George Vancouver

Fun Fact Friday

Hello and welcome to another blog post of Fun Fact Friday! This is the time when we share facts with you that you (hopefully) do not know yet about Vancouver. Personally, I’ve been here for 3 months and I did not know many basic facts about Vancouver. Until now! I’ve googled myself smart and would like to share the most interesting and fun facts I found with you.

The lovely city we are living in is named after the British explorer Captain George Vancouver. He sailed into this area in 1792 and he – surprisingly – hated it here when he first arrived. I could not figure out why he did so, but I’m quite sure he would love the Vancouver we are living in today! (How could he not, am I right?!). And although Vancouver was discovered in 1792, it was incorporated only in 1886. This makes it a very young city. 123-year-old, to be exact. 1886 is actually the same year that Coca-Cola was founded in. Funny, huh? And Canada was the first country outside the United States where Coca-Cola was bottled in.

But here’s the twist with the name: before 1886, so in the 1870’s, Vancouver was actually called Granville. Crazy, right? So, during the incorporation they chose the name Vancouver to honour it’s discoverer George Vancouver.

But that is not the only city that had a change with the name. North Vancouver was not always North Vancouver. It used to be called Moodyville. Not a very attractive name, I must say. But it was named after Sewell Moody who established the Moodyville Sawmill in 1865. He also helped creating the first European settlement on Burrard Inlet.

I hope you enjoyed my new found wisdom. Have a great weekend!

– Nadine

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

INTERNeX Canada: Casual Friday

What do you know about the short history of Vancouver?

Maybe at this stage you must to know a lot of things about Vancouver: the biggest streets, the local food, and which website is better for checking out the bus schedule. But how many things do you know about the history of this city? Maybe the first thing that you have to know is that Vancouver is an only 125 years old city!

If you feel curious, here you have a timeline with the most remarkable facts that happened in our lovely Van.

–       1791: The Spanish Captain Jose Maria Narvaez was the first European to explore the area.

–       1791: The second European was the British Captain George Vancouver.

–       1808: Simon Fraser arrived descending the river, which wears his name. He was the first European to settle down in the area.

–       1858: Colony of British Columbia was established.

–       1867: Hastings Mill was founded, was a sawmill on the south shore of Burrard Inlet.

–       1867: Gassy Jack made a deal with the Hasting Mill workers. They built a saloon and he provided them to whiskey. Around this saloon the first neighborhood of Vancouver was built. The name of that area is Gastown, in honor of Gassy Jack.

–       1869:  A large amount of people moved to Gastown to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Gastown is surveyed as Granville Townsite.

–       1886: Finally the Canadian Pacific Railway was finished and Granville was renamed as the City of Vancouver.

–       1914: Panama Canal was opened and Port of Vancouver has become one of the largest in the world.

Gassy Jack statue in Gastown

So we are here, enjoying this beautiful city! If you are one of the lucky persons who won one of the free tickets for the Big Bus, you can come with us one day to learn more about the history of Vancouver.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Clara.

INTERNeX International Exchange

Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

INTERNeX Canada: Vancouver facts!

What do you know about Vancouver?

Read further to find some more fun and interesting facts about Vancouver.

van

  •  Established by Captain George Vancouver in 1886.
  • Situated at an altitude of 71m/236ft.
  • Population: 603,502 (growing at a steady rate of 3%)
  • More than 35% of the population of Vancouver is foreign born.
  • Vancouver has the highest per capita proportion of Asians of any North American city.
  • A resident of Vancouver is called a Vancouverite.
  • Ranked one of the most liveable cities in the world and one of the 10 cleanest cities on the world.
  • It is the largest city in the province of British Columbia
  • The third largest city in Canada after Toronto and Montreal.
  • Largest film production center in North America after Los Angeles and New York City.
  • Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada (and second in North America)
  • The 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics were also held in this beautiful city.
  • Vancouver hosts one of the country’s largest annual gay pride parades.
  • Vancouver is the birthplace of the one of the world’s largest environmental organizations, called Greenpeace.
  • There are three ski hills in Vancouver: Grouse Mountain, Mount Seymour and Cypress Mountain.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

Best,

Mercedes

INTERNeX International Exchange

Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com