Welcome to British Columbia!
British Columbia (BC) is a western province of Canada, between the Pacific Ocean, and the Rocky Mountains. British Columbia is about four times the size of Great Britain with 4.6 million inhabitants. Several north-south mountain ranges cross through the province, such as the Rockies, the Selkirks, the Purcells and the Coastal Range.
BC has great scenery along the coast and inland, and is a rewarding destination for outdoor life, especially downhill snowsports and wilderness backpacking.
It is a land of contrasts with the metropolis of Vancouver, a progressive global hotspot, against a rich backdrop of the heritage of the First Nations of British Columbia.
British Columbia (abbreviated as BC, French: Colombie-Britannique) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the continental divide of the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.2 million as of 2021, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria and its largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver is the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada; in 2013, Greater Vancouver had an estimated population of approximately 2.5 million.Since 2017, the province has been governed by the New Democratic Party, led by John Horgan, first with a minority government elected in 2017 and subsequently with a majority government elected in 2020.
First Nations, the first inhabitants of the land, have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area. The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, which gave rise to the city of Victoria, at first the capital of the separate Colony of Vancouver Island. The Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) was subsequently founded on the mainland by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Moody selected the site for and founded the original capital of British Columbia, New Westminster, and established the Cariboo Road and Stanley Park. In 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the united colony's capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada. Today the question of aboriginal title, long ignored, has become a frequently debated legal and political question as a result of recent court actions.
British Columbia's economy is primarily based on forestry, mining, cinematography and tourism. British Columbia also benefits from high property values and being a centre for maritime trade. Although less than 5 percent of its territory is arable land, significant agriculture exists in the Fraser Valley and Okanagan thanks to the warmer climate. British Columbia is the fourth-largest province or territory by GDP.