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Prospects of place and portraits of progress in the early representations of the Queen Charlotte Islands, 1878-1922

University of British Columbia

At the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Queen Charlotte Islands were witness to dramatic transformations. Surveyors and scientists mapped the islands, describing the resources and conditions. Because of the favourable climate and locale, settlers and capital flowed to the Islands, changing the landscapes. And although the Islands' indigenous peoples embraced many aspects of the modernisation in the islands, they were excluded from claims to the islands. The modernization of the Queen Charlotte Islands came to a fevered climax in 1913, with the building of canneries, mines whaling stations, and logging camps, and with a flurry of land speculation. Haida frustration also increased at this time, spurned by their alienation from the land and their treatment as wards of the state. This thesis considers these transformations in the Queen Charlotte Islands by reflecting on various representations of place. Through these disparate images is the common narrative of progress through which the Islands are framed - be it through various prospects of tourism, science, capital, church or bureaucracy. What becomes apparent in all attempts to define and describe this place are the failures of vocabularies that are brought by settlers and visitors and imposed upon the Islands. Rather, the ability to know and control becomes allusive, thus openning more questions into the meaning of place.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-04-27

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7608

Geography

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace