Vancouver Island
This page is for the island-region of the Canadian province of British Columbia named Vancouver Island. For the historical Canadian federal electoral region by that name, please see Vancouver Island (electoral districts). For the historical crown colony, see Colony of Vancouver Island |
Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Strait of Georgia and the Queen Charlotte Strait, and from Washington by the Juan De Fuca Strait. |
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Cities of Vancouver Island |
Vancouver Island is located off
Canada's
Pacific coast and is part of the
Canadian province of
British Columbia. The island is 460 km (285 miles) long and up to 80 km (50 miles) wide. The largest island on the western side of the
Americas at
32,134 square kilometers (12,407 square miles), it is the
world's 42nd largest island,
Canada's 11th largest island and
Canada's second highest populated island. The island is named in honour of
George Vancouver, the British
Royal Navy officer who explored the
Pacific northwest coast between
1791 and
1794.
The
2001 census population was 656,312. As of
2005, Vancouver Island had an estimated population of 723,000. Slightly less than half of these (326,000) live in
Victoria, British Columbia. Other major cities on Vancouver Island include
Nanaimo,
Port Alberni,
Parksville,
Courtenay, and
Campbell River.
Vancouver Island is roughly divided between a rugged, wet west coast and a drier, more rolling east coast by the
Vancouver Island Ranges, which run down most of the length of the island. The highest point in these ranges and on the island is the
Golden Hinde, at 2195 m. Located near the centre of Vancouver Island in the 250,000 ha
Strathcona Provincial Park, it is part of a group of peaks that include the only glaciers on the island, the largest of which is the
Comox Glacier. The west coast shoreline is rugged, and in many places mountainous, characterised by its many
fjords, bays, and inlets. The interior of the island has many lakes (
Kennedy Lake, northeast of
Ucluelet, is the largest) and rivers.
The
rain shadow effect of the island's mountains, as well as the mountains of
Washington's
Olympic Peninsula, creates wide variation in precipitation. The west coast is considerably wetter than the east coast. Average annual precipitation ranges from 6,650 millimeters at Henderson Lake on the west coast (making it the wettest spot in North America) to only 635 millimeters at the driest recording station in the provincial capital of Victoria on the southeast coast's
Saanich Peninsula. Precipitation is heaviest in the autumn and winter. Temperatures are fairly consistent along both coasts, however; winters are mild, and summers are cool to moderately warm, depending on location. The yearly average temperature hovers around 10°C (50°F). Snow is rare at low altitudes but is common on the island's mountaintops in winter.
Vancouver Island lies in the
temperate rainforest biome. On the southern and eastern portions of the island, this is characterized by
Douglas-fir,
western red cedar,
arbutus,
Garry oak,
salal,
Oregon-grape, and
manzanita. This is the heavily populated region of Vancouver Island, and a major area for recreation. The northern, western, and most of the central portions of the island are home to the
coniferous "big trees" associated with British Columbia's coast â€"
hemlock,
western red cedar,
amabilis fir,
yellow cedar,
Douglas-fir,
grand fir,
Sitka spruce, and
western white pine. It is also characterised by
broadleaf maple,
red alder,
sword fern, and red
huckleberry.
The fauna of Vancouver Island is similar to that found on the mainland coast, with some notable exceptions and additions. For example,
grizzly bear,
porcupine,
moose, and
coyote, while plentiful on the mainland, are absent from Vancouver Island. The island does contain Canada's only population of
Roosevelt elk, however, and one species â€" the
Vancouver Island Marmot â€" is endemic to the region. The island's rivers, lakes, and coastal regions are renowned for their
fisheries of
trout,
salmon, and
steelhead. It has the most concentrated population of
cougars in North America.
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Satellite photo montage of Vancouver Island |
Native Settlement
The island has been inhabited by humans for some eight thousand years. By the late
1700s, the primary
First Nations there were the
Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) on the west coast, various nations of the
Salish language group on the south and east coasts, and the
Kwakiutl on the centre and north of the island. The National Maps show a nation of Vancouver consisting of the island and the mainland coastal regions from
Queen Charlotte Sound to
Cape Flattery.
European Exploration
Europeans began to encroach on the island in
1774, when rumours of
Russian fur traders caused the Spanish to send a ship, the
Santiago north under the command of
Juan José Pérez Hernández. In
1775 a second Spanish expedition, under
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, was sent. Neither actually landed.
Vancouver Island came to the attention of the wider world after the third voyage of Captain
James Cook, who landed at
Nootka Sound of the Island's western shore on
March 31,
1778 and claimed it for the
United Kingdom. The island's rich fur trading potential led the
British East India Company to set up a single-building trading post in the native village of
Yuquot on
Nootka Island, a small island in the Sound.
