City North America
Vancouver
Vancouver is a big city in Canada, by the Pacific Ocean. Mountains rise just across the water.
Vancouver is a port city in British Columbia, on Canada's west coast. It began as a small settlement called Gastown, became a city in 1886 and grew fast once the transcontinental railway arrived that same year. Statistics Canada estimated 740,454 people in the city in 2025, and about 3.1 million in the Metro Vancouver region.
Coast Salish nations lived around Vancouver probably for thousands of years before a settlement called Gastown grew up in the 1860s. Incorporated on 6 April 1886, Vancouver became the western end of the Canadian Pacific Railway; the first train arrived on 4 July 1886. Statistics Canada estimated 740,454 people in the city on 1 July 2025.
Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Vancouver
Vancouver is a city in Canada. It is on the west coast, by the Pacific Ocean.
It is the biggest city in the province of British Columbia.
Vancouver is in British Columbia, a province in the west of Canada, on the Pacific coast. Universalis describes downtown on a peninsula with the Strait of Georgia and the Pacific to the west, Burrard Inlet to the north and False Creek to the south.
Statistics Canada estimated 740,454 people in the city on 1 July 2025, and 3,087,023 in the whole Metro Vancouver region. Surrey, the next biggest city in the province, had 703,531.
City Population's tables from Statistics Canada give the City of Vancouver estimates of 578,019 (2002), 632,232 (2012), 708,220 (2022) and 740,454 (1 July 2025); estimates, unlike census counts, are adjusted for people the census missed. The Greater Vancouver (Metro Vancouver) Regional District had 3,087,023.
Universalis calls Vancouver's urban region the third-largest in Canada and notes that since 1911 about half of the province's population has lived there.
- Country and province
- Canada; British Columbia
- People in Vancouver (estimate, 1 July 2025)
- 740,454
- People in the Metro Vancouver region (2025 estimate)
- 3,087,023
- Incorporated
- 6 April 1886
Sails, a stadium and a forest park
Vancouver has a stadium with a white roof and a building that looks like sails, where cruise ships stop.
A forest park lies beyond the towers.
In the photo, the round white roof of BC Place, a stadium that opened in 1983, rises among the towers. On the right, by the harbor, are the white sail-like roofs of Canada Place, a building and cruise ship terminal opened in 1986.
Beyond the towers, the dark green forest of Stanley Park lies to the northwest. Wikidata dates the park to 1888.
Wikidata records BC Place as a stadium opened on 19 June 1983, Canada Place as a building and cruise ship terminal opened on 2 May 1986, and Stanley Park as a park dating from 1888; its point for the park lies about 3.3 km northwest of the stadium.
UrbanRail.Net notes that Vancouver hosted the 1986 World Expo and the 2010 Winter Olympics.
- Canada Place
- building and cruise ship terminal, opened 2 May 1986
- BC Place
- stadium, opened 19 June 1983
- Stanley Park
- park, from 1888
From Gastown to a railway city
Long ago, Vancouver was a small trading town called Gastown.
Then a railway reached it from across Canada. The town grew into a big city.
Coast Salish nations, including the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, lived in the area long before European settlers came. A few years after 1859 a small trading settlement called Gastown grew up; Wikidata dates it to 1867.
Gastown was chosen as the western end of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The town became the city of Vancouver on 6 April 1886, and the first train arrived on 4 July 1886, soon after a fire had burned much of the town. It was rebuilt in stone, brick and concrete instead of wood.
Universalis (Meg Holden) says the region was home to Coast Salish nations, the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Kwikwetlem, Katzie, Qayqayt and Sto:lo, probably from the 8th millennium BC. British Columbia joined Canada in 1871 on condition of a transcontinental railway, and the Canadian Pacific Railway was granted 2,400 hectares of land for its Vancouver terminus.
After incorporation on 6 April 1886 and the first train on 4 July, the city grew from no more than 2,000 non-Indigenous residents in 1871 to 100,000 about twenty years later, and Universalis says many Chinese workers came to build the railway and to work in mines, fishing and canneries.
