George Vancouver, a British explorer, surveys the Northwest Coast in search for the Northwest passage. Though the Northwest coast would not be put under colonial policy until the mid 19th century, Vancouver’s maps of the coast would enable imperial officials to ignore the presence of Indigenous people and advance their territorial claims over the area. Vancouver assigns the names of influential British individuals to various geographic features including “The Gulph of Georgia,” “Bute’s Canal,” and “Howe’s Sound,” portraying the coast as British possessions.
Daniel Clayton. “On the Colonial Genealogy of George Vancouver’s Chart of the North-West Coast of North America.” Ecumene 7, no. 4 (2000): 371-401.