Vancouver Island is the largest of the group of islands off the
southwestern coast of British Columbia, Canada. With a land area
of over 32,000 km2 and a population of approximately
700,000, it is the second most populous island in Canada, after the
much smaller Île de Montréal (home to Canada's
second-largest city, and not much else). Vancouver Island
is home to British Columbia's capital Victoria, which is situated at
the southern tip of the island. Somewhat confusingly, it is
not home to the city of Vancouver, situated across the
Strait of Georgia on the British Columbia mainland.
A Tour of Vancouver Island
Greater Victoria
Most of the visitors to Vancouver Island will arrive in its most
populous area, Greater Victoria. With ferry access from Tsawwassen
south of Vancouver, Anacortes on the shores of Puget Sound in
Washington State, Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula, and
Seattle, as well as an international airport and float plane
service from Vancouver, it is the best-connected part of the Island,
and for good reason. Greater Victoria is home to about half of the
Island's population, and is the site of the provincial capital.
Victoria has a reputation as a quaint, traditional town where many
of the genteel traditions of the British Empire days survive, at least
for the benefit of the ever-present tourists. From the more practical
perspective of a resident, it hosts a large retired population, drawn
to the mildest climate in Canada, much of the provincial government
bureaucracy, the main port of Canada's Pacific navy
in the suburb of Esquimalt, and several centres of advanced
education, making it the odd combination of a retirement community
and a college town. That said, it remains a significant centre for
tourism, aided by its fine selection of museums and one
quintessentially British pastime adopted heartily by the people of
Victoria: gardening.
Victoria is sometimes called the "Garden City", an appellation
reinforced by the many planters and hanging baskets found in the
central city, and the presence of the (self-proclaimedly) world-famous
Butchart Gardens on the Saanich Peninsula north of the city
centre. These large, spectacular gardens were developed initially from
a spent cement quarry by the family of the quarry owner, who still
own and operate the 55-acre estate. This garden sensibility transfers
over to the lush green campus of the University of Victoria, home to
15-20,000 students.
Victoria is connected to the rest of the Island (except the other
communities along the south-west shore) by a narrow, steep stretch of
highway generally called 'the Malahat'. This road extends for 25 km
and reaches from near sea level to a peak elevation of 352 m, leading
to a steep drive, especially on the northern slope.
Crossing out of the Greater Victoria area, one first encounters the
primarily agrarian Cowichan Valley, home to several small towns and a
central city, Duncan. Vancouver Island's wine industry is centred on
the southern half of this valley, producing some of the more
highly-rated Canadian wines, though greatly outshone in quantity by
the Okanagan Valley in the BC interior. Unlike the service-driven
Victoria area, much of the rest of the Island is centred around
resource industries, especially forestry. The northern Cowichan
Valley is home to one of the Island's several pulp mills, with many
active logging areas in the central areas of the Island west of
Duncan.
Duncan itself has, as its main claim to fame, the world's largest
hockey stick, displayed with the corresponding world's largest
hockey puck outside the local arena, in full view of the highway
through Duncan. Other than that, Duncan distinguishes itself from the
rest of the small towns on the island through the large number of
totem poles erected in the (admittedly rather small) downtown.
Other possible places of interest in the Valley include the tourist
town of Chemainus, whose particular fame comes from the many large
murals painted on the sides of buildings in its central core, and also
notable for its ridiculous (and officially-specified) demonym
"Chemainiac". At the very northern end of the Valley is Ladysmith
which claims it's famous for sitting directly on the 49th parallel,
but if you've ever heard of it before it is probably as the birthplace
of famous Canadian, model, and unintended porn star Pamela
Anderson. At the south end of the Valley are Mill Bay and
Shawnigan Lake, home to one prestigious boarding school each and a
public high school that counts among its alumni the author of this
article. The Island Highway continues north from Ladysmith towards
Vancouver Island's second-largest city, Nanaimo.
Nanaimo
A former coal-mining town that has seen better days but is
revitalizing itself in recent years, Nanaimo is the gateway to the
vast northern reaches of Vancouver Island. It is connected via ferry
to both Tsawwassen south of Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay north of
Vancouver, making it the second major entry point to the Island.
