Which British explorer named Vancouver Island?

The British explorer who named Vancouver Island was George Vancouver. During his 1792 expedition, Vancouver and the Spanish commander Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra used the name “Quadra and Vancouver Island” for the large island around Nootka Sound. As Spanish influence later declined, the name was shortened to Vancouver Island.

Vancouver was a Royal Navy officer who led the Vancouver Expedition from 1791 to 1795. The voyage charted large sections of the Pacific coast of North America, including areas now in British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. His surveys helped clarify the geography of the coast and demonstrated that the Strait of Juan de Fuca did not provide a passage through the continent.

The island’s name is sometimes associated with James Cook because Cook explored the Pacific Northwest earlier, and with John Meares because he visited Nootka Sound. Neither is the canonical answer to this question. Vitus Bering explored the North Pacific farther north and did not name Vancouver Island.

The city of Vancouver, Vancouver River, Mount Vancouver, and several places outside Canada also commemorate George Vancouver.