Introduction Vancouver is also called the ‘pearl of the west’. It has a unique location with on one hand the Strait of Georgia and on the other hand the Coast Mountains. The mountains and the warm current provide a mild climate. During the winter time it hardly freezes while at summer time it's often cloudy and rainy. One of the most remarkable buildings in Vancouver is the Canada Place which was built on the occasion of the Expo world exhibition in 1986. In the centre of the town you still find old districts like Gastown and Chinatown. To settle down again, a visit to Stanley Park is certainly worthwhile. One of the big attractions of this park are the totem poles. Furthermore, there is a big aquarium with more than 8000 fishes and sea mammals.

History Vancouver is still a quite young city. In earlier times the territory was inhabited by, among others, the Haida

Indians. In 1778 James Cook set foot ashore at Vancouver Island and declared this British territory. It was however captain George Vancouver who discovered as first the territory at the Fraser River estuary in 1792. The first settlement only arose in 1866. In that year Jack Deighton opened a cafe in the neighbourhood of a sawmill. Slowly but surely a little settlement arose around it. Because Jack was very “gassy”, the settlement was named Gastown. In 1886 the number of inhabitants rose extra fast because of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Thousands of railway workers established themselves in the settlement which was named since then after the discoverer George Vancouver. In 1886 the town was destroyed by a raging fire. Soon Vancouver was built up again. After a heavy recession the town revived again in 1898 when many gold diggers established themselves in the surrounding area. After the Panama Canal was opened in 1914, the road was also free to the European harbours. As a consequence of this, a metropolis was created in less than 100 years, which is now the 3rd city of Canada. At the moment it counts about 1,7 million inhabitants.