The region had long been inhabited by several Native American peoples when a trading post, Fort Langley, was set up by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1827 near the mouth of the Fraser River. Few white Europeans lived in the area until the late 1850s, when the town of New Westminster (now a suburb of Vancouver) was established near the site of the original fort (in 1839 the fort itself had been relocated a little farther upstream). Thousands of miners flooded into the region in the 1860s, attracted by the gold rush in the Cariboo Mountains to the northeast.

Vancouver itself was originally a small sawmilling settlement called Granville in the 1870s. It was incorporated as a city in 1886 (after it became the terminus of the first trans-Canada railroad, the Canadian Pacific) and was renamed to honour the English navigator George Vancouver (Vancouver, George), of the Royal Navy, who had explored and surveyed the coast in 1792. The city recovered from a disastrous fire (1886) to become a prosperous port, aided in part by the opening of the Panama Canal (1914), which made it economically feasible to export grain and lumber from Vancouver to the American east coast and Europe. By the 1930s Vancouver had become Canada's third most populous city (including its metropolitan area population) and its major Pacific coast port. After World War II it developed into Canada's main business hub for trade with Asia and the Pacific Rim. The city has long been a popular destination for immigrants from both other parts of Canada and overseas; notable has been the influx of East Asians, especially since World War II.

The region is connected to mainland Canada and the United States by three rail lines. An international airport serves the city, as do roads to the eastern provinces ( Trans-Canada Highway) and Seattle, Washington, which is located about 125 miles (200 km) to the south. Since the mid-1980s the Greater Vancouver area has been served by an automated light-rail system called SkyTrain. In addition, a commuter rail line connects downtown Vancouver with points eastward to the city of Mission.

Forestry, tourism, and mining are important economic activities; related factors are manufacturing and shipping. Processing of forest and agricultural products and fish also are significant, as is oil refining. Production of metals, chemicals, boats, trucks, and machinery for sawmilling, mining, and pulp and paper processing are major manufacturing activities. Power for sawmilling and plywood and paper manufacturing is provided by hydroelectric developments to the north and by oil and natural gas pipelines from Alberta. The city has become a centre for high technology industries and television and film production.

Educational institutions within the metropolitan area include the University of British Columbia (1908; with a notable Museum of Anthropology on its campus) and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (1925) in Vancouver and Simon Fraser University (1963) in Burnaby. Notable museums include the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium, the Vancouver and Maritime museums, and the Vancouver Art Gallery (1931). B.C. Place Stadium (1983) is the city's main venue for sporting events, concerts, and conventions. Vancouver has a symphony orchestra, which performs in a variety of locations in the metropolitan area, including the Orpheum Theatre (1927) downtown; opera and ballet companies, both based at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre complex (1959); and a lively theatre community. In 1986 Vancouver celebrated its centennial with a world's fair, known as Expo 86. Canada Place, with its white sail-like roof, was built for the fair. It juts out into Burrard Inlet and houses a convention centre, cruise ship docking facilities, restaurants, shops, and a hotel.

city, seat (1854) of Clark county, southwestern Washington, U.S. It lies at the head of deepwater navigation on the Columbia River, there bridged to Portland, Oregon. The oldest continuously inhabited white settlement in the state, it was founded in 1824 as a Hudson's Bay Company post, Fort Vancouver (named for Captain George Vancouver (Vancouver, George)), and served as headquarters of the company's Pacific Northwest operations. The fort, now a national historic site, became a U.S. military reservation (Vancouver Barracks) in 1848. The SS Beaver, which was the first steamboat to operate on the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco (1836), was assembled there after arriving under sail from England with engines and paddle wheels as deck cargo.

Manufacturing, farming, lumbering, and port operations (including the shipping of grain, lumber, paper, cable, and canned foods) provide a diversified economic base. The city is a distribution centre for hydroelectric power produced in the Columbia Basin. It is the site of Clark College (1933) and state schools for the deaf and the blind. Gifford Pinchot National Forest is headquartered in Vancouver. The western entrance to the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area lies 30 miles (48 km) east of the city. Vancouver's population growth between 1990 and 2000 reflects the unusually large (about 45 percent) growth rate for Clark county, which is the fastest growing county in the state. Inc. 1857. Pop. (1990) city, 46,380; Portland-Vancouver PMSA, 1,515,452; Portland-Salem CMSA, 1,793,476; (2000) city, 143,560; Portland-Vancouver PMSA, 1,918,009; Portland-Salem CMSA, 2,265,223.