British Columbia (BC), one of Canada’s provinces, offers endless outdoors possibilities. Being one of the most beautiful provinces British Columbia boasts of rainforests, lakes, coastal waters, and high mountains. It’s your go-to place for skiing, hiking, and becoming one with nature! Take a look below for 30 interesting and incredible facts about British Columbia.
1. Situated on the West Coast, British Columbia is the third-largest province in Canada.
2. Queen Victoria was the one who gave the name to British Columbia.
3. British Columbia became the 6th province in Canada after joining the confederation on the 20th of July, 1871.
4. A bill to accept British Columbia’s Day was presented in parliament in 1974.
5. Usually, BC’s day is celebrated on the first Monday of August.
6. British Columbia is just a province but it’s vast in size. Its size is about as big as France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Kuwait, and the Marshall Islands all put together.
7. Another interesting fact size-wise is that British Columbia is four times the size of Great Britain and more than twice the size of Japan.
8. In fact, there are just 30 countries in the entire world larger than British Colombia!
9. About 10% of the total landmass of entire Canada is encapsulated within British Columbia.
10. Victoria, BC’s capital city is located on Vancouver Island.
11. Victoria has a yearly flower count at the end of the winter. Each year the people living in the community count more than one billion blooms!
12. BC’s capital city Victoria was named after Queen Victoria.
13. Even though BC is the third-largest province of Canada, it’s not as populated as people might think.
14. Less than 5 million people live in BC, so on average, you’ll find about five people per km2 which is a pretty low population density.
15. First Nation groups that have a deep history with a significant number of indigenous languages found their home in British Columbia.
16. Even now British Columbia is home to more than 200 first nations. After the arrival of European settlers, the natives became a minority.
17. BC’s original inhabitants before the time of explorers were mainly first nation people including the tribes: Tlingit, Shuswap, Chilcotin, Haida, and Sekani.
18. The coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Vancouver, ranks highly as one of the world’s most liveable cities.
19. More than 50% of the total population of British Columbia lives in Vancouver’s metro area.
20. Also, Vancouver is one of the most densely populated cities in North America, 5,500 people live per km2, on average.
21. The Della Falls, the highest waterfall in Canada is on Vancouver Island. It’s 440 metres high, more than eight times the height of Niagara Falls.
22. The Fraser is the longest river in British Columbia at 1,399 km.
23. One of the oldest known Western Red Cedar trees “The Hanging Garden Tree” is on Meares Island. It’s estimated that the tree is between 1,500 and 2,000 years old!
24. Prince Rupert on the west coast of British Columbia is the wettest city of Canada, a title given by The Weather Network, with a total of 2593.6 mm of rain per year.
25. BC’s flag represents a collection of different symbols. The Royal Union Flag at the top represents the British Heritage. King Edward’s Crown at the centre represents the royal family. The setting sun on the lower half shows the western location of the country. The location between the Rockies and the Pacific is shown by the blue and white lines.
26. 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 6 National Parks, and over 400 regional parks can be found in British Columbia.
27. British Columbia has 1030 parks and protected areas.
28. Two-thirds of the province, an area larger than France, is forest land, and more than half of that area has had little or no human contact.
29. British Columbia has the mildest climate among all provinces and territories of Canada. In BC flowers often start blooming as early as February.
30. It’s one of the top 3 producing regions of cranberries and blueberries in the world.
