Partner City Vancouver Canada's Pacific Gateway

At the southwestern corner of mainland British Columbia, the land around what would become Vancouver has been inhabited by First Nations peoples for thousands of years. The first European settlers arrived in the 1860s and erected sawmills to begin clearing the thick evergreen forests around Vancouver's deep harbour. In 1886 the town was made the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the city began a massive building boom, which was not hindered by the devastating Great Fire that same year. Vancouver quickly became the economic metropolis for British Columbia's vast resource-rich hinterland. Today the city is the economic and cultural heart of the province, and over half of British Columbians live in and around Vancouver.

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Historic Walking Tours

Then and Now Photos