Old Town took shape during Victoria’s rise to prominence in the mid-19th century, when it was an important port and commercial gateway that linked the Pacific Rim to the interior of British Columbia. It was built within the Coast Salish territory of the Lekwungen and W_SÁNEC nations, on the grounds of a former Hudson’s Bay Company trading post. Old Town encompasses the oldest surviving Chinatown in Canada, the waterfront warehouses and wharves that evoke the enterprise and rapid growth that followed the gold rush era, and the richly designed brick buildings that give the old commercial district an air of permanence.