Vancouver History
Vancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest city in British Columbia and the second largest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest region. It is bounded by the Strait of Georgia,
Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, the city of Burnaby, and the University Endowment Lands.
Archaeological records indicate that the presence of Aborig
inal people in the Vancouver area dates back 4,500–9,000 years. The city is located in the traditional territories of Skwxwú7mesh, Xwméthkwyiem, and Tseil-waututh peoples of the Coast Salish group. They had villages in parts of present-day Vancouver, such as Stanley Park, False Creek, and along Burrard Inlet. Some of these still exist in North Vancouver, West Vancouver, and near Point Grey.
The first European to explore the coastline of present-day Point Grey and part of Burrard Inlet was José María Narváez of Spain, in 1791, although Samuel Bawlf contends that Francis Drake may have visited the area in 1579. George Vancouver,a British explorer, explored the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave various places British names. The name Vancouver itself originates from the Dutch "van Coevorden", denoting somebody from (in Dutch: "van") Coevorden, an old city in The Netherlands.
In 1827, Hudson's Bay Company built a trading post on Fraser River. It was the first permanent non-native settlement in the Vancouver area.
For many years, Fort Vancouver was the center of all fur trading in the Pacific Northwest. It was also a center of British dominion over the Oregon Territory. In 1846, American control was extended north to the 49th parallel. The northwest became part of the United States.
In 1849, American troops arrived to establish Columbia (later Vancouver) Barracks. It served as military headquarters for much of the Pacific Northwest. The neighboring settlement was named “the City of Columbia.”
The Fraser Gold Rush of 1858 brought 25,000 men, mainly from California, but many immigrants did not remain after the rush. The city developed rapidly from a small lumber mill town into a metropolitan centre following the arrival of the transcontinental railway in 1887 (the same year as the incorporation of the City of Vancouver). The Port of Vancouver became internationally significant after the completion of the Panama Canal, which reduced freight rates in the 1920s and made it viable to ship export-bound prairie grain west through Vancouver. It has since become the busiest seaport in Canada, and exports more cargo than any other port in North America.
The economy of early Vancouver was dominated by large companies such as the CPR, which had the capital needed for the rapid development of the new city. It has also traditionally relied on British Columbia's resource sectors: foresty, mining, fishing and agriculture. It has diversified over time, however, and Vancouver today has a large service industry, a growing toursm industry, and it has become the third-largest film production centre in North America after Los Angeles and New York City, earning it the nickname Hollyood North.
From a settlement of 1,000 people in 1881, Vancouver's population grew to over 20,000 by the turn of the century and 100,000 by 1911. Amalgamation with Point Grey and South Vancouver gave the city its final contours not long before taking its place as the third largest metropolis in the country. As of 1 J
anuary 1929, the population of the enlarged Vancouver was 228,193 and it filled the entire peninsula between the Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River.
Vancouver is consistently ranked one of the three most livable cities in the world.
The 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics will be held in Vancouver and nearby Whistler, a mountain town 125 km north of the city.
