The first settlements
It is thought that the first people arrived in the Vancouver area from Asia about 10,000 years ago. They later became the area’s many different Native American tribes, developing communities in the rich natural areas.

It was tribal musqueam, sqaumish and tseil-waututh who inhabited the area through the many centuries before Europeans arrived, and they established themselves in several places in the present urban area of ​​Vancouver; among others in Stanley Park.

European exploration
In the 16th to 17th centuries, Spaniards began to gain European interest in the region as they sailed the waters off the coast and demanded dominion over the western American coastlines. It was Captain José María Narváez who, as the first, sailed into the Strait of Georgia and thereby into where Vancouver was later founded. Narváez’s journey took place in 1791.

The following year was a new Spanish expedition at Point Gray, where they met a British expedition led by Captain George Vancouver. They explored on that occasion together the Strait of Georgia, and on the same voyage George Vancouver also sailed along Puget Sound and thereby the future location of American Seattle.

George Vancouver brought his officer Peter Puget to the area of ​​Vancouver today before the Spaniards. They landed on the site that was later named Point Gray. However, to this day there are also Spanish-sounding names in Vancouver as evidence of the former Spanish period in which they had settled around the current Friendly Cove.

Vancouver was first reached by sea, but in the decade following George Vancouver’s exploration, Simon Fraser reached the first European area and coast from the east, thereby overland in 1808. He arrived along the river, later named after him.

The early 19th century
Settlements had been established at English Bay and Burrard Inlet, but these were developing rapidly through the early 1800s. It was the New Westminster settlement on the Fraser River southeast of the modern city center that was the spot for traffic and commerce with the interior of British Columbia.

During this time, the borders were not yet permanently set in the region, which had interests from both the UK and the US, which had not yet extended to the area that has today. With the 1818 treaty in 1818 and the Oregon treaty in 1846 between the two countries, it was agreed to divide the land at the 49th latitude, forcing Britain to give up the Oregon Territory, which later became the states of Oregon, Idaho and Washington. The United States had to give up land north of present-day Montana to the British. For Vancouver, the treaty meant that the settlements and thereby the future urban development in and around Vancouver became British and therefore part of the later established Canada.

Trade Station, Gold and Colonial Time
In 1827, the Hudson’s Bay Company established a trading station on the Fraser River, becoming the first English representation in the area and the first permanent non-Native American settlement. The trading station and the English plants were continuously expanded with, among other things, a sawmill, so that both timber and furs could be traded. Fort Langley was, in that sense, the modern foundation of what turned into Vancouver and British Columbia over the decades.

The trading station began to develop explosively in 1858 when gold was found in the Fraser River. It turned into Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, where about 25,000 people came to the area in a few weeks. Over the next decade, the area was developed and, for example, transport routes were constructed through Fraser Canyon.

1858 was also the year in which the region around present-day Vancouver was established as the Crown Colony of British Columbia. The colony’s capital became New Westminster, and at that time there was no such thing as Vancouver let alone urban development. In 1866 the colony was merged with The Colony of Vancouver Island and they became the capital of Victoria to British Columbia.

Hastings Mill and Gassy Jack
In 1867, the sawmill mill Hastings Mill was established on the south side of the Burrard Inlet, and it was the first commercial activity at the site that turned into Vancouver over the years. Initially, Hastings Mill and thereby the early city was a kind of business town that operated both a store and a school.

However, the new town developed rapidly as John “Gassy Jack” Deighton came to the area in 1867 and opened a saloon that became a success among the workers at Hastings Mill. It became the foundation for several acts that together formed Gastown; Named after Gassy Jack, who got his name from his many great stories with some warm air in. Gastown officially came to be called Granville just three years later, and it was a real city.

Vancouver and the railroad
In 1886, Granville changed its name to Vancouver, where 1,000 people now lived. It was on its way to becoming the leader in British Columbia, not least because the Canadian Pacific Railway had chosen Vancouver as the terminus for their Montreal transcontinental railroad. Vancouver had been chosen because of the great development potential of the city’s natural harbor.

In 1885, the last nail was struck in the tracks of the British Columbia railroad, and on May 23, 1887, the # 374 train pulled the first train to Vancouver, making it much easier to reach from the Atlantic coast and major cities east of Canada.

The city burns and booms
In 1886 Vancouver was hit by an almost devastating fire. The town burned down, but was quickly rebuilt. The fire, in its turn, proved to be a benefit to Vancouver, whose reconstruction was undertaken with modern infrastructure rather than having to build on outdated installations. Thus, the city rose again with new systems for water, electricity and so on.

The following years, the city’s growth exploded. Great immigration occurred and a tram network was established, and the city’s streets and modern buildings caught fire. The first skyscraper, the Dominion Trust Building, was built as early as 1909. From about 1,000 inhabitants in 1886, approximately 14,000 lived in 1901, and just ten years later the population had next doubled to 120,000.

In 1920, Vancouver became Western Canada’s largest city, and both economically and culturally the city’s flourishing continued. The city’s university had, among other things, been opened a few years before. In 1938, the Lions Gate Bridge opened, further enabling an expansion in the city’s now northern suburbs. It was almost a long ride for Vancouver, which by about 1900 had overtaken Victoria as the most economically important city in western Canada.

World War II to-day
In the decades following the end of World War II, the expansion of Vancouver, whose port continued to be one of the city’s many assets. Much was still being built, for example at Empire Stadium, which was to host the Great British Sports & Commonwealth Games, in 1954. It provided a sporting boost to Vancouver, and over the following decades, the city’s sports clubs were successful in the Canadian tournaments. with multiple championships.

The city’s population also grew significantly in the decades following the war. By 1951, the number of citizens had reached 562,000, and the million were rounded in 1971.

Since the 1980s, construction has continued in downtown Vancouver, Skytrain has been established as a fine transport network, and many cultural offerings and activities have seen the light of day; an example is the city’s main library. Gastown was the district where Vancouver started, and during those decades it also underwent a transformation from a run-down neighborhood into a restored and popular area where you can get acquainted with early Granville and Vancouver.

The city of Vancouver has several times been selected as one of the best in the world to live in, and as a visitor it was noted during the Olympic Winter Games, which were conducted here in 2010.