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Nootka is a historic fur-trading centre at Friendly Cove, Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Yuquot was the summer village of the Mowachaht, and is still occupied today.
First contact with Europeans
First prolonged contact between Aboriginals and Europeans on the Northwest Coast took place at Yuquot with the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778. As a result of trading sea otter pelts with the Cook expedition, Yuquot became known as a friendly village with large quantities of furs. A maritime fur trade began in 1785 and Nootka soon became the main port of call on the Northwest Coast.
Spain established a military post, San Lorenzo de Nutka, at Yuquot 1789-95. The fur trade declined in the 1790s and essentially ended at Nootka Sound by 1800 owing to the extermination of the sea otter there. Recognizing its importance as the social, political and economic centre of the Mowachaht (or Muchalaht), in 1923, Yuquot was designated as a national historic site.
