Vancover, BC

Vancouver is a coastal city located in the Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is named for British Captain George Vancouver, who explored the area in the 1790s. The name Vancouver it self originates from the Dutch “van Coevorden", denoting somebody from Coevorden, a city in the Netherlands.

The largest area in Western Canada, Vancouver ranks largest in the country and the city proper ranks eighth. According to the 2006 census Vancouver had a population of 578,041 and its area exceeded 2.1 million people. Over the last 30 years immigration has played a huge part in city growth. As a result its residents have become ethnically and linguistically diverse; 52% do not speak English as their first language, and almost a third of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese origin, with a large amount of immigrants from Hong Kong.

Logging sawmills established in 1867 in the area known as Gastown became the nucleus around which the town site grew, and Vancouver was incorporated as a city in 1886. By 1887, the transcontinental railway was extended to the city to take advantage of its large natural seaport, which soon became a vital link in a trade route between the Orient, Eastern Canada, and London. The Vancouver is now the busiest and largest in Canada, as well as the fourth largest port (by tonnage) in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, making tourism its second largest industry. It also is the third largest production centre in North America after Angeles and New York City, earning it the nickname Hollywood North.

Vancouver has ranked highly in worldwide "livable city" rankings for more than a decade according to business magazine assessments. It has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, the 1976 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements and the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication. The Olympics and Paralympics were held in Vancouver and nearby Whistler, a resort community 125 km (78 miles) north of the city.

Located on the Burrard Peninsula, Vancouver lies between Burrard Inlet to the north and the Fraser River to the south. The Strait of Georgia, to the west, is shielded from the Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island. The city has an area of 114 km² (44 sq mi), including both flat and hilly ground, and is in the Pacific Time Zone (UTC−8) and the Pacific Maritime Ecozone. Until the city's naming in 1885, "Vancouver" referred to Vancouver Island, and it remains a common misconception that the city is located on the island. The island and the city are both named after Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver, though the city of Vancouver.

Vancouver has one of the largest urban parks in North America, Stanley Park, which covers 404.9 hectares (1001 acres). The North Shore Mountains dominate the cityscape, and on a clear day scenic vistas include the snow-capped volcano Mount Baker in the state of Washington to the southeast, Vancouver Island across the Strait of Georgia to the west and southwest, and the Bowen Island to the northwest.

Vancouver's climate is temperate by Canadian standards and is usually classified as Oceanic or Marine West Coast. The summer months are typically dry, often resulting in moderate drought conditions, usually in July and August. In contrast, most days during late fall and winter (November–March) are rainy.

Annual precipitation as measured at Vancouver Airport in Richmond averages 1,199 millimeters (47.2 in), though this varies dramatically throughout the metro area due to the topography and is considerably higher in the downtown area. In winter, a majority of days (again at Vancouver Airport) receive measurable precipitation. Summer months are drier and sunnier with moderate temperatures, tempered by sea breezes. The daily maximum averages 22 °C (72 °F) in July and August, with highs rarely reaching 30 °C (86 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded was 34.4 °C (93.9 °F) on 30 July 2009. On average, snow falls on eleven days per year, with three days receiving 6 centimeters (2.4 in) or more. Average yearly snowfall is 48.2 centimeters (19.0 in) but typically does not remain on the ground for long.

Winters in Greater Vancouver are the fourth mildest of Canadian cities after nearby Victoria, Nanaimo and Duncan, all on Vancouver Island. Vancouver has daily minimum temperatures below freezing for an average of 46 days per year and below −10 °C (14.0 °F) on two days per year. On average, 4.5 days a year have temperatures staying below freezing.

The vegetation in the Vancouver area was originally temperate rain forest, consisting of conifers with scattered pockets of maple and alder, and large areas of swampland (even in upland areas, due to poor drainage). That they can grow in Vancouver is an indicator of the city's temperate climate in comparison to the rest of Canada. The conifers were a typical coastal British Columbia mix of Douglas-fir, Western red cedar and Western Hemlock. The area is thought to have the largest trees of these species on the British Columbia Coast. Only in Seattle's Elliott Bay did the size of trees rival those of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The largest trees in Vancouver's old-growth forest were in the Gastown area, where the first logging occurred, and on the southern slopes of False Creek and English Bay, especially around Jericho Beach. The forest in Stanley Park was logged between the 1860s and 1880s, and evidence of old-fashioned logging techniques such as springboard notches can still be seen there.

Many plants and trees growing throughout Vancouver and the Lower Mainland were imported from other parts of the continent and from points across the Pacific. Various species of palm trees grow in the city in isolated cases, as do large numbers of other exotic trees such as the monkey puzzle tree, the Japanese maple, and various flowering exotics, such as magnolias, azaleas, and rhododendrons. Some rhododendrons have grown to immense sizes, as have other species imported from harsher climates in Eastern Canada or Europe. The native Douglas Maple can also attain a tremendous size. Many of the city's streets are lined with flowering varieties of Japanese cherry trees donated from the 1930s onward by the government of Japan. These flowers blossom for several weeks in early spring each year. Other streets are lined with flowering chestnut, horse chestnut and other decorative shade trees.