- Earlier name
- Gastown
- First transcontinental train
- 4 July 1886
- People about 20 years after 1871
- 100,000
SkyTrain without drivers
Vancouver's SkyTrain trains drive themselves. There is no driver at the front!
One line goes all the way to the airport.
Vancouver's metro, the SkyTrain, is an automated system: its trains run without drivers. Its first line opened in 1986, the year of the World Expo, and the Expo Line is now 36.4 kilometers long.
The Canada Line, opened in 2009, runs from downtown to Richmond and Vancouver International Airport, partly underground. On the Expo Line, a 616-meter bridge called the SkyBridge carries trains across the Fraser River.
UrbanRail.Net describes SkyTrain as an automated metro similar to the VAL systems of Lille and Toulouse. The Expo Line, now 36.4 km long, began full service from Waterfront to New Westminster on 3 January 1986; the Millennium Line (25.5 km) opened in stages from 2002, with an 11 km branch to Coquitlam in December 2016.
The separate Canada Line (19.5 km, driverless two-car trains) opened on 17 August 2009, underground from Waterfront to Marine Drive, then to Richmond and the airport. UrbanRail.Net lists extensions to Langley and along Broadway as under construction.
- SkyTrain
- automated metro, first service 3 January 1986
- Canada Line
- 19.5 km, opened 17 August 2009
- Expo Line
- 36.4 km
Mild and wet
Vancouver's summers are warm, and its winter nights average just above freezing.
It is wet for much of the year, especially in late autumn and winter.
The World Meteorological Organization's averages for Vancouver (1971–2000) show daytime highs of about 22 °C in July and August and about 6 °C in December and January. Even January nights average just above freezing.
About 1,199 millimeters of precipitation fall in an average year. November is the wettest month, with about 181 millimeters, and summer is much drier: July and August each get about 40.
The WMO table for Vancouver, 1971–2000, gives average highs from 6.1 °C in January to 21.9 °C in August and average lows from 0.5 °C in January to 13.4 °C in August; no month's average low falls below freezing.
The monthly precipitation averages add up to about 1,199.2 mm a year, on about 166 days with 0.2 mm or more. October to January bring 622.9 mm, more than half the year; November is wettest (181.0 mm) and August driest (39.1 mm).
- August, average high (WMO, 1971–2000)
- 21.9 °C
- January, average low (same period)
- 0.5 °C
- Precipitation in a year (sum of the monthly averages)
- about 1,199 mm
A port and a meeting place
Ships and cruise boats come to Vancouver's harbor.
People from many countries have made Vancouver their home.
Universalis says Vancouver is known for its quality of life and has an eventful Indigenous and multicultural history. Early on, many people came from China to build the railway and to work in mines, in fishing and in fish canneries.
The city has welcomed the world twice: for the World Expo in 1986 and the Winter Olympics in 2010.
Universalis notes that the fur trade, in which Indigenous peoples played an essential role, was the basis of the first permanent settlement in today's British Columbia, and that the Fraser River, rising in the Rocky Mountains 1,370 km from its mouth, reaches the Pacific near the airport south of the city.
UrbanRail.Net records that the Canada Line opened a few months before the 2010 Winter Olympics, which Vancouver hosted after the 1986 World Expo.
- Fraser River
- reaches the Pacific near the airport, south of the city
- World Expo
- 1986
- Winter Olympics
- 2010
Vancouver on the map
Find Canada on the globe. Look at its west coast, by the Pacific Ocean, close to the United States. Vancouver is there!
Mountains rise across the water.
Vancouver is on Canada's Pacific coast at about 49° north, close to the border with the United States. Downtown fills a peninsula between Burrard Inlet and False Creek.
Measured from BC Place, Gastown is about 0.9 kilometers to the north, Canada Place about 1.3 kilometers to the north, and Stanley Park about 3.3 kilometers to the northwest.
