British Columbia

British Columbia,

province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada.

Geography

British Columbia, the westernmost province of Canada, is bounded on the E by Alberta, on the S by Montana, Idaho, and Washington, on the W by the Pacific Ocean, on the NW by Alaska, and on the N by Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Along its deeply indented Pacific coast lie many islands, notably Vancouver IslandVancouver Island
(1991 pop. 579,921), 12,408 sq mi (32,137 sq km), SW British Columbia, Canada, in the Pacific Ocean; largest island off W North America. It is c.285 mi (460 km) long and c.
..... Click the link for more information. (c.280 mi/450 km long) and the sparsely inhabited Queen Charlotte Islands. The province is almost wholly mountainous, with the Rocky Mts. in the southeast, the Coast Mts. along the Pacific, and the Stikine Mts. in the northwest.

Chief of the many rivers is the Fraser, which, with its tributaries, drains much of central and S British Columbia as it flows to the Pacific. Other rivers in that region include the upper Columbia and the Kootenay. In the north are the Peace, the Stikine, the Nass, and the Skeena. Hydroelectric resources in British Columbia are highly developed; large plants along the rivers operate pulp and paper mills. The station at Kemano on the Nechako River serves one of the biggest aluminum plants in the world, at Kitimat. Long, narrow lakes are found throughout the interior, supplying vast backwaters for dams; Williston Lake, on the Peace River, is the largest of these.

British Columbia attracts millions of visitors annually, and the land is a hunting and fishing paradise. There are four national parks—Glacier, Mt. Revelstoke, Yoho, and Kootenay—and hundreds of provincial parks and camping grounds. The climate along the west coast, tempered by the warm Japan Current, has made that area, especially VancouverVancouver,
city (1991 pop. 471,844), SW British Columbia, Canada, on Burrard Inlet of the Strait of Georgia, opposite Vancouver Island and just N of the Wash. border. It is the largest city on Canada's Pacific coast, the center of the third largest metropolitan area in Canada,
..... Click the link for more information. and VictoriaVictoria,
city (1991 pop. 71,228), capital of British Columbia, SW Canada, on Vancouver Island and Juan de Fuca Strait. It is the largest city on the island and its major port and business center.
..... Click the link for more information. , very attractive to tourists.

Large areas of central and N British Columbia are sparsely settled; almost three fourths of the population is crowded into the southwest coastal tip in the Georgia Strait region. Victoria is the capital. The largest city and chief port is Vancouver, which grew rapidly throughout the 1980s, experiencing a real estate boom and heavy immigration from China and Hong Kong. Other population centers include Richmond, KelownaKelowna
, city (1991 pop. 75,950), S British Columbia, Canada, on Okanagan Lake. Kelowna is a tourist resort and serves as a trade center for a fruit-growing and lumbering area. Other industries include wine making and machine-shop working.
..... Click the link for more information. , New WestminsterNew Westminster,
city (1991 pop. 43,585), SW British Columbia, Canada, on the Fraser River, part of metropolitan Vancouver. Founded in 1859 as Queensborough, it was the capital of British Columbia until Victoria was made capital after the union of British Columbia and Vancouver
..... Click the link for more information. , North VancouverNorth Vancouver,
city (1991 pop. 38,436), SW British Columbia, Canada, on Burrard Inlet of the Strait of Georgia, opposite Vancouver, of which it is a suburb. Shipbuilding, woodworking, and the shipping of grain, lumber, and ore are the chief industries.
..... Click the link for more information. , NanaimoNanaimo
, city (1991 pop. 60.129), SW British Columbia, Canada, on Vancouver Island. It is a port, the base of a commercial fishing fleet, and the trade center for a farm and lumbering region. It is the site of a federal fisheries and oceanographic research station.
..... Click the link for more information. , KamloopsKamloops
, city (1991 pop. 67,057), S British Columbia, Canada, at the junction of the North Thompson and South Thompson rivers. A trading post was first established on the site in 1812.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Prince GeorgePrince George,
city (1991 pop. 69,653), central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers. It is a railroad division point and a distribution center for a lumber region. There are sawmills, pulp mills, chemical plants, and an oil refinery.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Economy and Higher Education

Less than 10% of the province's land can be used for grazing or cultivation, while nearly three fourths is covered with forests. British Columbia's evergreens make up about half of all of Canada's timber. Lumbering and related enterprises (such as pulp and paper manufacturing) are the province's major industries. During the 1990s, however, the provincial tree harvest dropped some 25%, as concerns over clear-cutting and old-growth logging were pressed by environmentalists, tour operators, indigenous peoples, and others. Mining is also important; British Columbia is rich in mineral resources. Copper, mined principally at Kamloops, Princeton, and Brittania, and coal are the province's two largest mineral resources. Also important are natural gas, oil, zinc, gold, silver, nickel, and iron. The mine at Kimberley, one of the world's largest, is known for its silver, lead, and zinc. However, pollution generated by natural-resource industries is a major environmental concern in British Columbia.

