

Coordinates: 48°25′56″N 123°24′21″W / 48.432276°N 123.405844°W / 48.432276; -123.405844
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Esquimalt (disambiguation).

Esquimalt
PST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−07:00 (PDT)
Highways1A
WaterwaysStrait of Juan de Fuca
Websitewww.esquimalt.ca

The Township of Esquimalt (

Greater Victoria and part of the Capital Regional District
.

Esquimalt had a population of 17,533 in 2021. It covers 7.08 km2 (2.73 sq mi). It is home to the Pacific fleet of the Royal Canadian Navy.

History

The region now known as Esquimalt was settled by

Lekwungen
(which is also an alternate name for the Songhees).

The first Europeans to reach Esquimalt were the Spanish expedition of

viceroy of New Spain. Quimper claimed the region for Spain and placed a wooden cross on a hill. When the Spanish returned later that summer the cross had vanished. In 1792 Captain George Vancouver extensively explored the region. Following resolution of the Nootka Crisis
, control of the region went to the British and the British owned HBC.

At Esquimalt, B.C., the sternwheel steamboat Lady Alexandra photographed sometime after 1874

In 1843, near the height of the

British Queen
.

However, ships continued to use Esquimalt Harbour to load and offload passengers and supplies. In 1852, sailors from a British naval ship, HMS Thetis, built a trail through the forest linking the harbour with Victoria Harbour and the fort. This trail, since paved over, is now one of Esquimalt's main streets, Old Esquimalt Road.

Meanwhile, the HBC decided to try its hand at farming. Douglas leased all of Vancouver Island for seven shillings a year from Great Britain, and had a division of the HBC, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, come in to develop the land. The Viewfield farm was the first in 1850, with the Constance Cove farm and Craigflower farms added later. The Craigflower farmhouse still exists as a heritage site, as does the Craigflower schoolhouse built to serve the settlers' children. Thomas Mackenzie, the bailiff in charge of the farm, named it for the ancestral home of one of his superiors. By the mid-1860s, the farms were considered failures and abandoned, and the property sold off in small parcels.

In 1855, the British Royal Navy constructed three hospital buildings on the harbour to treat casualties of the Crimean War. A small settlement grew up on the water's edge near the naval installation. In 1858, the discovery of gold on the Fraser River triggered a massive influx of people, who came to Fort Victoria to buy permits and supplies before setting out for the mainland. Many of these ships landed in Esquimalt Harbour. Some of these people stayed in the area, including a few who opened up pubs, as well as some less-than-successful gold miners. With the growing population came the area's first building boom.

Even after the Oregon Treaty of 1846, the boundary between the British Gulf Islands and the U.S. islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound was not fully defined. An incident involving an American settler shooting an HBC farm pig on San Juan Island led to the Pig War with the United States in 1859.

In 1865, the Royal Navy relocated the

Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway
was built through the centre of town.

In June 2010, the Royal Canadian Navy celebrated its 100th anniversary with a fleet review in the waters off Greater Victoria, by Canada's Governor General Michaëlle Jean. The review was attended by warships from Canada, France, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the United States, and US and Canadian Coast Guard vessels.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Esquimalt had a population of 17,533 living in 8,565 of its 8,995 total private dwellings, a change of -0.7% from its 2016 population of 17,655. With a land area of 7.08 km2 (2.73 sq mi), it had a population density of 2,476.4/km2 (6,413.9/sq mi) in 2021.[3]

