2012/01/15

Saturn Island




Saturna Island

Saturna Island
Island
The Southern Gulf Islands, including Saturna.
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
Regional District Capital Regional District
Government
MP Elizabeth May (Green)
MLA Murray Coell(BC Liberal Party)
Area
• Land 31 km (12 sq mi)
Population
• Total 350
Time zone PST (UTC−8)
• Summer (DST) PDT (UTC−7)
Flag of Canada.svg

Saturna Island is a mountainous island, about 31 km² in size, in the Southern Gulf Islands chain of British Columbia. It is situated approximately midway between the Lower Mainland of B.C. and Vancouver Island, and is the most easterly of the Gulf Islands. It is surrounded on three sides by the Canada/USA border. To the north is Point Roberts, Washington, and to the east and south are the San Juan Islands. Saturna has a permanent population of around 350, although that number increases significantly during the busy summer season. Approximately half of the island is in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve(GINPR) that was formed in 2003 from existing provincial parks, an Ecological Reserve, and other Crown land [1].

History

The island was first used by indigenous people who called the island "Long Nose," due to the island's long north-eastern tapering shoreline that ends at East Point. The name Saturna comes from the Spanish naval schooner Santa Saturnina ("St. Saturnina") captained by pilot (piloto) José María Narváez, which together with the longboat of the Spanish naval packet ship San Carlos, explored the island's coast in an excursion under the overall command of Pilot in 1791. The name was initially applied only to East Point. The contraction to "Saturna" applied to the whole island was first made by Dionisio Alcalá Galiano in 1792. The name is not a corruption. Galiano was familiar with the role of the "Santa Saturnina" in the early exploration of the coast. Why he made the change is not known. The first European settlers came in the 1800s, but the island was slower to develop than the neighbouring Southern Gulf Islands due to its relative isolation and rugged topography.

Events

Parks and Beaches

Camping

Arts and Culture

References

External links


Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saturna_Island&oldid=466394637

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