British Columbia ranks first among the provinces in fishing; the most important catches are salmon, halibut, and herring. As with logging, however, the effects of overharvesting are now being felt, exacerbated by disputes with the states of Washington and Alaska over salmon catches. Beef is also an important product, especially along the Fraser River, which is known for its sprawling ranches. Other industries include food processing and the manufacture of transportation equipment, machinery, chemicals, furniture, and electrical items. Tourism and outdoor recreation are increasingly important to British Columbia, and Vancouver is a center for Pacific Rim business.

Institutions of higher learning include Simon Fraser Univ., at Burnaby; the Univ. of British Columbia, at Vancouver; and the Univ. of Victoria, at Victoria.

History and Politics

Early History

The earliest known inhabitants of the province are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest (widely known for their totem poles and potlatchespotlatch
, ceremonial feast of the natives of the NW coast of North America, entailing the public distribution of property. The host and his relatives lavishly distributed gifts to invited guests, who were expected to accept any gifts offered with the understanding that at a
..... Click the link for more information. ); carbon dating has confirmed their occupation of some sites 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. Juan Peréz was probably the first European to sail (1774) along the coast, but he did not make a landing. In 1778, Capt. James Cook, on his last voyage, explored the coast in his search for the Pacific entrance to the elusive Northwest Passage and claimed the area for Great Britain.

Rival British and Spanish claims for the area were partly resolved by the Nootka Conventions of 1790–92 (see Nootka SoundNootka Sound,
inlet of the Pacific Ocean and natural harbor on the west coast of Vancouver Island, SW British Columbia, Canada, lying between the mainland and Nootka Island (206 sq mi/534 sq km).
..... Click the link for more information. ), which gave both equal trading rights but did not resolve ownership. The British sent George Vancouver to take possession of the land, and in 1792–94 he explored and mapped the coast from Oregon to Alaska. In 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific overland; he was followed early in the 19th cent. by fur traders and explorers of the North West CompanyNorth West Company,
fur-trading organization in North America in the late 18th and early 19th cent.; it was composed of Montreal trading firms and fur traders. Formation
..... Click the link for more information. who crossed the mountains to establish posts in New Caledonia, as the region was then called.

The Hudson's Bay Company Era

After the Hudson's Bay CompanyHudson's Bay Company,
corporation chartered (1670) by Charles II of England for the purpose of trade and settlement in the Hudson Bay region of North America and for exploration toward the discovery of the Northwest Passage to Asia.
..... Click the link for more information. (HBC) absorbed the North West Company in 1821, the region became a preserve of the new company. In 1843, Fort Victoria was established by James DouglasDouglas, Sir James,
1803–77, Canadian fur trader and colonial governor, b. British Guiana (now Guyana). As a young man, he went to Canada in the service of the North West Company; soon after its merger (1821) with the Hudson's Bay Company, he accompanied the noted John
..... Click the link for more information. as an HBC trading post. Rival British and American claims to the area were settled three years later when the boundary was set at the 49th parallel (see OregonOregon
, state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It is bordered by Washington, largely across the Columbia River (N), Idaho, partially across the Snake River (E), Nevada and California (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W).
..... Click the link for more information. , state), but further controversy led to the San Juan Boundary DisputeSan Juan Boundary Dispute,
controversy between the United States and Great Britain over the U.S.–British Columbia boundary. It is sometimes called the Northwest Boundary Dispute.
..... Click the link for more information. . Partly as protection against American expansion, Vancouver Island was ceded (1849) to Britain by the HBC and became a crown colony.

In 1858 gold was discovered in the sandbars and tributaries of the Fraser River. The gold rushes that resulted brought profound changes. Fort Victoria boomed as a supply base for miners, and a town sprang up around it. Officials of the crown were dispatched to keep order and to supervise government projects and the building of roads. Some 30,000 miners moved into what was then unorganized territory; this led to the creation (1858) of a new colony on the mainland, called British Columbia, and the end of the HBC's supremacy. In 1863 the newly settled territory about the Stikine River was added to British Columbia.

Confederation

In 1866, Vancouver Island and British Columbia were merged, and in 1871 the united British Columbia, lured by promises of financial aid and the building of a transcontinental railroad that would link it to the rest of Canada, voted to join the new Canadian confederation. The Canadian Pacific Railway finally reached the coast in 1885, and a new era began. By providing access to new markets, the railroad furthered agriculture, mining, and lumbering; steamship service with Asia was inaugurated, and Vancouver grew as a busy port, serving many provinces. The opening (1914) of the Panama Canal further boosted trade and commerce. A long dispute with the United States over the Alaska boundary was finally settled by the Alaska Boundary Commission in 1903.