The island was further explored by
Spain in
1789 by
Esteban José MartÃnez, who built
Fort San Miguel on one of Vancouver Island's small offshore islets in the sound near Yuquot. This was to be the only Spanish settlement in what would later be Canada. The Spanish began seizing British ships and the two nations came close to war, but the issues were resolved peacefully with the
Nootka Convention in
1792, in which both countries recognized the other's rights to the area. Supervising the British activities was Captain
George Vancouver from
King's Lynn in
England, who had sailed as a midshipman with Cook, and from whom the island gained its name.
British settlement
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The British colonial flag of Vancouver Island. It is used today as a local representative flag. |
The first British settlement on the island was a
Hudson's Bay Company post, Fort Camosun, founded in
1843, and later renamed Fort Victoria. Shortly thereafter, in
1846, the
Oregon Treaty was signed by the British and Americans to settle the question of the Oregon Territory borders. It awarded all of Vancouver Island to the British, despite a portion of the island lying south of the 49th parallel. In
1848, the
Colony of Vancouver Island was established. Following the brief governorship of
Richard Blanshard,
James Douglas,
Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay post, assumed the role in 1851 â€" a position he would maintain for the next thirteen years.
Fort Victoria became an important base during the
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in
1858, and the burgeoning town was incorporated as
Victoria in
1862. Victoria became the capital of the colony of Vancouver Island, then retained that status when the island was amalgamated with the mainland in 1866. A British naval base was established at
Esquimalt, British Columbia in
1865, and eventually taken over by the Canadian military.
The economic situation of the colony declined following the
Cariboo Gold Rush of 1861-62, and pressure grew for amalgamation of the colony with the mainland colony of British Columbia (which had been established in 1858). The colony's third and last governor,
Sir Arthur Kennedy oversaw the
union of the two colonies in
1866.
Vancouver Island's economy outside Victoria is largely dominated by the
forestry industry, with
tourism and
fishing also playing a large role. Many of the
logging operations are for
paper pulp, in "2nd growth"
tree farms that are harvested approximately every 30 years. In recent years the government of British Columbia has engaged in an
advertising program to draw more tourists to beach resorts such as
Tofino.
Logging operations involving
old-growth forests such as those found on
Clayoquot Sound are controversial, and have gained international attention through the efforts of
activists and
environmental organizations.
There are rapidly expanding
vineyards and the island produces wines that outscored the best
French wines at the
St. Catharines Wine Tasting of 2005 in blind evaluations.
Between Vancouver Island and the Canadian mainland there are several high voltage power cables (
HVDC Vancouver-Island).
Marine transportation
Marine transportation is very important to Vancouver Island because it is separated by water from the mainland of British Columbia and
Washington. There are no bridges connecting the island to the mainland. The only vehicle access to Vancouver Island is via ferries operated by BC Ferries, Washington State Ferry and Black Ball Transport Inc. There are six vehicle ferry routes:
BC Ferries* Tsawwassen BC (38 km south of Vancouver) - Swartz Bay BC (32 km north of Victoria) :Crossing time: 1 hour 35 minutes; 8 sailings per day in the fall, winter, and spring and more in summer
* Tsawwassen BC - Duke Point BC (13 km south of Nanaimo):Crossing time: 2 hours; 8 round trips daily
* Horseshoe Bay BC (20 km northwest of Vancouver) - Departure Bay BC (3 km north of Nanaimo):Crossing time: 1 hour 35 minutes; Sailings every 2 hours with extra sailings during the summer and holidays
* Powell River BC - Comox BC :Crossing time: 1 hour 20 minutes; 4 round trips daily
Washington State Ferries* Anacortes WA - Sidney BC:Crossing time: 3 hours (not counting stops in the
San Juan Islands)
Black Ball Transport* Port Angeles WA - Victoria BC:Crossing time: 1 hour 30 minutes; 1 or 2 round trips dailyIn addition, there are three passenger-only ferry services from the mainland to Vancouver Island:
Victoria Clipper* Seattle WA - Victoria BC :Crossing time: 2 hour 45 minutes; 1 to 3 round trips daily
Victoria Express* Port Angeles WA - Victoria BC (operates May through September):Crossing time: 1 hour
Victoria San Juan Cruises * Bellingham WA - Victoria BC (operates one trip per day May through October):Crossing time: 3 hours
Rail transportation
The last remaining rail service on Vancouver Island is
VIA Rail's
Malahat, a tourist passenger train service operating on the
E&N Railway between Victoria and Courtenay. The E&N operated rail freight services on Vancouver Island, carrying wood,
coal, chemical and general freight from 1886 until 2001, when freight services ended.
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First Nations on Vancouver Island*
Canadian wine*
Cascadia subduction zone*
Tourism Vancouver Island*
Photos of Vancouver Island community of Sooke*
Great Seal of the crown colony of Vancouver Island*
CBC News: Vancouver Island moves west*
Measuring crustal motions in coastal British Columbia with continuous GPS
