Fort Victoria (British Columbia) Fort Victoria (British Columbia) Fort Victoria began as a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company and was the headquarters of HBC operations in the Columbia District, a large fur trading area now part of the province of British Columbia, Canada and the U.S. state of Washington. Construction of Fort Victoria in 1843 highlighted the beginning of a permanent British settlement now known as Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. The fort itself was demolished in November 1864 as the town continued to grow as a commercial centre serving the local area as well as trading with California,
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia province's order of precedence, preceding even other members of the Canadian Royal Family and the Queen's federal representative, the Governor General of Canada. The first British settlement in the area was the Colony of British Columbia (1858–66), of which the first Lieutenant Governor, from 1858 to 1863, was Richard Clement Moody, who had previously served as the first Governor of the Falkland Islands. Moody selected the site for and founded the original capital of British Columbia – New Westminster – and established the Cariboo Road and Stanley Park. He named Burnaby Lake after his private secretary Robert Burnaby and named