First Invaders: The Literary Origins of British Columbia

This unprecedented volume about British Columbia's earliest authors and first explorers (prior to 1800) provides a fascinating range of characters, events and intrigues. The names Cook and Quadra ring a bell for most of us, as do Bering and Vancouver, but what about the first year-round European resident of BC, the Irish drunkard John Mackay? He voluntarily wintered at Nootka Sound in 1786 well before the more famous John Jewitt became the so-called 'white slave' of Chief Maquinna in 1803. A year later the first European woman to visit and write about British Columbia was the eighteen-year-old bride Frances Barkley. She circumnavigated the globe with her husband after making a lasting impression with her long red hair at Friendly Cove in 1787. And how much do we know about the Greek-born navigator Juan de Fuca? Or the Machiavelli of the maritime fur trade, John Meares? More than 50 pre-nineteenth-century characters are presented -- each with his or her own entry and bibliography. Twigg has researched and skilfully introduced the first people to write about the west coast of Canada, provided extracts, gathered images, taken photographs and let the composite story unravel like a mini-series. First Invaders concludes with Alexander Mackenzie and his over-land trek to the Pacific in 1793, after providing ample coverage of the many lesser-known Spaniards and Americans who arrived in the wake of Captain James Cook in 1778 -- and Captain Juan Perez, the 'discoverer' of British Columbia, in 1774.

Table of Contents:
Precursors; Spanish; French; Cook & Crew; Traders; Americans; Mapmakers.

About the Author :
Alan Twigg has written and published BC BookWorld, a cultural newspaper, since 1987. His seventeen books also include Cuba: A Concise History; Belize: A Concise History; 101 Top Historical Sites of Cuba; Intensive Care: A Memoir; Full-Time: A Soccer Story and Strong Voices: Conversations with 50 Canadian Writers. He has conceived and coordinated numerous literary prizes, and created and compiled a public service reference site, abcbookworld.com, to offer free information on more than 10,000 British Columbia authors. In 2000 he received the first annual Gray Campbell Award for outstanding contributions to the writing and publishing community of British Columbia. He has been the Shadbolt Fellow at Simon Fraser University and the first Writer in Residence at the George Price Center for Peace in Belize. He has also produced six films and a music CD for poet Bud Osborn. He makes his home in Vancouver.

Review :
"First Invaders is a delightful blend of coastal history and literary exploration. I got lost and found in it." -- Edith Iglauer