Category Archives: History

History

The Quadra Project: Edo Japan

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Maybe Edo Japan is an echo of our better past and can be a model for our better future. It was a period in Japanese history began with the consolidation of power by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 and lasted until 1867, an ending that came as a result of the destabilizing effects of American and European traders who forced an isolated and sustainable Japan into the world of 19th century commerce and values.

The beginning of the Edo Period, as the Tokugawa Shogunate is known, brought to an end a century of political and military struggle among feudal lords (daimyo) that had left Japan in economic, social and environmental chaos. Internal warfare had created massive poverty as well as social disorder, and badly managed resources in the past had so damaged the natural ecology that it was unable to support the population of 12 million Japanese. By the end of the Edo Period, however, wars were long gone, Japan was comfortably providing for a population of 30 million, employment had established a meaningful place for everyone in the Japanese society, and the environmental problems had been corrected. So, what happened during the 264 years of the Edo Period?

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History, Housing, Indigenous Nations History

From The Ground Up: The Story Of Cortes Island Dwellings

A new exhibition in the Cortes Island Museum looks at the island’s housing from pre-colonial times up until the present. ‘From the Ground Up: Cortes Island Dwellings And Their Histories’ combines photographs and artifacts from the museum’s collections, stories and images from the community and a display from the Cortes Housing Society. Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the Museum, took Cortes Currents on a tour of the exhibit. 

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History, Tourism

Visiting Athens: Part Two – 10 Days

In the first part of this story, I talked about my desire to go to Athens, gave a historical overview of the city’s Classical era and looked at some DNA research that suggests the ancestors of most people of European descent had a small part in Greece’s history. 

Our AirBnB was in the Plaka district, which has been inhabited for the past 5,000 years. The remains of a Roman bath house were in our basement and backyard. It seems to extend into the neighbouring property, where two men were at work throughout our stay. This does not seem to be exceptional. There are ruins throughout the older neighbourhoods of Athens. Only a block to the northeast of us, the remains of an ancient neighbourhood, with streets, houses, bath houses, public latrines and workshops dating from the 5th century BC to the 12th century AD, are on display underneath the Acropolis Museum. No one knew anything about them until construction on the museum began in the 1980s.

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History, Tourism

Visiting Athens: Part One – A Genetic Odyssey

My desire to write grew out of stories from Greek antiquity that I read as a boy. I’ve always wanted to visit Greece, only something else always seemed to be more important. This year one of my daughters suggested, “Why don’t you just do it?” So we did!

A Greek electrical contractor named Alexander sat beside my wife and I during the last leg of our flight into Athens. He rents a home in London, where he works, but has purchased property in Patras. That’s where Alexander hopes to retire. 

“Get away from Athens and the tourist sites. Go into the country, that’s where you’ll get to see the real Greek people!” he advised us.

We did the opposite. 

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Cost of Climate Change, History

Magic mountain, melting snow: Climate uncertainty in the Comox Valley

Editor’s note: Some of the places mentioned in this article, like Mount Washington and the Comox Glacier, are only about 20 km southwest of Cortes Island as the crow flies. Mount Cain is about 100 km west of us. If the snowpack has been decreasing since 2005, is it surprising that we’ve been experiencing droughts during the summer on Cortes and other parts of the Greater Campbell River since 2021?

By Madeline Dunnett, The Discourse,  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

My dad, far left, and students in a ski retail and repair class he taught at Forbidden Plateau in the early 90s. Submitted photo

When I was a kid, I used to play with the pile of toys at Ski Tak Hut in Courtenay while my dad closed up shop.

Ski Tak Hut has been selling skis and snowboards in Courtenay since 1976. My dad has worked there since before I was born, and when I was a baby he would divide his time seasonally — working as a fishing guide in the summer and at the ski shop in the winter. He became a store partner in 1993 up until his recent retirement, and in a way it became part of the family. 

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