Saltspring Island
| Salt Spring Island | |
|---|---|
| Island | |
Salt Spring island
|
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 The Southern Gulf Islands, including Salt Spring Island. |
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| Country | Canada |
| Province | British Columbia |
| Regional District | Capital |
| Government | |
| • MP | Elizabeth May (Green) |
| • MLA | Gary Holman (NDP) |
| Area | |
| • Land | 182.7 km2 (70.5 sq mi) |
| Population (2011 Census) | |
| • Total | 10,234 |
| • Density | 57.5/km2 (149/sq mi) |
| Time zone | PST (UTC−8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC−7) |
Salt Spring Island (also known as Saltspring Island) is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver Island.
The island was initially inhabited by various Salishan peoples before being settled by pioneers in 1859, at which time it was officially called Admiral Island. It was the first of the Gulf Islands to be settled and the first agricultural settlement on the islands in the Colony of Vancouver Island, as well as the first island in the region to permit settlers to acquire land through pre-emption. The island was retitled to its current name in 1910.
Salt Spring Island is the largest, most populous, and the most frequently visited of the Southern Gulf Islands.
Salt Spring Island, or xʷənen̕əč, was initially inhabited by Salishan peoples of various tribes. Other Saanich placenames on the island include: t̕θəsnaʔəŋ̕ (Beaver Point), čəw̕een (Cape Keppel), xʷən̕en̕əč (Fulford Harbour), and syaxʷt (Ganges Harbour).
The island became a refuge from racism for African Americans who had resided in California. They left California in 1858, after the state passed discriminatory legislation against blacks. Several of the families settled on this island; others on Vancouver Island. Before the emigration, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs and two other men had travelled up to the colony to interview Governor James Douglas about what kind of treatment they could expect there. He was a Guyanese man of multi-ethnic birth, and assured them that people of African descent in Canada were fairly treated as the colony had abolished slavery more than 20 years before.
The island was the first of the Gulf Islands to be settled by non-First Nations people. According to 1988's A Victorian Missionary and Canadian Indian Policy, it was the first agricultural settlement established anywhere in the Colony of Vancouver Island that was not owned by the Hudson's Bay Company or its subsidiary the Pugets Sound Agricultural Company.
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