Nanaimo is probably best known as the namesake of the marvellous
confection known as the Nanaimo bar, a layering of a chocolate
cookie crust, custard, and a solid chocolate topping. The Nanaimo
bar has been popularized in recent years by Starbucks Coffee, based
in nearby Seattle, Washington, and is very popular in Western Canada
around Christmas time. The nearby small island of Newcastle Island
was a coal mine and then a famous resort, but is now a provincial
park with a nature and historical reserve. In the category of 'small
city quirks' we find the annual Nanaimo Bathtub Races, which once
included an event crossing the Strait of Georgia to Kitsilano
Beach in Vancouver.
Nanaimo has suffered a certain amount of urban creep in the past
couple decades, with the awkward geography and general shabbiness of
the nominal downtown shifting development further and further north
along the corridor of the Island Highway. The largest commercial
development, Woodgrove Mall, is at the very northern end of the City
of Nanaimo and the associated development has spilled over into the
adjacent community of Lantzville. Nanaimo is also home to the
spectacular main campus of Malaspina University-College, clinging to
the hills above the downtown core. The Island Highway continues north
from Nanaimo to the vacation towns of Parksville and Qualicum
Beach.
Parksville-Qualicum
Parksville and Qualicum Beach, due to their natural beauty, gentle
climate, and proximity to the ferry in Nanaimo, are popular
destinations for both vacationers and retirees. The two towns are
surrounded by a number of resorts and provincial park campgrounds,
spots at some of the latter which are highly sought-after by Island
residents despite their relatively large number. Parksville is the
larger of the two towns, the younger of the two, and the more workaday
town, where Qualicum has the oldest residential population in British
Columbia.
Parksville-Qualicum is also the main crossroads of Vancouver
Island, being the point where the main east-west highway intersects
with the north-south highway following the east coast of the
island. West of Parksville the highway crosses the mountain range
along the spine of the Island to eventually reach the surf town
Tofino and its accompanying beachfront Long Beach. The northbound
highway continues past the twin cities of Courtenay/Comox and the
town of Campbell River before striking into the lightly-inhabited
northern reaches of the Island en route to the north end of the Island
at Port Hardy.
Port Alberni and the West Coast
The highway traversing the centre of Vancouver Island is a winding,
steep, occasionally vomit-inducing road connecting Parksville at the
east with Port Alberni in the middle and Long Beach at the
west. Port Alberni is situated at the end of a long inlet and has been
a major centre for forestry throughout most of its history due to its
favourable location in the heart of Vancouver Island. In recent years,
the export of sawmill and pulp mill work to cheaper locales has
damaged the local economy, but its proximity to the wilderness of the
central Island has spawned a burgeoning eco-tourism industry and the
plentiful salmon in the many local rivers have made it a major
centre for sport fishing.
Port Alberni is also the most accessible gateway to the rugged west
coast of Vancouver Island. Unlike the smooth, sheltered east coast of
the Island, which supports farmland and cities with equal ease, the
west coast of the Island is a rugged wilderness with the full brunt of
Pacific Ocean weather directed upon it. The southern west coast is
famous for two long hiking trails. The longer and larger of the two is
the famous West Coast Trail, built to aid mariners stranded by the
none-too-infrequent shipwrecks that occurred along the treacherous
coastline, and is a 5-7 day deep wilderness hike. It has been joined
in recent years by the much tamer Juan de Fuca Trail, extending from
the southern terminus of the West Coast Trail at Port Renfrew to
Sooke on the outskirts of Greater Victoria.
Further up the coast is the Long Beach region accessible by highway
from Port Alberni. Delineated by the villages of Ucluelet and
Tofino, Long Beach is a well-known camping and surfing
destination. Both villages have a variety of tourist amenities, with
Tofino the more developed of the two.The West Coast Trail and Long
Beach, along with the Broken Group Islands in Barkley Sound at the
mouth of the Alberni Inlet, make up Pacific Rim National Park. North
of Tofino the west coast of the Island is mostly uninhabited
wilderness, with the occasional and very controversial logging
operation.