Ethnicity

Panethnic groups in the District of Esquimalt (1996−2021)
Panethnic
group 		2021[4] 2016[5] 2011[6] 2006[7] 2001[8] 1996[9]
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
European[a] 13,955 80.71% 14,010 82.78% 13,760 86.35% 14,705 88.03% 14,390 89.99% 14,540 90.88%
Indigenous 970 5.61% 1,190 7.03% 1,080 6.78% 930 5.57% 730 4.57% 730 4.56%
Southeast Asian[b] 635 3.67% 485 2.87% 350 2.2% 230 1.38% 240 1.5% 190 1.19%
East Asian[c] 505 2.92% 490 2.9% 250 1.57% 375 2.24% 325 2.03% 210 1.31%
African
 405 2.34% 275 1.62% 140 0.88% 120 0.72% 140 0.88% 90 0.56%
South Asian 305 1.76% 195 1.15% 155 0.97% 160 0.96% 55 0.34% 120 0.75%
Latin American 215 1.24% 110 0.65% 105 0.66% 155 0.93% 90 0.56% 45 0.28%
Middle Eastern[d] 105 0.61% 80 0.47% 0 0% 20 0.12% 15 0.09% 10 0.06%
Other/Multiracial[e] 190 1.1% 95 0.56% 65 0.41% 30 0.18% 10 0.06% 55 0.34%
Total responses 17,290 98.61% 16,925 95.87% 15,935 98.31% 16,705 99.2% 15,990 99.15% 16,000 99.07%
Total population 17,533 100% 17,655 100% 16,209 100% 16,840 100% 16,127 100% 16,151 100%
Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Esquimalt included:[4]

  • Irreligion (10,705 persons or 61.9%)
  • Christianity (5,540 persons or 32.0%)
  • Buddhism (265 persons or 1.5%)
  • Islam (150 persons or 0.9%)
  • Judaism
    (120 persons or 0.7%)
  • Hinduism (60 persons or 0.3%)
  • Sikhism (50 persons or 0.3%)
  • Indigenous Spirituality
    (35 persons or 0.2%)

Neighbourhoods of Esquimalt

The Olympic Mountains, from Esquimalt, 1900.
  • Craigflower
  • Colville Road
  • Gorge Vale Golf
  • Esquimalt Village
  • Parklands
  • Panhandle Alley
  • Rock Heights
  • Saxe Point
  • West Bay
  • Work Point (
    DND
    )

Although the neighbourhood of Victoria (Vic) West is located on the Esquimalt Peninsula, it is part of the city of Victoria.[10]

Education

Residents are zoned to schools in the

Greater Victoria School District.[11]

Communications

In the past, Esquimalt has been served by various incarnations of newspapers. Esquimalt ceased having its own newspaper in 2007 when the Esquimalt News by the Black Press folded and merged with the neighbouring Victoria News.[12]

Esquimalt, however, regained its own local community news source in October 2009 with the creation of the online journal Esquimalt Review.[12]

Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt

Main article: CFB Esquimalt
CFB Esquimalt

Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt (CFB Esquimalt) is home to Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC) of the Royal Canadian Navy. The base facility dates back to the fur trade era, before the founding of the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1849.[13] It was first established as a military installation by the Royal Navy in 1855, and has been operated by the Royal Canadian Navy since 1910.[14]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Statistic includes all persons that did not make up part of a visible minority or an indigenous identity.
  2. ^ Statistic includes total responses of "Filipino" and "Southeast Asian" under visible minority section on census.
  3. ^ Statistic includes total responses of "Chinese", "Korean", and "Japanese" under visible minority section on census.
  4. ^ Statistic includes total responses of "West Asian" and "Arab" under visible minority section on census.
  5. ^ Statistic includes total responses of "Visible minority, n.i.e." and "Multiple visible minorities" under visible minority section on census.

References

  1. ^ "British Columbia Regional Districts, Municipalities, Corporate Name, Date of Incorporation and Postal Address" (XLS). British Columbia Ministry of Communities, Sport and Cultural Development. Archived from the original on July 13, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Esquimalt, District municipality (DM), British Columbia [Census subdivision]". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  3. ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), British Columbia". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-10-26). "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  5. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2021-10-27). "Census Profile, 2016 Census". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  6. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2015-11-27). "NHS Profile". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  7. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-08-20). "2006 Community Profiles". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  8. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-07-02). "2001 Community Profiles". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  9. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-07-02). "Profile of Census Divisions and Subdivisions, 1996 Census". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  10. ^ "Township Map". Archived from the original on 2007-12-19. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  11. ^ "The Greater Victoria School District No. 61". www.sd61.bc.ca. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  12. ^ a b Esquimalt Review: About
  13. ^ Government of Canada, National Defence (2013-04-19). "Maritime Forces Pacific | Royal Canadian Navy". www.navy-marine.forces.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  14. ^ "The CFB Esquimalt Military Base". CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum. Retrieved 2022-05-09.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Esquimalt, British Columbia.
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