History Of Vancouver
Although Vancouver is a young city in relation to its European and US counterparts, it was settled thousands of years ago by the native peoples of North America, who populated large communities in the region.
Vancouvers beginnings
Vancouver was unofficially named after the British Captain, George Vancouver, after Lieutenant William Broughton explored the area of the Columbia River in 1792 and named part of the shoreline after his captain; it was earlier in the same year that the American sailor, Robert Gray, would become the first non-native to enter this part of Canada.
Fourteen years later, in 1806, the American explorers William Clark and Meriwether Lewis spent some time camped near the Vancouver waterfront during their much publicised western expedition. Meriwether Lewis came to the conclusion that Vancouver was ‘the only desired situation for settlement west of the Rocky Mountains'.
It would be another 19 years until Vancouver would begin to be settled, when the headquarters of the Hudson Bay Company in Astoria was transferred to Vancouver in 1825 in order to take advantage of the better setting upriver. Dr John McLoughlin was the architect behind this move and he appropriately named the new port Fort Vancouver.
During this time, the American northwest was still in British hands and Fort Vancouver became a massive fur trading region in the Pacific Northwest. However, in 1846, the Americans extended their control over the northwest up to the 49th parallel, which is now the common border between Canada and the United States. American troops arrived three years later, in the middle of the 19th century, and established the Columbia barracks, later called Vancouver, from where they controlled the Pacific Northwest.
The 20th century till the present
From 1857, Vancouver was officially given city status and development took hold and continued steadily. The city began to open up early in the 20th century, with the establishment of the first rail line to Washington State, while three years later, in 1910, a railroad bridge over the Columbia River was opened to the south and in 1917, the Interstate Bridge was finished.
Heavy industry took hold during WWI, with the building of the world's largest spruce cut-up mill, which provided the lumber needed to build planes. During WWII, Vancouver again helped the American war effort with vital products from the Kaiser Shipyard.
After WWII, Vancouver expanded greatly and saw the arrival of many immigrants, with many Europeans and other nationalities setting up home here owing to its burgeoning economy and beautiful location on the Pacific coast. Today, Vancouver is Canada's second city and a huge tourist destination, with the nearby mountains providing winter skiing and the popular Vancouver Island just a short ferry ride away.