Courtenay/Comox, Campbell River, and Points North
The road north of Parksville has improved in recent years, with the
slow coast-hugging Island Highway replaced with a new inland
expressway named (appropriately enough) the Inland Island
Highway. Both highways connect the southern Island to the two major
centres of the north Island, Courtenay/Comox and Campbell River.
Courtenay and Comox are two cities on the coast of the Island
separated by the Comox River. Courtenay is the larger of the two,
with most of the local shopping and lodgings, while Comox is more
residential, and is home to two major Canadian Forces military
bases. CFB Comox is the main base for the Canadian air force on the
Pacific coast, much like CFB Esquimalt is for the Pacific naval
fleet. The Canadian navy, too, has a base in Comox, the training
centre HMCS Quadra. The Courtenay/Comox area is also home to the
Island's only ski area, Mount Washington, and to the former coal
mining town of Cumberland.
Further up the coast is the town of Campbell River, which like the
rest of the Island bases its economy on a combination of natural
resources and tourism. Like Port Alberni, it is a popular destination
for salmon fishing, and boasts an impressive eco-tourism industry,
bolstered by the nearby Strathcona Provincial Park. This provincial
park consists of over 2,000 square kilometres of wilderness, including
the highest mountains on the Island and a network of lakes and rivers
popular for canoeing and kayaking. South of Campbell River is the
former shipping hazard Ripple Rock, destroyed in the 1950's by one
of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
Beyond Campbell River the country becomes less populated, with only
the occasional mining town or logging operation in the middle of what
is otherwise pure wilderness. The Island Highway ends at the village
of Port Hardy, which is connected by ferry with the northern port of
Prince Rupert on the BC mainland. Port Hardy is a significant
conduit for tourists driving up the island and continuing to Prince
Rupert and thence to the Interior or across to the Queen Charlotte
Islands and has been known to be over-full from time to time.
History of Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island has been inhabited by Coast Salish and
Kwakiutl First Nations for centuries. It was first charted in the
18th century by the Spanish captain Juan de la Bodega y Quadra and
the British captain George Vancouver, for whom the Island was
originally jointly named, as the "Island of Vancouver and Quadra" (the
ordering, of course, depending on the nationality of the
speaker). Later, as the Island fell deeper into the British sphere of
influence, the name Quadra was dropped and eventually reassigned to a
smaller (though still relatively large) island between Vancouver
Island and the BC mainland.
Vancouver Island was first fully colonized by Britain as part of
the Oregon border dispute, with the foundation of Fort Camosun (soon
renamed Fort Victoria) in 1843. The presence of significant British
settlement on Vancouver Island was used as leverage to convince the
United States government to give up its claim to
54ˆ40' and accept a border at the 49th parallel,
with Vancouver Island gaining an exception due to the presence of
Victoria well south of the 49th parallel. The Island was soon formally
annexed as the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1849.
While the early years of this colony were successful largely from
Victoria's use as a way-station for several gold rushes in the BC
interior, by 1865 its economy was on the decline. In 1866 it was
merged with the much larger and more prosperous colony of British
Columbia, with the capital of the combined province remaining in
Victoria in preference to the mainland capital, New
Westminster. (The city of Vancouver would not be founded until 1886
and so was not a candidate)
This merged colony was not to last for very long, as the Dominion
of Canada was formed from Britain's eastern colonies in North America
just one year after the merger of the western colonies. This newly
self-governing nation grew rapidly, and was soon able to offer the
British Columbians the one thing they most wanted: a transcontinental
railroad. As such, British Columbia became the sixth province of
Canada in 1871, and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway
commenced at the same time.
It is the presence of the railway to eastern Canada that led to the
eventual decline of Vancouver Island relative to the mainland. Around
the end of the railway grew the communities of the Greater
Vancouver area, and the growth in trans-Pacific trade bolstered
Vancouver's economy through its role as a seaport. Nevertheless, the
presence of the provincial government in Victoria, along with the
growing importance of the Island's forests for the timber industry,
sustained the city of Victoria and the rest of the Island through to
the recent growth in tourism.
Sources: The author lived on Vancouver Island from 1992 to 2004,
first around Duncan and then in Victoria. Wikipedia was used as a
refresher on details.