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Vancouver is a coastal city located in the Lower Mainland
of British Columbia, Canada. It is named for British
Captain George Vancouver, who explored and first mapped the area in the
1790's.
The first Europeans to
explore the area were Spanish Captain Jose Maria Narvaez in 1791, and British naval Captain George
Vancouver in 1792.
The area was not settled by Europeans until almost a century
later, in 1862. The city grew rapidly following completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)
transcontinental line from Eastern Canada, allowing for continuous rail service in the late 1880s.
Chinese settlers were increasingly a presence in the area following completion of the CPR.
Subsequent waves of immigration were initially of Europeans moving west, and later, with the advent of
global air travel, from Asia and many other parts of the world. Under its new name the city was
incorporated on April 6,1886. Three months later, on June 13, a spectacular blaze destroyed most of the
city along the swampy shores of Burrard Inlet in twenty-five minutes. British Columbia Electric Railway
Company opened 23 September 1898. |
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The Great Vancouver Fire, which destroyed the city, was eventually
considered to be beneficial, as the city was rebuilt with modern water, electricity and streetcar
systems.
Second Narrows Bridge and the Lions' Gate Bridge had provided a connection to
the North Shore since 1925 and 1938 respectively.
As of 1 January 1929, the population of the enlarged Vancouver was 228,193
In the late 1950s, city planners began to encourage the building of high-rise residential towers in
Vancouver's West End.
City Hall (Market Hall) on Main Street, September 18, 1928.
Photograph by W.J. Moore.
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For the first time the BC Lions won the Canadian Football
League's Grey Cup in 1964. 1970 The Vancouver Canucks played their first game in the National
Hockey League.
The Vancouver Whitecaps won the North American Soccer League
championship in 1979.
The new Vancouver Public Library building opens in 1995 along with General Motors Place (currently
Rogers Arena) for hockey, basketball and musical performances.
July 1 - Canada Day
- 2003, Vancouver is selected as the Host City for 2010 Olympic and Paralympic
Winter Games.
Now Vancouver is the fourth most densely
populated incorporated city with a population above 500,000 in North America, after New York
City, San Francisco, and Mexico City. |
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Since the 1990s development of high-rise condominiums in the downtown
peninsula has been financed, in part, by an inflow of capital from Hong Kong immigrants.
Vancouver has been ranked one of the most livable cities in the world for more than a
decade. As of 2010, Vancouver has been ranked as having the 4th highest quality of living of any
city on Earth. Forbes has also ranked Vancouver as the tenth cleanest city in the
world.
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