San Juan Islands

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the U.S. mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S. state of Washington.In the archipelago, four islands are accessible by passenger ferry operated by the Washington State Ferries system.HistoryArchaeologists use the term "Gulf of Georgia Culture Area" to refer to the San Juan and Gulf Islands, the whole of which shows many archaeological commonalities. The San Juan Islands were part of the traditional area of various peoples of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group. Linguistically, Coast Salish groups in the area consist of the Nooksack, Northern Straits (which includes the Lummi, Klallam, Saanich, Samish and Songhees dialects). Exploration and settlement by Europeans brought smallpox to the area by the 1770s.The explorations of 1791 were carried out in partnership with the Royal Navy ships under the command of George Vancouver, while American explorations were led by Charles Wilkes. Despite having colonized the area entirely, the British and Americans retained many of the Spanish names which survive today.