Relations, Encounters and Legacies from the time of the Vancouver Expedition

Welcome. The Changing Perspectives exhibit revisits the histories of European colonization of Indigenous territories in what is now the Pacific Northwest. It is produced by the Vancouver Maritime Museum which is fortunate to be hosted on the traditional territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada.

The Vancouver Maritime Museum would also like to recognize our Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) and Mowachaht/Muchalaht collaborators in Bella Bella and Yuquot, respectively. As hosts and partners, they shaped our understanding of the legacies of Captain Vancouver’s expedition for their communities and territories.

Some of the images on this website are by non-Indigenous artists from the past and present. They are based on their perspective of early contact and not on Indigenous knowledge traditions. It is important to remember that they tell us as much about the artists themselves as they do about what really happened in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.