British Columbia's capital is Victoria, located at the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island.

The province's most populous city is Vancouver, which is not on Vancouver Island but rather is located in the southwest corner of the mainland ( an area often called the Lower Mainland ).

Other major cities include Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, Delta, and New Westminster in the Lower Mainland ; Abbotsford, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Langley in the Fraser Valley ; Nanaimo on Vancouver Island ; and Kelowna and Kamloops in the Interior.

The Okanagan area is one of several wine-growing regions in Canada and also produces ciders ; other wine regions in British Columbia include the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, and the Fraser Valley.

Much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by temperate rainforest.

Some endangered species in British Columbia are: Vancouver Island marmot, Spotted Owl, American White Pelican, and badgers.

One of the best examples of a local currency is the original LETS currency, founded on Vancouver Island in the early 1980 ’ s.

George Vancouver gave it the name " Deception " because it had misled him into thinking Whidbey Island was a peninsula.

In May 1792, Vancouver was anchored near the southern end of Whidbey Island.

Vancouver wrote of Whidbey's efforts: " This determined shore they had been exploring to be an island, which, in consequence of Mr. Whidbey ’ s circumnavigation, I distinguished by the name of Whidbey ’ s Island: and this northern pass, leading into Bay, Deception Passage ".

His first fieldwork took him to Vancouver Island to work on the Nootka language.

Vancouver Island, Canada ; the cities of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver, Washington, US ; and Mount Vancouver on the Yukon / Alaska border ; are named after him.

Spain and Britain came close to war over ownership of the Nootka Sound on contemporary Vancouver Island, and of greater importance, the right to colonize and settle the Pacific Northwest coast.

Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Vancouver Island and the Washington state mainland on 29 April 1792.

After the summer surveying season ended, in November 1792 Vancouver went to Nootka, then the region's most important harbour, on contemporary Vancouver Island.

At this time, they decided to name the large island on which Nootka was now proven to be located as Quadra and Vancouver Island.

Years later, as Spanish influence declined, the name was shortened to simply Vancouver Island.

** Vancouver Island, Canada

In June 1982, the Horseshoe Bay Brewery in West Vancouver opened, creating one of Canada's first microbreweries.

In 1859, Weinhard bought Meunich ’ s business and named it the Vancouver Brewery.

After Labatt bought the Columbia Brewery in 1974, they hired the advertising agency WestCan later to be known as Scali McCabe Sloves whose Vancouver office produced a number of humorous radio and then international award winning TV campaigns introducing " The Sasquatch ", including, for instance ,( and still under the name WestCan at the time ) 2 IBA's for TV.

A life sized statue covered in gold of George Vancouver on top of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings in Victoria, British Columbia | Victoria

Located in the Mount Baker Wilderness, it is visible from much of Greater Victoria, Greater Vancouver, and, to the south, from Seattle ( and on clear days Tacoma ) in Washington.

The collection also boasts extensive histories of colonial Victoria and the Colony of Vancouver Island among other documents.

Located in the Greater Victoria, British Columbia area the Vancouver Island Technology Park is a state of the art, 35 acre commercial research facility.

CFUV serves Greater Victoria at 101. 9, and via cable on 104. 3, Vancouver Island and many areas in the Lower Mainland and northwestern Washington state.

Passenger rail service to Victoria is provided by Via Rail, which operates the Victoria – Courtenay train north, along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, to the cities of Nanaimo, Courtenay, and points between.

The BC Ferries Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal, located north of Victoria, has hourly sailings to Tsawwassen ( a ferry terminal south of Vancouver ) and to many of the Gulf Islands.

Bus service between Victoria and Vancouver is run by Pacific Coach Lines.

Bus service from Victoria to points up island is run by Vancouver Island Coach Lines.

However, roads in Victoria are not based on a grid system as in Vancouver or Edmonton, and even most major streets do not follow a straight line from beginning to end as they wind around hills, parks, coastlines, and historic neighbourhoods, often changing names two or three times.

There is little distinction between " streets " and " avenues " in Victoria as there is in other cities such as Vancouver or Edmonton where " streets " run north-south and " avenues " run east-west, and Victorians are unlikely to use the terms " north ", " south ", " east ", or " west " when giving directions.

* Sooke Flowline located on Vancouver Island, Canada, is a 44 kilometres long, gravity fed concrete pipe which provided water to the City Of Victoria for 55 years.

After reaching Vancouver, B. C., on the Pacific Coast, there is a ferry route west to Vancouver Island and the provincial capital city of Victoria, B. C.

The treaty granted the Hudson's Bay Company navigation rights on the Columbia River for supplying their fur posts, clear titles to their trading post properties allowing them to be sold later if they wanted, and left the British with good anchorages at Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.

* Colony of Vancouver Island, founded by the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Victoria in 1843.

While the city of Vancouver is located on the North American mainland, Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is located on the island.

Distinct nations within the Coast Salish peoples on Vancouver Island include the Chemainus, the Comox of the Courtenay area, the Cowichan of the Cowichan Valley, the Esquimalt, the Saanich of the Saanich Peninsula, the Songhees of the Victoria area and Snuneymuxw in the Nanaimo area.

Victoria became the capital of the colony of Vancouver Island, then retained that status when the island was amalgamated with the mainland in 1866.

Vancouver Island's major population centre is the Capital Region, based around Victoria.

It should not be confused with the smaller Vancouver Island, which is home to Victoria, British Columbia, the capital of the Canadian province.