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INFORMATION Tour Home Contact Us Copyright © 2000 History of Racialisation Group Victoria, BC CANADA All rights reserved This page last updated 17 July 2000 Contact the Page Maintainer Hosted by the University of Victoria This site looks best with	Imperial Paradise? An Alternative Walking Tour of Victoria, BC Bastion Square
	Bastion Square is central to Victoria’s tourist economy. Much of the square has been restored and boasts many heritage buildings, cobblestone walkways, and wrought iron lampstands. Walking through the square you will see a variety of artisans peddling their art and crafts, and the Maritime Museum, which once housed the Supreme Court that was presided over by Chief Justice Matthew Baillie Begbie.		The Fort's Bastion, c.1870s
	The HBC fort, as depicted by a contemporary artist.	During Britain’s empire building on the West Coast of Canada, the Square represented the heart of colonial British Columbia. It takes its name from the Bastion that once stood at the north east corner of Fort Victoria, which was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) in 1843. Although usually thought of as a fur trade company, the HBC was really a resource exploitation company.
	They selected this site as the location to run the resource gathering empire on the Pacific Coast, a role that the fort took on as company headquarters in 1846. From the Fort the HBC traded with aboriginal people to acquire furs, coal, salmon, gold, cranberries, whale oil, and ice from glaciers to sell to Californian gold miners thirsty for cocktails. The Bastion is symbolic of the threat of violence that always lay in the background of aboriginal – immigrant relations. Generally speaking, the HBC stayed on good terms with the local people, but when there were disagreements the gun ports of the Bastion were opened and the cannons were used to show that the HBC would ultimately have things their way. When Great Britain decided to appropriate the land as a colony in 1849, they chose Victoria as the capital. In the shadow of the bastion, within the walls of the fort, the first colonial assembly was held and the first of the British laws were passed. More on Bastion Square \| Next Stop

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