Vancouver

Vancouver is the largest city in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the third largest metropolitan area in Canada, after Toronto and Montreal. Its site on the Pacific Northwest coastline and its deep-water port make it an ideal gateway for national and international trade. As the economic and cultural center of the province, it brings together a rich variety of people and offers one of the highest standards of living in the world.

Landscape

Vancouver is located in southwestern Canada, only twenty-six miles from the United States border. The Strait of Georgia runs between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, which protects the city from the Pacific Ocean. Set on a sandstone peninsula, the central portion of the city is bounded on the north by Burrard Inlet and on the south by the Fraser River. Near the opening of the inlet is English Bay; the inlet narrows and opens again, giving Vancouver a naturally protected harbor.

The Coast Mountains form a backdrop for Vancouver as they emerge from the Fraser Valley and rise north toward Alaska. The Cascade Mountains lie to the south, extending into Washington State. It is through the Fraser Valley that Vancouver is connected to the other Canadian provinces and the United States. The mountainous northbound route serves as a connection to the interior of British Columbia and Alaska.

Greater Vancouver consists of twenty-one municipalities. South of the peninsula, on the flat lowlands of Fraser Valley, lie New Westminster, Surrey, Richmond, and Delta. To the north of the peninsula are the municipalities of North and West Vancouver. Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, and Coquitlam lie to the east of the main settlement.

Vancouver has a maritime climate, buffered by Vancouver Island. Winters are mild but typically yield heavy rainfall; snowfall is most often restricted to the surrounding mountains. Summers are warm with long periods of sunshine. The average low temperature is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) in January; the average high temperature is 71 degrees Fahrenheit (21.7 degrees Celsius) in June and July.

People

As of the 2016 census, Vancouver's population was estimated at 631,486 people. This figure surpasses 2.4 million when the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area is considered. Approximately half of the population of British Columbia lives in this metropolitan area.

Vancouver has become a city of immigrants, with significant East Indian, Irish, German, and Ukrainian populations, to highlight just a few of the many ethnic groups. About 75 percent of the population growth between 1991 and 2001 was due to international immigration.

People of Asian descent make up the largest of Vancouver's minorities and roughly 45 percent of the city's total population. Asians have long had a presence in Vancouver, though until the 1960s they were a distinct minority among a British majority. During the nineteenth century, many Chinese immigrants, fleeing unrest in their own country, came to Vancouver to help build the transcontinental railway. During the early 1980s and 1990s, many citizens of Hong Kong, generally educated and wealthy, chose to immigrate to Vancouver rather than become subjects of mainland China. Their numbers dropped after 1997, when the handover took place.

This ethnic diversity is reflected in the international cuisine on offer, in certain neighborhoods, and in several annual festivals. Vancouver's Chinatown is one of the largest in North America. It is home to numerous restaurants, markets, a cultural center, and Chinese New Year celebrations. It was declared a heritage site in 1971. Another distinct neighborhood is Kitsilano, once the bohemian district. Since the 1960s, however, its historical buildings have become gentrified. Greektown, where the Greek Day festival is held every summer, is located in this neighborhood.

Gastown and Granville Island are two other noteworthy neighborhoods in the central part of the city. Gastown was the site of the original Vancouver settlement. Declared a historic area in 1971, this once decrepit neighborhood has been revitalized. It has many original buildings from the nineteenth century and quaint brick streets. Granville Island, just off the peninsula, was originally used for heavy industry. During the 1970s, it was renovated and is now home to art galleries, open markets, and trendy shops.

Other summer festivals are the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, when over 400,000 fans enjoy jazz, blues, and world music, and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Young audiences are entertained at the International Children's Festival with performances that include dance, theater and concerts. In 2010, the city hosted the Winter Olympic Games.

Economy

Greater Vancouver is the economic center of British Columbia, responsible for more than half of the province's gross domestic product (GDP). It benefits from the high immigration rate, a significant entrepreneurial base, and the number and quality of its educational institutions. Only Toronto and Montreal rival its importance in the overall Canadian economy.

Vancouver has a diverse economy, which contributes to its success. It excels as a service center for business and finance, real estate, health and welfare, yet is a famously relaxed environment in which to do business. Manufacturing bolsters the economy as well, the principal industries being petroleum refinement, printing, and food processing.

The city has developed a leading shipping industry around its natural deepwater harbor. The Port of Vancouver handles an annual cargo tonnage of approximately 138 million metric tons. Most of its trade is with Asian countries, but in total Vancouver does business with over 160 economies. Roughly 98,800 jobs are linked to the Vancouver port, and it contributes about $9.7 billion each year to Canada's gross domestic product.

The port facilities are divided into twenty-eight terminals according to four sectors: auto, breakbulk, bulk, container, and cruise. Coal is the principal export by tonnage, followed by forest products, grain, sulfur, potash and chemicals.

Tourism generates billions of dollars for Vancouver, with nearly one million tourists arriving annually on cruise ships that moor in the port. There are more than three hundred sailings each year; one of the most popular cruise routes is between Vancouver and Alaska, for which line Vancouver serves as the home port.

Within the metropolitan area, Vancouver has an extensive transportation system based on ferries, buses, and the Light Rapid Transit SkyTrain. The city is linked to points beyond it by four major railways and two major highways: Highway 99, leading to the United States, and the Trans-Canada Highway. The Vancouver International Airport is the second busiest in Canada, after Toronto's Pearson International.

