View source for Yuquot

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name                 = Yuquot
| native_name          = 
| native_language      = 
| other_name           = Friendly Cove
| etymology            = 
| image                = Friendly Cove (7462038618).jpg
| image_size           = 
| caption              = Nootka Lighthouse overlooking Yuquot
| alt                  = 
| locmapin             = Vancouver Island#British Columbia
| location             = [[Nootka Island]], [[British Columbia]], [[Canada]]
| coordinates          = {{coord|49|36|N|126|37|W|display=it}}
| area                 = 
| elevation            = 
| founder              = 
| built                = 
| original_use         = 
| current_use          = 
| governing_body       = [[Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations]]
| owner                =
| visitation_num       = 
| visitation_year      = 
| website              = [https://www.yuquot.ca/yuquot.html www.yuquot.ca/]
| designation1         = National Historic Site of Canada
| designation1_offname = [https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=54 Yuquot National Historic Site of Canada]
| designation1_date    = May 25, 1923
| designation1_number  = 54
}}
'''Yuquot''' ({{IPAc-en|'|j|uː|k|w|ɔː|t}}), also known as '''Friendly Cove''', is a small settlement of around six people—the Williams family of the Mowachaht band—plus two full-time lighthouse keepers, located on [[Nootka Island]] in [[Nootka Sound]], just west of [[Vancouver Island]], [[British Columbia]], [[Canada]]. It was the summer home of [[Maquinna|Chief Maquinna]] and the [[Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations|Mowachaht/Muchalaht]] ([[Nuu-chah-nulth people|Nuu-chah-nulth]]) people for generations, housing approximately 1,500 people in 20 traditional wooden longhouses. The name means "Wind comes from all directions" in [[Nuu-chah-nulth language|Nuu-chah-nulth]].

The community is located within the [[Strathcona Regional District, British Columbia|Strathcona Regional District]] but like all Indian Reserve communities is not governed by nor represented in the regional district.  The Mowchaht/Muchalaht First Nations are rather part of the [[Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council]], which unites the governments of the indigenous communities of the Island's West Coast.

The Canadian government declared Friendly Cove a [[National Historic Site of Canada|National Historic Site]] in 1923, with recognition of the significance of the Spanish colonial settlement that was once there and [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] history following in 1997.

==History==
The meaning of the name Yuquot is “where the winds blow from many directions”. It has been dubbed "the birthplace of British Columbia".<ref name=cook/>

===Early exploration and settlement===
[[File:Nuu-chah-nulth children in Friendly Cove.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Three Nuu-chah-nulth children in Yuquot, 1930s]]
Yuquot had been occupied for over 4,300 years by [[First Nations in British Columbia|First Nations]] peoples of the [[Nootka Sound]] region. In the late 18th century, Nootka Sound became an important site of early contact between First Nations of the Pacific Northwest and European explorers, and developed into a centre of [[Maritime Fur Trade|maritime fur trade]].<ref name=NLCA/>

In 1774, [[Spaniards|Spanish]] explorer [[Juan José Pérez Hernández]] became the first European to spot Yuquot. The region was formally claimed as part of the [[Spanish Empire]] in a subsequent voyage by Spanish-[[Basque people|Basque]] explorer [[Bruno de Heceta]] in 1775.

In 1778, the English Captain [[James Cook]] arrived at the bay on [[HMS Resolution (1771)|HMS ''Resolution'']], on his expedition in search of the [[North-West Passage]]. This marked the first recorded landing by Europeans, and a period of sustained contact between the Mowachaht people and these foreigners ensued for a while.<ref name=cook>{{cite web |url = 
https://www.sfu.ca/brc/virtual_village/nuu-chah-nulth/yuquot--friendly-cove-.html|title =Yuquot (Friendly Cove)|website =The Bill Reid Centre |access-date =March 15, 2021}}</ref>

On May 5, 1789, [[Spain|Spanish]] [[navigator]] and [[explorer]] [[Esteban José Martínez]] established the settlement of [[Santa Cruz de Nuca]]. It was the first [[European colonization of the Americas|European colony]] in what is now [[British Columbia]], the only Spanish settlement in what is now [[Canada]], and the northernmost verified Spanish settlement in the [[Americas]]. The colony was protected by the cannon of [[Fort San Miguel]] and was maintained until the resolution of the [[Nootka Crisis]] in 1795.

