real estate for sale vancouver british columbia canada General Information
| Vancouver | |||
 Downtown Vancouver as seen from Fairview Slopes north across False Creek | |||
| |||
| Nickname: Van City | |||
| Motto: "By Sea, Land, and Air We Prosper" | |||
 Location of Vancouver within the Metro Vancouver district in British Columbia, Canada | |||
| Coordinates: 49°15′N 123°6′W / 49.25, -123.1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Canada | ||
| Province |  British Columbia | ||
| Region | Lower Mainland | ||
| Regional District | Metro Vancouver | ||
| Incorporated | 1886 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Sam Sullivan (NPA) | ||
| - City Council | List of CouncilorsSuzanne Anton (NPA) Peter Ladner (NPA) Kim Capri (NPA) Elizabeth Ball (NPA) B.C. Lee (NPA) Raymond Louie (Vision) Tim Stevenson (Vision) George Chow (Vision) Heather Deal (Vision) David Cadman (COPE) | ||
| - MPs | List of MPsLibby Davies (NDP) Ujjal Dosanjh (Lib) David Emerson (Con) Hedy Fry (Lib) Stephen Owen (Lib) | ||
| - MLAs | List of MLAsGordon Campbell (BC Lib) David Chudnovsky (NDP) Adrian Dix (NDP) Colin Hansen (BC Lib) Jenny Kwan (NDP) Lorne Mayencourt (BC Lib) Wally Oppal (BC Lib) Gregor Robertson Shane Simpson (NDP) Carole Taylor (BC Lib) | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 114.67 km² (44.3 sq mi) | ||
| - Metro | 2,878.52 km² (1,111.4 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 2 m (7 ft) | ||
| Population (2006 est.) | |||
| - City | 587,891 (ranked 8th) | ||
| - Density | 5,252/km² (13,602.6/sq mi) | ||
| - Metro | 2,187,721 (ranked 3rd) | ||
| - Demonym | Vancouverite | ||
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) | ||
| Postal code span | V5K to V6Z | ||
| Area code(s) | 604, 778 | ||
| NTS Map | 092G03 | ||
| GNBC Code | JBRIK | ||
| Website: City of Vancouver | |||
Vancouver (pronounced /vænˈkuːvɚ/)) is a city located in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is named after Captain George Vancouver, a British explorer.
Vancouver has a population of 587,891 while Metro Vancouver, its metropolitan region, has a population of 2,180,737 (2006 estimate). Metro Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area in western Canada and the third largest in the country. It is also the largest city and second-largest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest. Vancouver is ethnically diverse, with more than half of its residents having a first language other than English. The population of the city is growing rapidly, and the Metro population is projected to reach 2.6 million by 2020. Population density is highest for a major city on the continent after New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City, and on track to being second by 2021.
Vancouver is located between the Strait of Georgia and the Coast Mountains. Its economy has traditionally relied on British Columbia's resource sectors: forestry, mining, fishing and agriculture. It was first settled in the 1860s as a result of immigration caused by the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, particularly from the United States, although many immigrants did not remain after the rush. The city developed rapidly from a small lumber mill town into a metropolitan centre following the arrival of the transcontinental railway in 1887. The Port of Vancouver became internationally significant after the completion of the Panama Canal, which reduced freight rates in the 1920s and made it viable to ship export-bound prairie grain west through Vancouver. It has since become the busiest seaport in Canada, and exports more cargo than any other port in North America.
The economy of Vancouver has diversified over time, however. Vancouver has a growing tourism industry, for example, and has become the third-largest film production centre in North America, after Los Angeles and New York City, earning it the nickname Hollywood North. Vancouver has had an expansion in high-tech industries, most notably video game development.
Vancouver is consistently ranked one of the three most livable cities in the world. According to a 2007 report by Mercer Human Resource Consulting for example, Vancouver tied with Vienna as having the third highest quality of living in the world, after Zürich and Geneva. In 2007, Vancouver was ranked the second most expensive in Canada after Toronto, and, in 2006, the 56th most expensive city in which to live among 143 major cities in the world; in the same survey, Zürich and Geneva were ranked as the ninth and seventh most expensive, respectively.
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver and nearby Whistler.