Editing British Columbia (section)

==Etymology==
The name of the province was chosen by [[Queen Victoria]], when the [[Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866)]], i.e., "the Mainland", became a British colony in 1858.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Ged |year=1978 |title=The Naming of British Columbia |journal=Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=257–263 |doi=10.2307/4048132 |jstor=4048132 | issn = 0095-1390 }}</ref> It refers to the [[Columbia District]], the British name for the territory drained by the [[Columbia River]], in southeastern British Columbia, which was the namesake of the pre-[[Oregon Treaty]] [[Columbia Department]] of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]. Queen Victoria chose ''British'' Columbia to distinguish what was the British sector of the Columbia District from the United States' ("American Columbia" or "Southern Columbia"), which became the [[Oregon Territory]] on August 8 1848, as a result of the treaty.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Akrigg |first1=Helen B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWRSgAACAAJ |title=British Columbia Chronicle, 1847–1871: Gold & Colonists |last2=G.P.V. |publisher=Discovery Press |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-919624-03-0 |edition=illustrated |access-date=November 22, 2015 |archive-date=May 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513061117/https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWRSgAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ultimately, the ''Columbia'' in the name ''British Columbia'' is derived from the name of the ''[[Columbia Rediviva]]'', an American ship which lent its name to the [[Columbia River]] and later the wider region;<ref>{{cite web |last=Munroe |first=Susan |date=February 12, 2019 |title=Why is the Western Region of Canada Called British Columbia? |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/british-columbia-508559 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212235259/https://www.thoughtco.com/british-columbia-508559 |archive-date=December 12, 2019 |access-date=May 17, 2017}}</ref> the ''Columbia'' in the name ''Columbia Rediviva'' came from [[Columbia (name)|the name ''Columbia'' for the New World or parts thereof]], a reference to [[Christopher Columbus]].

The governments of Canada and British Columbia recognize {{langx|fr|Colombie-Britannique|label=none}} as the French name for the province.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colombie-Britannique |url=https://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/49333.html/ |access-date=December 12, 2022 |website=BC Geographical Names}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=August 7, 2020 |title=Lois constitutionelles de 1867 à 1982 (rapport de 1990) |url=https://laws.justice.gc.ca/fra/ConstRpt/TexteComplet.html |access-date=December 12, 2022 |website=[[Department of Justice (Canada)|Department of Justice]] - Government of Canada}}</ref>