Kamloops is a city in central British Columbia, Canada at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River. It is the seat of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. The Kamloops area was inhabited by the Secwepemc (Shuswap) nation (part of the Salishan speaking people) prior to the arrival of European settlers. The first European explorers arrived in 1811, and a fur trading post was established by David Stuart in 1812 for the Pacific Fur Company. This was bought out by the North West Company shortly after, and by 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company had control of the fur trade in Kamloops. The gold rush of the 1850's and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s brought further growth, resulting in the City of Kamloops being incorporated in 1893 with a population of about 500. "Kamloops" is the anglicized version of the Shuswap word "Tk'emlups", meaning 'where the rivers meet'.