===Nootka Crisis===
Yuquot was the scene of the [[Nootka Crisis]], which nearly led to war between Spain and Britain. Negotiations in Europe calmed the situation and led to the first [[Nootka Convention]]. Each nation sent a commissioner to Nootka Sound in order to carry out the terms of the Nootka Convention and related diplomatic issues.  Arriving in 1792, [[George Vancouver]] was commissioner for Britain and [[Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra]] for Spain. Quadra also served as the commandant of the Spanish settlement at Yuquot, hosting Vancouver and his crew. Quadra and Vancouver had to engage in diplomatic negotiations due to the Nootka Convention's vagueness and lack of detail over how it was to be implemented. In addition both commissioners had been given incomplete, differing, and confused instructions by their governments. They negotiated for months but in the end failed to reach an agreement. The matter was sent back to the British and Spanish governments.

The primary problem was a differing interpretation of the Nootka Convention. Vancouver's position, as instructed, was that the entire Spanish settlement was to be turned over to him. Quadra's position was that there was nothing left to turn over in accord with the Nootka Convention, but he made various offers, such as turning over a small cove in Nootka Sound, where [[John Meares]] had built the ''[[North West America]]'' in 1788, or turning over the entire settlement in exchange if Britain agreed to set the boundary between Spanish and British territory at the [[Strait of Juan de Fuca]]. Chief [[Maquinna]] played a role in the negotiations, identifying the cove where Meares had built his vessel, swearing that no land had ever been sold to the British and that the Spanish were the rightful occupants at Yuquot&mdash;and that only on the condition that the site be restored to his people as soon as possible. Unable to reach an agreement, Vancouver and Quadra left in late 1792 and the settlement at Yuquot remained under Spanish control until 1795, when the terms of the third Nootka Convention, calling for the "mutual abandonment" of Nootka, were carried out, after which the site was reoccupied by the Maquinna and the Mowachaht people.

===19th century===
[[John R. Jewitt]], an English blacksmith, was held there for three years 1803-1805 as Maquinna's slave, following the capture of the trading ship ''Boston'' and the murder of the captain and all but one other crew members. Jewitt's memoirs form an important record of Yuquot at that period.

The whole of Vancouver Island was declared part of the [[Colony of Vancouver Island]] in 1849. This was amalgamated into the [[Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866)|Colony of British Columbia]] in 1858 and later into Canada in 1871.

===20th century===
In 1911, the government of Canada erected the [[Nootka Lighthouse]] atop San Rafael Island, a small rocky island that overlooks Yuquot and forms part of its [[natural harbour]]. The original lighthouse was later replaced with the current lighthouse in 1958. It serves as a navigational aid to vessels transiting [[Nootka Sound]].<ref name=NLCA>{{Cite web|title=Nootka Lighthouse|url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_hl_eng.aspx?id=14572|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=www.pc.gc.ca|language=en}}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
Recently, the lighthouse has been home to a seasonal Canadian Coast Guard Inshore Rescue Boat station with a crew of three (two deckhands and a [[coxswain]]) and an {{convert|8|m|adj=on}} fast rescue craft at their disposal.<ref>[https://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/search-rescue-recherche-sauvetage/irb-esc/station-location-emplacement-eng.html Inshore Rescue Boat Station]</ref>

==See also==
*[[History of the west coast of North America]]
*''[[The Indian Church (painting)|''The Indian Church'' (painting)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Wikivoyage inline}}
*{{BCGNIS|25332|Yuquot}}
*{{BCGNIS|34083|Yuquot Indian Reserve 1}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |title= Relocating Yuquot: The Indigenous Pacific and Transpacific Migrations |last= Price |first= John |journal= BC Studies |publisher= University of British Columbia |issue= 201 |date=Winter 2019 |pages= 21–44}}

{{VancouverIslandCommunities}}
{{British Columbia parks}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nuu-chah-nulth]]
[[Category:History of Vancouver Island]]
[[Category:Nootka Sound region]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in British Columbia]]