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Provincial
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Flag of British Columbiasvg
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BCCoatJPG
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British_Columbia-mappng
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Splendor Sine Occasu ( Latin : Splendour without diminishment)
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none stated in law English is ''de facto''
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Victoria
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Vancouver
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Gordon Campbell
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BC Liberal
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Iona Campagnolo
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Lieutenant-Governor
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BC
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V
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5<sup>th</sup>
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944,735
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925,186
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19,549
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21
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3<sup>rd</sup>
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4,220,000
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2005 estimate
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7<sup>th</sup>
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434
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2005
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$168011 billion
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4<sup>th</sup>
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$39,490
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7<sup>th</sup>
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7<sup>th</sup>
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July 20 , 1871
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UTC −8 & −7
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CA-BC
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, or simply '''B.C.''' or '''BC''' (
Provinces , famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, ''Splendor sine occasu'' (Splendour Without Diminishment). It was the sixth province to join Confederation (in 1871).
As Of 2005 , the population estimate is 4,220,000 (''British Columbians'').
See Also: Geography of British Columbia
British Columbia is bordered by the
Pacific Coast on its west, by the American state of
Alaska on its Northwest, and to the north by the
Yukon Territory and the
Northwest Territories , on the east by the province of
Alberta , and on the south by the states of
Washington ,
Idaho , and
Montana . The current southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846
Oregon Treaty , although its history is tied up with lands as far south as the
Columbia River .
British Columbia's capital is
Victoria , located at the southeastern tip of
Vancouver Island . BC's most populous city is
Vancouver , located in southwest corner of the BC mainland called the
Lower Mainland . Other major cities include
Surrey ,
Burnaby ,
Coquitlam ,
Richmond ,
Delta , and
New Westminster in the
Lower Mainland ;
Abbotsford and
Langley in the
Fraser Valley ;
Nanaimo on
Vancouver Island ; and
Kelowna and
Kamloops in the
Interior .
Prince George is the major city nearest the centre of the province; however, a small town called Vanderhoof, 100 km to the west, is much nearer to the geographic centre.
The
Canadian Rockies and the
Inside Passage 's many
Inlets provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery, which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and
Ecotourism industry. The
Okanagan area is one of only three wine-growing regions in Canada and also produces excellent
Cider s, but exports little of either beverage. The small rural towns of
Penticton ,
Oliver , and
Osoyoos have some of the warmest and longest summer climates in
Canada .
Much of
Vancouver Island is covered by
Temperate Rain Forest , one of a mere handful of such
Ecosystem s in the world (notable others being on the
Olympic Peninsula of
Washington and in
Chile and
Tasmania ). The province's mainland has snowy, cold winters, especially in the north. The coast and Vancouver Island are temperate in many places, where the climate is moderated by the
Pacific Ocean . In the interior, summer temperatures can be quite warm, even notably hot and there are large semi-arid areas and a few localities classifiable as
Pocket Deserts , including the towns of
Osoyoos and
Lillooet . There is more than one spot in British Columbia that has recorded peak summer temperatures of 43.3 °C (110 °F) and an ongoing rivalry exists between the
Fraser Canyon towns of
Lytton and
Lillooet for the title of "Canada's Hot Spot".
See Also: History of British Columbia
The discovery of stone tools on the
Beatton River near
Fort St. John date human habitation in British Columbia to at least 11,500 years ago. The
First Nations population spread throughout the region, mostly on the coast, where aboriginals achieved the highest density of any place in Canada. At the time of European contact, nearly half the aboriginal people in present-day Canada lived in BC.
The explorations of
James Cook and
George Vancouver in the 1770s, and the concessions of
Spain in the 1790s established British jurisdiction over the coastal area north and west of the
Columbia River . In
1793 ,
Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to journey across North America overland to the
Pacific Ocean , inscribing a stone marking his accomplishment alongside the
Dean Channel near
Bella Coola . His expedition, soon followed by those of others, established British sovereignty inland. Mackenzie and these other explorers — notably
John Finlay ,
Simon Fraser ,
Samuel Black , and
David Thompson — were primarily concerned with extending the
Fur Trade , rather than political considerations. Their establishment of trading posts under the auspices of the
North West Company and the
Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), however, effectively established a permanent British presence in the region. These early posts would grow into settlements, communities, and cities. Among the places in British Columbia that began as fur trading posts are
Fort St. John (established 1794);
Hudson's Hope (1805);
Fort Nelson (1805);
Fort St. James (1806);
Prince George (1807);
Kamloops (1812);
Fort Langley (1827);
Victoria (1843);
Yale (1848); and
Nanaimo (1853).
With the amalgamation of the two fur trading companies in
1821 , the region now comprising British Columbia existed in three fur trading departments. The bulk of the central and northern interior was organised into the
New Caledonia district, administered from Fort St. James. The interior region south of the
Thompson River Watershed and north of the Columbia was organised into the
Columbia District , administered from
Fort Vancouver (present-day
Vancouver, Washington ). The northeast corner of the province east of the
Rockies was attached to the much larger
Athabasca District , headquartered in
Fort Chipewyan (in present day
Alberta ).
