Vancouver
The City of Vancouver is a coastal, seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia. Located on the western half of the Burrard Peninsula, Vancouver is bounded to the north by English Bay and the Burrard Inlet and to the south by the Fraser River. Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia, and the eighth largest municipality in Canada; the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area (which includes neighbouring cities such as Burnaby, Richmond, and Surrey) is the third largest in Canada. The City of Vancouver is quite cosmopolitan and is a mix of many multicultural groups. Because the city is multicultural, it's also multilingual on an unofficial level. Its people speak many different languages and many follow the traditions of their native lands, sometimes moderating them with Canadian culture. After English and Chinese, the most common mother tongue languages spoken are Punjabi, German, Italian, French, Tagalog (Filipino) and Spanish. More than half of Vancouver's school-age children have been raised speaking a language other than English.
History: Compared to the world’s great cities, Vancouver and Victoria are mere babies. Victoria only became a city in 1862; Vancouver in 1886. But long before Captain George Vancouver sailed into English Bay back in 1792, the First Nations people lived and fought and traded here. In the late 18th century, Coast Salish villages dotted the lands all around Vancouver and Victoria, and archeological evidence suggests that they’d been settled here for some 10,000 years. Their society was a complex and sophisticated one, with a fascinating mythology. Different peoples had different traditions—the Haida, for instance, were known as great warriors, while others were known for their deftness in trading all up and down the coast. They lived richly off the bounty of the forest and sea, especially the salmon, which they enjoyed in celebratory feasts known as potlatches. And they were famous for their beautiful carvings and art, much of it made from cedar and copper. When the Europeans arrived—led first by José María Narváez of Spain in 1791, then the British Captain George Vancouver a year later—they brought diseases that were unfamiliar and, as it proved, deadly to the indigenous people. It’s estimated that smallpox killed all but 600 of the 10,000 First Nations people who lived around the southern coast. Then the Europeans drove the survivors off the lands they wanted for themselves. As time went on, they forced them into residential schools, demanding that they give up their language, their culture, even their stories. It was a dark blot in Canada’s history, and it was only in 2008 that the federal government issued a formal apology for the system and its abuses. Today, though, there is an upwelling of native pride, a revival of the old ways, and most of all, a brilliant resurgence in the art of the coastal peoples. Source: http://vancouver.ca, www.tourismvancouver.com, www.frommers.com
The City of Vancouver is a coastal, seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia. Located on the western half of the Burrard Peninsula, Vancouver is bounded to the north by English Bay and the Burrard Inlet and to the south by the Fraser River. Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia, and the eighth largest municipality in Canada; the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area (which includes neighbouring cities such as Burnaby, Richmond, and Surrey) is the third largest in Canada. The City of Vancouver is quite cosmopolitan and is a mix of many multicultural groups. Because the city is multicultural, it's also multilingual on an unofficial level. Its people speak many different languages and many follow the traditions of their native lands, sometimes moderating them with Canadian culture. After English and Chinese, the most common mother tongue languages spoken are Punjabi, German, Italian, French, Tagalog (Filipino) and Spanish. More than half of Vancouver's school-age children have been raised speaking a language other than English.
History: Compared to the world’s great cities, Vancouver and Victoria are mere babies. Victoria only became a city in 1862; Vancouver in 1886. But long before Captain George Vancouver sailed into English Bay back in 1792, the First Nations people lived and fought and traded here. In the late 18th century, Coast Salish villages dotted the lands all around Vancouver and Victoria, and archeological evidence suggests that they’d been settled here for some 10,000 years. Their society was a complex and sophisticated one, with a fascinating mythology. Different peoples had different traditions—the Haida, for instance, were known as great warriors, while others were known for their deftness in trading all up and down the coast. They lived richly off the bounty of the forest and sea, especially the salmon, which they enjoyed in celebratory feasts known as potlatches. And they were famous for their beautiful carvings and art, much of it made from cedar and copper. When the Europeans arrived—led first by José María Narváez of Spain in 1791, then the British Captain George Vancouver a year later—they brought diseases that were unfamiliar and, as it proved, deadly to the indigenous people. It’s estimated that smallpox killed all but 600 of the 10,000 First Nations people who lived around the southern coast. Then the Europeans drove the survivors off the lands they wanted for themselves. As time went on, they forced them into residential schools, demanding that they give up their language, their culture, even their stories. It was a dark blot in Canada’s history, and it was only in 2008 that the federal government issued a formal apology for the system and its abuses. Today, though, there is an upwelling of native pride, a revival of the old ways, and most of all, a brilliant resurgence in the art of the coastal peoples. Source: http://vancouver.ca, www.tourismvancouver.com, www.frommers.com