The illegitimate son of a Scottish plantation owner and a mixed-race woman, James Douglas was born in Guyana in 1803. After schooling in Scotland, he joined the fur trade as a lowly clerk. He rose to be governor of the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia and even received a knighthood from Queen Victoria. Douglas"s life story weaves through the heart of Canadian and Pacific Northwest history, when British Columbia was a wild land containing a few hundred settlers and 30,000 First Nations peoples. He established Victoria and then secured the vast region for British interests, preventing land grabs by the Russian Empire to the north and the expansionist Americans to the south. Autocratic and often accused of favouritism, Douglas retired in 1863. He died in 1877. When Vancouver did not exist and Victoria was a muddy village, Douglas"s vision and drive laid the foundation for Canada"s westernmost province." Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге James Douglas: Father of British Columbia (Julie H. Ferguson)