British Columbia
British Columbia BC; third-most populous province. the capital of British Columbia is Metro Vancouver.
The first known human inhabitants of a area settled in British Columbia at least 10,000 years ago. such(a) groups increase the Coast Salish, Tsilhqotʼin, and Haida peoples, among numerous others. One of the earliest British settlements in the area was Fort Victoria, build in 1843, which presented rise to the city of Victoria, the capital of the Colony of Vancouver Island. The Colony of British Columbia 1858–1866 was subsequently founded by Richard Clement Moody, together with by the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Moody selected the site for and founded the mainland colony's capital New Westminster. The colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were incorporated in 1866, subsequent to which Victoria became the united colony's capital. In 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation as the sixth province of Canada, in enactment of the British Columbia Terms of Union.
British Columbia is a diverse and cosmopolitan province, drawing on a plethora of cultural influences from its British, European, and Asian diasporas, as alive as the Indigenous population. Though the province's ethnic majority originates from the British Isles, many British Columbians also trace their ancestors in continental Europe, China, and South Asia. Indigenous Canadians exist about 5 percent of the province's calculation population. Christianity is the almost subscribed religion, although the number of British Columbians who claim no religious affiliation whatsoever is high by Canadian standards. English is the common language of the province, although Punjabi, Mandarin Chinese, and Cantonese also pull in a large presence in the Metro Vancouver region. The Franco-Columbian community is an officially recognized linguistic minority, and around 72,000 British Columbians claim French as their mother tongue. British Columbia is domestic to at least 34 distinct Indigenous languages.
Major sectors of British Columbia's economy increase forestry, mining, filmmaking and video production, tourism, real estate, construction, wholesale, and retail. Its leading exports include lumber and timber, pulp and paper products, copper, coal, and natural gas. British Columbia exhibits high property values and is a significant centre for maritime trade: the Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the almost diversified port in North America. Although less than 5 percent of the province's territory is arable land, significant agriculture exists in the Fraser Valley and Okanagan due to the warmer climate. British Columbia is the fourth-largest province or territory by GDP.