British Columbia
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
British Columbia (B.C. for short) is located on the west coast of Canada. It is the third largest Canadian province with 944,735 square kilometers or 364,764 square miles. In 2001, the population was 3,907,738. In 2005, it is believed to be about 4,220,000.
The capital of British Columbia is Victoria. The largest city is Vancouver. It has 2 million people in it. Other large cities include Kelowna, Abbotsford, Kamloops, Nanaimo, and Prince George.
The largest industries are: forestry, tourism, mining, and fisheries.
The province joined Canada in 1871. There were some disagreements with the United States about where to make the borders. The southern border is on the 49th parallel, as agreed to in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The San Juan Islands and Alaska Panhandle also created conflicts, but they were resolved.
The premier of B.C. is Gordon Campbell. He leads the B.C. Liberal Party.
B.C. is next to the Pacific Ocean, as well as the province of Alberta, the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories; and the American states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The Rocky Mountains are in eastern B.C. The Okanogan is a fruit-farming area in the south-central part of the province known as the "interior."
There are many First Nations (native) groups in British Columbia. The Nisga'a agreement in the year 2000 was B.C.'s first modern land-claims treaty.
The Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver in 2010. Skiing will be held at Whistler, which is one of the best-known places for skiing in North America.
