In 1792, the Squamish people had their first recorded contact with Europeans when British Captain George Vancouver and Spanish Captain Jose Maria Narvaez sailed into Burrard Inlet. European expansion during the fur trade boom, gold rush, along with the subsequent colonization policies by the Canadian government, ushered in a new way of life for the Squamish. In a few years, they had quickly fallen to a small minority, due to more disease, displacement from their land, and the rising European and Asian populations.