Fort Vancouver's Chief Factor, James Douglas, was relocated to the young trading post to oversee the company's operations west of the Rockies.

To negotiate the terms, Douglas met first in April 1850 with leaders of the Lekwungen people (now Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations), and made verbal agreements.

[4] The Douglas Treaties cover approximately 930 square kilometres (360 sq mi) of land around Victoria, Saanich, Sooke, Nanaimo and Port Hardy, all on Vancouver Island, that were exchanged for cash, clothing and blankets.

Douglas didn't continue buying land due to lack of money and the slow growth of the Vancouver Island colony.

[6] The treaties were signed during a period of severe cultural destruction in which the Songhees had experienced precipitous population decline, due to the arrival of foreign diseases.