Winner of the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing, the BC Book Prizes' Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award, and the Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Book on British Columbia.

Over 900 maps tell the story of the planners, schemers, gold seekers and fur traders who built Canada's westernmost province.

When gold was discovered in quantity in 1858, leading to the gold rush that created British Columbia, the interior of the province was mostly unknown except for the routes blazed by fur traders. Thirteen years later, British Columbia became a province of Canada, and a transcontinental railway was built to connect the land west of the Rocky Mountains with the rest of the country.

The efforts of these explorers, fur traders, gold seekers and railway builders involved the production of maps that showed what they had found and what they proposed to do -- the plans and the strategies that created the province we know today. Master map historian Derek Hayes continues his renowned Historical Atlas Series with a richly rewarding treasure trove, bringing to light the dramatic history of British Columbia.

Ranging from maps by early Aboriginal inhabitants and by the Europeans who arrived to explore and exploit the province's vast resource wealth -- to the maps drawn by those who, decades later, prepared for war, built dams and tracked murders -- the over 900 maps in this collection, two-thirds of which are published for the first time, reveal the thoughts and plans of the dreamers, explorers and dynasty makers who built today's British Columbia. This is a history of both the dreams that came true and those that didn't -- yet all are part of the dramatic tale of the forging of Canada's western frontier.

Derek Hayes is the author of the bestselling Historical Atlas Series, which includes the Historical Atlas of Canada, Historical Atlas of Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley, Historical Atlas of Toronto and Historical Atlas of the United States. He holds two degrees in geography and worked for a time as a planner with the Vancouver City Planning Department and as a real estate consultant. He lives in White Rock, B.C.

Derek Hayes' profile page

• Winner, Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Book
• Winner, Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing
• Winner, BC Book Prizes' Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
• Winner, Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award

"This great big gorgeous book is a full-colour collection of maps of B.C. ...Hayes brings together an unprecedented collection of maps, most previously unpublished, including surveys, treaty maps, and even maps of murder."

Vancouver Sun

"In Hayes’ latest large and lavish tome, we see our home province emerge – map by lovingly reproduced map ...Meticulous research and a thorough grasp of history has allowed Hayes to reconstruct the history of B.C. era by era in the colourful volume"

Peace Arch News

"Derek Hayes specializes in collecting the raw materials of history. In this glorious volume he delivers a treasure trove of original maps, plans, surveys, drawings, and photographs that will delight anyone interested in B.C.'s colourful past."

Daniel Francis, editor of the "Encyclopedia of British Columbia"

"A charmer. The author's vast knowledge and understanding come through on every page."

Jean Barman, author of "The West beyond the West"

British Columbia: A New Historical Atlas