British Columbia is a Canadian province on the country’s west coast. This province, also known as British Columbia, is bounded on the south by Idaho, Montana, and Washington, on the north by Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the northwest by Alaska, on the east by Alberta, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. British Columbia has a coastline that stretches for over 17,000 miles. The capital city of British Columbia is Victoria, which is located on Vancouver Island. Queen Victoria named the province British Columbia in reference to the region’s Columbia District, and the word British was chosen to distinguish it from the Columbia District in the United States.
Captain James Cook, a European, was the first to explore Vancouver Island. George Vancouver was the first to map the island.
The interior of British Columbia was first explored by Alexander MacKenzie, David Thompson, and Simon Fraser.
Prior to the arrival of explorers, the Tlingit, Shuswap, Chilcotin, Haida, and Sekani tribes were the original residents of British Columbia.
When British Columbia joined the Confederation on July 20, 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.
The Kermode Bear, a white-colored black bar that is extremely rare, is BC’s provincial mammal. It is also known as the Spirit Bear.
BC is home to 25% of all black bears in Canada and 25% of all grizzly bears in North America.
The Pacific Dogwood is BC’s official flower. The western red cedar is the state tree.
A tree on Meares Island in British Columbia is thought to be over 2000 years old. It’s known as the Hanging Garden Tree.
British Columbia is a popular and expanding wine region. It is also one of the world’s top three producers of blueberries and cranberries.
It is estimated that more than half of British Columbia’s residents live in the Vancouver Metro area.
BC accounts for approximately 10% of Canada’s land area.
Tweedsmuir Park is British Columbia’s largest provincial park. It covers an area of 989,616 hectares.
British Columbia is so large that only 30 countries in the world are bigger.
The first sighting of a sasquatch in British Columbia was more than 200 years ago.
Osoyoos Lake in British Columbia is Canada’s warmest freshwater lake.
The Fraser River is British Columbia’s longest river. It is 1,399 kilometers long. A 500kg sturgeon was caught and released in the Fraser River in 2012.
BC is the only Canadian province with two borders with the United States.
It is estimated that half of British Columbia’s residents do not speak English fluently. Following English, Chinese is the second most common language in BC.
Many people in British Columbia live in areas that are not served by the power grid, and they rely on solar, wind, and, in some cases, generators for their hydro.
The film and television industry in British Columbia is expanding, with over 25,000 people employed in the sector. The Twilight films were shot in British Columbia.