Landmarks

Many noteworthy buildings grace Vancouver. In contrast to other North American cities, the downtown area has not been disfigured by freeways, and much consideration has been put into creating an attractive urban environment. A few important twentieth century buildings executed in various architectural styles of the period, ranging from Art Deco to Postmodernism, are the Sinclair Centre, the Marine Building, the Pacific Centre, and the Cathedral Palace. Canada Place, a convention center constructed for the 1986 World Expo, rises along the waterfront in the shape of a clipper-ship.

Vancouver is also rich in natural landscapes, both cultivated and preserved; there are over one hundred parks in the metropolitan area. The Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Park and Garden, and Elizabeth Park afford green, orderly spaces within the confines of the city, as does the 1,000-acre Stanley Park. Replete with trails, forest, sandy beaches, sports fields, and the city zoo and aquarium, Stanley Park is one of Vancouver's superior features.

High culture may be found throughout Vancouver. The local government funds a symphony, an opera company and several theater troupes. The world-class Museum of Anthropology houses a collection of Native American art and artifacts. The Vancouver Art Gallery focuses for the most part on artists from Canada, including Emily Carr.

Vancouver supports several professional sports teams, most famously the Vancouver Canucks. This National Hockey League team plays in the Rogers Arena. The domed BC Place stadium is home to the British Columbia Lions, from the Canadian Football League.

History

The lush Pacific Northwest coastline and teeming waters supported human life long before the first explorers arrived toward the end of the eighteenth century. Native peoples who had established winter villages in or near the Vancouver area included the Musqueam, Tsawwassen, Capilano, and Kwantlen, groups united by the Coast Salish language family. They sustained themselves through fishing, hunting, and gathering.

José Maria Narvaez, a Spanish explorer, and George Vancouver, a British naval officer, were among the first Europeans to reach the area, but it was not until 1824 that a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post was set up east of the present-day city. Named Fort Langley, it prospered first on the export of pelts, then on export of salted salmon, then on agriculture. In 1839, Fort Langley was moved to the coast.

The Fraser River gold rush of 1858 was but the first of many catalysts that led to major growth. Around 25,000 American prospectors from California promptly arrived, which led the governor of the settlement on Vancouver Island to claim the mainland for Britain, fearing that the Americans might attempt a territorial incursion.

To better protect the settlement, another nearby site was chosen to the west of Fort Langley. Named New Westminster, it united with Victoria and briefly became the capital. Victoria has been the capital of the province since 1868.

The settlers threw their stake in with Canada in 1871, having been promised that the railway would reach them. Fifteen years later, the settlement became the western terminus for the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railroad, and the population boomed. It was incorporated as Vancouver that same year.

The great majority of people who swelled the population over the next decades were of British descent, but a significant minority of Chinese peasants began arriving from California, where they had been lured by the gold rush. The number who came to labor on the railroad has been estimated at sixteen thousand.

Over the next several decades, there was periodic unrest between the Chinese and the Europeans in the form of anti-Chinese riots, boycotts, and discriminatory taxes. Through legislation, the Europeans were able to limit both immigration and the rights of immigrants who had already arrived. The Chinese weren't granted the right to vote until 1947. The smaller populations of Japanese, indigenous peoples, and East Indians were treated with similar curtailments of their rights.

In the 1880s, the logging industry was established, taking advantage of the surrounding old growth forests. Around Hastings Mill, the city of Vancouver burgeoned, fueled by the prosperity of the lumber business. Some of the lumber even ended up in the Imperial Palace of Beijing.

At the turn of the century, Vancouver was home to a quickly expanding population and had established itself as one of the most important economic centers in Canada. The accumulation of wealth in turn led to a cultural boom, with the founding of the Opera House and, in 1915, the University of British Columbia.

The city's economic importance grew as its position at the heart of a vast transportation network strengthened. The Pacific Great Eastern Railway began extending into the interior of the province; the Pacific Highway reached the United States border and was linked to Seattle. The 1914 opening of the Panama Canal shortened the route between Europe and British Columbia, leading to a greater number of exports from Vancouver's port.

Throughout the twentieth century, the population continued to grow. In 1923, Vancouver became the third largest city in Canada after several contiguous municipalities joined it. In the 1960s, the government relaxed its immigration laws and the demographics were inexorably altered. Immigration from Hong Kong was actively encouraged during the 1980s. Clearly, by this point, the immigrants' position had improved and they had come to be regarded as vital to the economic and cultural welfare of the city.

Another notable population trend was the movement to the Vancouver suburbs. Over the next few decades, however, much attention was given to revitalizing the downtown, and in the 1990s people started returning to residential districts on the peninsula. New buildings were constructed for the 1986 World Expo, which attracted more than twenty-one million visitors, and city planners gained ideas about revitalizing other urban centers.

Like any metropolis, Vancouver will have to continue struggling to maintain its enviable standard of life in the face of social problems and rampant growth.

Trivia

• The non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace was founded in Vancouver in 1971.
• Killer whales sometimes visit the Vancouver harbor.
• The Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Garden cost millions of dollars and took fifty-two Chinese craftsmen a year to complete.

Bibliography

City of Vancouver, vancouver.ca. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

HelloBC.com, Destination BC, 2021, www.hellobc.com. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Montsion, Jean Michel. "'Softening' Canada's Gateway to the Asia Pacific? Community Perspectives on Vancouver's International Visage." Canadian Jour. of Urban Research, vol. 20, no. 2, 2011, pp. 36–55.

Murray, Karen Bridget. "Making Space in Vancouver's East End: From Leonard Marsh to the Vancouver Agreement." BC Studies, vol. 169, 2011, pp. 7–49.

Roy, Patricia E. "Vancouver." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 12 Mar. 2021, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

"Vancouver's History." Tourism Vancouver, www.tourismvancouver.com/vancouver/history/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.