Yuquot (Indian Settlement) Adopted 6 November 1934 as established on British Admiralty Chart #569, 1866.

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.

The word means “windy place” in the Nuu-chah-nulth language. Yuquot (or Yucuatl) village was a traditional summer residence on the Mowachaht people, who are part of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribal confederacy. Archeologists have dated signs of habitation back at least 4,200 years. The village became the main point of contact and interaction between First Nation and European cultures in the PNW in the late 18th century. Captain James Cook visited the site in 1778 and was followed by a stream of traders eager to secure valuable sea otter furs. The name Friendly Cove, applied by James Strange in 1786, became synonymous with Yuquot, and Mowachaht chief Maquinna, well known to all the early traders, managed to control much of the fur business in the region. British trader John Meares built a post at Yuquot in 1788 and constructed the North West America there; it was the first European vessel built in the PNW. The Spanish occupied the sound the following year and established a fort beside Yuquot that they operated until 1795. They set off an international dispute later in 1789 by seizing several British trading vessels. A lighthouse station was built nearby in 1911. Yuquot was inhabited more or less permanently by the Mowachaht until 1968, when all but one family moved to a reserve at the mouth of the Gold River. The historic site is still visited by tourists and used for ceremonies.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009.

Another name for this settlement was "Nootka."

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.