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 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.

As of 2002, Vancouver Island had an estimated population of 750,000. 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.

Geography

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 — 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 — the Vancouver Island Marmot — 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.

History

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 Martínez, 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

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 — 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.

Economy

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).

Transportation

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 daily

In 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.

External links

Islands of British Columbia

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Vancouver Island