Until 1849, these districts were a wholly unorganised area of
British North America under the defacto jurisdiction of HBC administrators. Unlike
Rupert's Land to the north and east, however, the territory was not a concession to the Company. Rather, it was simply granted a monopoly to trade with the First Nations inhabitants. All that was changed with the westward extension of
American exploration, and the concomitant overlapping claims of territorial sovereignty, especially in the southern Columbia basin (within present day
Washington and
Oregon ). In 1846, the
Oregon Treaty divided the territory along the
49th Parallel to
Georgia Strait , with the area south of this boundary, excluding
Vancouver Island and the
Gulf Islands ) transferred to sole American sovereignty. The
Colony Of Vancouver Island was created in 1849, with
Victoria designated as the capital. New Caledonia continued to be an unorganized territory of British North America, "administered" by individual HBC
Trading Post managers.
With the
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858, an influx of Americans into New Caledonia prompted the
Colonial Office to formally designate the mainland as the
Colony Of British Columbia , with
New Westminster as its capital. A second gold rush — the
Cariboo Gold Rush — followed in 1862, forcing the colonial administration into deeper debt as it struggled to meet the extensive infrastructure needs of far-flung boom communities like
Barkerville and
Lillooet , which literally sprang up overnight. The Vancouver Island colony was facing financial crises of its own, and pressure to merge the two eventually succeeded in
1866 , with the name
''British Columbia'' being applied to the newly united colony.
The Confederation League led by such figures as
Amor De Cosmos ,
John Robson , and
Robert Beaven had long led the chorus pressing for the colony to join Canada, which had been created out of four British colonies in
1867 . Several factors motivated this agitation, including the fear of
Annexation to the
United States , the overwhelming debt created by rapid population growth, the need for government-funded services to support this population, and the economic depression caused by the end of the gold rush. With the agreement by the Canadian government to extend the
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to British Columbia and to assume the colony's debt, B.C. became the sixth province to join
Confederation on
July 20 ,
1871 . The borders of the province were not completely settled until 1903, however, when the province's territory shrank somewhat after the
Alaska Boundary Dispute settled the vague boundary of the
Alaska Panhandle .
Population in British Columbia continued to expand as the province's
Mining ,
Forestry ,
Agriculture , and
Fishing sectors were developed. Mining activity was particularly notable in the Boundary region around
Trail , in the
Kootenays (the southeast corner of the province), the
Fraser Canyon , and elsewhere. Agriculture attracted settlers to the fertile
Fraser Valley , and to the drier grasslands of the Thompson River area, the
Cariboo , the
Chilcotin , and the
Okanagan . Forestry drew workers to the lush
Temperate Rain Forest s of the coast, which was also the locus of a growing
Fishery .
The completion of the CPR in 1885-86 was a huge boost to the province's economy, facilitating the transportation of the region's considerable resources to the east. The booming logging town of Granville, near the mouth of the
Burrard Inlet was selected as the terminus of the railway, prompting the incorporation of the community as
Vancouver in
1886 . The completion of the
Port Of Vancouver spurred rapid growth, and in less than fifty years the city would surpass
Winnipeg as the largest in western Canada.
The early decades of the province were ones in which issues of land use — specifically, its settlement and development — were paramount. This included expropriation from First Nations people of their land, control over its resources, as well as the ability to trade in some resources (such as the fishery). Establishing a
Labour Force to develop the province was problematic from the start, and British Columbia was the locus of immigration not only from Europe, but also from
China and
Japan . The influx of a non-caucasian population stimulated resentment from the dominant ethnic groups, resulting in agitation (much of it successful) to restrict both the ability of Asian people to immigrate to British Columbia, and their access to
Civil Rights and equal wages once they had immigrated. This resentment culminated in mob attacks against Chinese and Japanese immingrants in Vancouver in 1887 and 1907. By 1923, almost all Chinese immigration had been blocked (''see
Anti-Chinese Legislation In Canada '').
Meanwhile, the province continued to grow. In
1914 , the last spike of a second transcontinental rail line, the
Grand Trunk Pacific , linking north-central British Columbia from the
Yellowhead Pass through Prince George to
Prince Rupert was driven at
Fort Fraser . This opened up the north coast and the
Bulkley Valley region to new economic opportunities. What had previously been an almost exclusively fur trade and subsistence economy soon became a locus for forestry, farming, and mining.
B.C. has long taken advantage of its Pacific coast to have close relations with
East Asia . However, this has caused friction, with frequent feelings of animosity towards Asian immigrants. This was most manifest during the
Second World War when many people of
Japan ese descent were interned in the interior of the province.
The post-
World War II years saw Vancouver and Victoria also become cultural centres as poets, authors, artists, musicians, as well as dancers, actors, and ''haute cuisine'' chefs flocked to the beautiful scenery and warmer temperatures. Similarly, these cities have either attracted or given rise to their own noteworthy academics, commentators, and creative thinkers. Tourism also began to play an important role in the economy. The rise of Japan and other Pacific economies was a great boost to the B.C. economy.
