Neptune's Needle

City (1991 pop. 471,844), SW B.C., W Canada, on Burrard Inlet of the Strait of Georgia, opposite Vancouver Isl., and just N of the Wash. border; 49º15'N 123º08'W. It is the 3d-largest city in Canada, the largest city in W Canada, and the chief Can. Pacific port, with an excellent year-round harbor. It is also the major W terminus of trans-Can. RRs, highways, and airways. Its location on hills with views of the harbor and the mts. of the Coast Range as well as its mild winter climate make it a year-round tourist center. As Canada’s main connection to other Pacific Rim countries, Vancouver has become increasingly ethnically diverse as large numbers of Chin., Jap., and E Indian migrants have settled in the city. Vancouver’s Chinatown is 2d only to San Francisco’s. The city’s industries include lumbering, ship construction, fish processing; sugar- and oil refining; banking and financial services. Tourism. It has textile and knitting mills; plants making metal, wood, paper, and mineral prods. Vancouver is the W terminus of a pipeline bringing oil to the W coast from Edmonton, Alta. At Point Grey in metropolitan Vancouver is the Univ. of B.C. Also, Simon Fraser Univ., and the B.C. Inst. of Technology are in the city. Stanley Park (900 acres/364 ha), one of the city’s many parks, has a zoo and famous gardens and specimens of native trees. Other attractions include the Granville Island Museums and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site some 20 mi/32 km S of the city. Vancouver is home to the Canucks (National Hockey League) and Lions (Canadian Football League). An internatl. exposition devoted to transportation, Expo ‘86, brought internatl. recognition and 20 million visitors to the city. The city was settled before 1875 and called Granville; it was inc. 1886, after a RR link was built, and named in honor of Capt. George Vancouver.

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Compiler

Peter Richards