Gabriola is part of the traditional territory of the Snunéymux[2] (of whose name the nearby city of Nanaimo was given an anglicized form[3]).

The pre-contact population of Gabriola is difficult to estimate, but in mid-Marpole times—between about AD 1 and 1000—several thousand people lived in the village at Senewélets or more commonly known as, False Narrows, the site of today's El Verano Drive.

After contact, and perhaps as early as AD 1500, the population of the Snunéymux declined drastically from smallpox and other diseases brought to North America by Europeans.

Galiano and Valdés stayed at Pilot Bay for several days, to repair their vessels and explore the vicinity of what is now Nanaimo.

[10] In 1827, fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company established a post at Fort Langley on the Fraser River,[11] but no Europeans settled in the Nanaimo area until the discovery of coal there in 1852.

Even in the first half of the 20th century, families came from Nanaimo or Vancouver to estivate, spending weeks or months living a simpler, rural life on the island.

In the 21st century, about 2,000 estivators come to Gabriola each year for the sun, music, art, and relaxed pace, and they raise the population temporarily to about 6,000.

A brickyard produced 80,000 high-quality bricks a day in the early part of the century, and they were sent principally to Victoria and Vancouver.

In the 1890s and early twentieth century, sandstone blocks were cut from a quarry near Descanso Bay and shipped for architectural use in public buildings in Vancouver and Victoria.

The Southern Gulf Islands consist mainly of former seabed sediments crumpled and gradually thrust upward by tectonic plate movement approximately 55 to 42 million years ago.

During the peak of the Fraser Glaciation, 30,000 to 11,000 years ago, Gabriola was covered with ice up to 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) thick.

[22] Though melting glaciers left deposits of sand, gravel, and boulders, the main rocks exposed on Gabriola's surface are sandstone and shale.

[23] The topography varies from flat sandy beaches at sea level to forested hills rising to 160 metres (525 ft) on Stoney Ridge in the centre of the island.

[24] Gabriola lies about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of Nanaimo, the second largest city on Vancouver Island, to which it is linked by BC Ferries.

The ferry, which takes 20 minutes for the crossing, runs almost hourly from 6:15 a.m, starting at the Gabriola side, to about 11:00 p.m. ,from Nanaimo, daily.

From May to October, the great Saturday Market at the Agricultural Hall features local produce and baked goods from the island, as well as crafts and high-quality artwork.

Folklife Village, on North Road a few minutes beyond the ferry terminal, is the island's main shopping centre.

It was bought and transferred to Gabriola after its role as the Folklife Pavilion, a tribute to Canada's native and settler cultures, in Expo 86 in Vancouver.

[5][28] Marine species near Gabriola include orcas (killer whales), sea lions, seals, otters, oysters, mussels, clams, basket cockles, moon snails, whelks, wolf eels, Pacific herring, octopuses, and salmon.

In the winter months Gabriola is visited by many species of waterfowl such as the scoter, bufflehead, Barrow's goldeneye, and harlequin duck.