The Twentieth Century

The Conservatives and Liberals alternated in power from 1903 (when the national parties were first introduced into local politics) until 1941, when a wartime coalition was formed. The Social CreditSocial Credit,
economic plan in Canada, based on the theories of Clifford Hugh Douglas. The central idea is that the problems fundamental to economic depression are those of unequal distribution owing to lack of purchasing power.
..... Click the link for more information. party came into power in 1952, under the leadership of W. A. C. Bennett, and retained control until 1972, when the New Democratic party (NDP), led by David Barrett, won a majority. Social Credit regained control in 1975 under Premier William Richards Bennett, who was succeeded in 1986 by William Vander Zalm and in 1991 by Rita Johnston, the province's first woman premier. The NDP took power in late 1991, with Michael Harcourt as premier, succeeded in 1996 by Glen Clark, in 1999 by Dan Miller, and in 2000 by Ujjal Dosanjh (Canada's first nonwhite provincial premier). In 2001, however, the Liberals, led by Gordon Campbell, won a landslide victory; they were returned to power in 2005 and 2009, albeit with narrower majorities. Liberal Christy Clark succeeded the retiring Campbell as premier in 2011. The Liberals remained in power after the 2013 elections, but failed to win a majority in 2017 and Clark lost a confidence vote. John Horgan, heading an NDP minority government, became premier.

This fastest growing of Canada's provinces increased its national political clout in 1995 when it was given its own veto power over constitutional amendments rather than being subsumed under the western regional vote. By the end of the 1990s, metropolitan Vancouver had become one of the Pacific Rim's most dynamic cities, with a population c.10% Chinese and c.7% Asian Indian. At the same time, land claims by indigenous peoples, claims that could return much of the province to aboriginal ownership, had become a significant political and economic issue in the province. British Columbia, unlike Canada's other provinces, largely did not have signed treaties with most indigenous peoples, despite a 1763 Crown directive requiring such treaties. As a result, the provincial and federal governments began negotiating with the native tribes in the 1990s to sign treaties with them.

British Columbia sends 6 senators and 32 representatives to the national parliament.

Bibliography

See M. A. Ormsby, British Columbia (1958, repr. 1971); J. L. Robinson, ed., British Columbia (1972); M. L. Farley, Atlas of British Columbia (1979); J. King, British Columbia Handbook (1989); B. Christensen, Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber (1989).

British Columbia Parks

Parks and Conservation-Related Organizations - Canada

Alouette River Management Society (ARMS)
British Columbia Conservation Foundation (BCCF)
British Columbia Water, Land & Air Ministry

British Columbia Wildlife Federation (BCWF)
Sierra Legal Defense Fund
Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC)

Tiger Foundation
Vancouver Natural History Society (VNHS)
Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC)

Canadian National Parks

Glacier National Park
Gulf Islands National Park Reserve
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve/Haida Heritage Site

Kootenay National Park
Mount Revelstoke National Park
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

Yoho National Park

British Columbia

a province in western Canada. It includes a number of islands, such as Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Area, 948,700 sq km; population, 2,247,000 (1972). Its capital is Victoria.

British Columbia was discovered by Spanish seafarers at the end of the 18th century. In 1866 it became a British colony. At that time Vancouver Island, which had been a British colony since 1849, became part of British Columbia. In 1871, British Columbia was incorporated into the Dominion of Canada as a province.

The Rocky Mountains (Mount Robson, 3,954 m) lie in eastern British Columbia, and the Coast Mountains (Mount Waddington, 4,042 m), in the west. These two ranges are separated by the Interior Plateaus, which have an elevation of approximately 1,000 m. In the maritime areas the climate is mild and damp; in the mountains it is severe, with temperatures as low as –50°C. Annual precipitation is greater than 2,400 mm (in the intermontane valleys, 300–400 mm). The major rivers are the Fraser, Columbia (its upper course), Liard, and Kootenay. Most of the province is covered by coniferous forests.

British Columbia provides approximately one-half of Canada’s zinc and lead (deposits at Sullivan near Kimberley and at other sites), four-fifths of its molybdenum (Endako), one-third of its copper (Highland Valley and Grenak), and approximately one-half of its lumber. British Columbia also produces one-third of Canada’s output of paper and pulp, with centers at Powell River, Ocean Falls, and Prince Rupert.

Electric power output is 28.3 billion kW-hr; hydroelectric power plants produced 25.1 billion kW-hr of this power in 1971. The plants on the Peace, Columbia, Bridge, and Kootenay rivers have a capacity of 3.5 million kW. Nonferrous metallurgy includes aluminum smelting in Kitimat and the smelting of lead, zinc, and silver, primarily in the city of Trail. Industries include machine building, primarily shipbuilding in Vancouver and Victoria, and the production of logging and mining equipment. British Columbia also has chemical and food-processing industries.

Agriculture is concentrated outside the cities. Dairy livestock are raised, and vegetables and fruit are grown in the valleys of the Lower Fraser, Okanagan, and other rivers. Along the Pacific coast there is fishing (primarily salmon, herring, and halibut), which accounts for one-half of Canada’s yield, and there is a fish-canning industry. The principal ports are Vancouver and Victoria.

L. N. KARPOV

British Columbia

a province of W Canada, on the Pacific coast: largely mountainous with extensive forests, rich mineral resources, and important fisheries. Capital: Victoria. Pop.: 4 196 383 (2004 est.). Area: 930 532 sq. km (359 279 sq. miles)

British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia

Brit′ish Colum′bia

British Columbia

British Columbia,

Geography

Economy and Higher Education

History and Politics

Early History

The Hudson's Bay Company Era

Confederation

The Twentieth Century

Bibliography

British Columbia Parks

British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia

Words related to British Columbia

noun a province in western Canada

Related Words