Spanish explorer Captain Narveaz sailed across the entrance to Howe Sound in 1791 and named Bowen Island 'Isla de Apodaca' (Bowen Island became the official name in 1859). A year later, Captain George Vancouver arrived to visit and trade with local Natives. The first point of European contact marked the beginning of a major transition in the use of Bowen’s land, from hunter-gatherer society to farmland and rural residential areas.