Vancouver lies at about 49.3° N and 123.1° W. Measured from BC Place (Wikidata points), Gastown is about 0.90 km north, Canada Place about 1.33 km north and the point for Stanley Park about 3.30 km northwest.
The hero photo was taken from the air on 18 May 2026 at 08:50 by the camera's clock, about 0.94 km east-southeast of BC Place (Commons point of view), looking northwest across False Creek.
- Latitude
- about 49.3° north
- Longitude
- about 123.1° west
- BC Place to Canada Place
- about 1.3 km north
Amazing facts
-
Vancouver's SkyTrain has no drivers. The trains run by themselves!
The SkyTrain is an automated metro: its trains run without drivers.
UrbanRail.Net describes SkyTrain as an automated metro similar to the VAL systems of Lille and Toulouse; the Canada Line uses driverless two-car trains.
-
Vancouver was rebuilt with bricks and stone after a fire.
In 1886, soon after much of the young town burned, Vancouver was rebuilt with stone, brick and concrete instead of wood.
Universalis notes that the first train arrived on 4 July 1886, shortly after a bushfire destroyed much of the site, and that stone, brick and concrete replaced wood in the rebuilding.
-
A train bridge in Vancouver is called the SkyBridge!
SkyTrain crosses the Fraser River on the 616-meter SkyBridge, opened in 1990.
UrbanRail.Net lists the Columbia–Scott Road section (2.5 km), including the 616 m SkyBridge across the Fraser River, as opening on 16 March 1990.
-
Vancouver's winter nights average just above freezing.
In Vancouver, even January nights average just above freezing, about 0.5 °C.
In the WMO's 1971–2000 averages, Vancouver's coldest month, January, still has an average low of 0.5 °C.
Words to know
- province
- one of the large areas Canada is divided into, each with its own government
- terminus
- the station at the end of a railway line
- inlet
- a narrow arm of the sea that reaches into the land
- automated
- run by machines and computers, without a person driving
- incorporate
- to officially make a town into a city with its own government
- cruise ship
- a large ship that carries passengers on vacation trips
Discovery challenge
-
Which Canadian province is Vancouver in?
Vancouver is in which Canadian province?
Vancouver is the largest city of which province, which joined Canada in 1871?
- Ontario
- British Columbia
- Alberta
Show the answer
British Columbia
British Columbia!
British Columbia, on the Pacific coast.
British Columbia.
-
What was Vancouver called when it was a small town?
What was the small settlement that became Vancouver called?
Which settlement was chosen as the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway?
- Gastown
- Goldtown
- Rivertown
Show the answer
Gastown
Gastown!
Gastown.
Gastown, incorporated as Vancouver in 1886.
-
What is special about Vancouver's SkyTrain?
What is special about the SkyTrain's trains?
UrbanRail.Net compares SkyTrain with the VAL systems of Lille and Toulouse because it is what?
- It runs without drivers
- It is pulled by horses
- It floats on water
Show the answer
It runs without drivers
It drives itself!
It is automated: no drivers.
An automated metro.
-
Which ocean is next to Vancouver?
Vancouver lies on the coast of which ocean?
Into which ocean does the Fraser River flow near Vancouver's airport?
- The Atlantic Ocean
- The Pacific Ocean
- The Arctic Ocean
Show the answer
The Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean!
The Pacific.
The Pacific Ocean.
-
When is Vancouver wettest?
Which month brings Vancouver the most precipitation, on average?
In the WMO's 1971–2000 averages, which month is Vancouver's wettest (181.0 mm)?
- July
- November
- April
Show the answer
November
In November!
November. July and August are the driest.
November (181.0 mm); August is driest (39.1 mm).
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Vancouver on Canada's Pacific coast, near the United States.
- Describe how a railway turned a small settlement into a big city.
- Compare a city's own population with its metropolitan region.
- Read a climate with wet winters and drier summers.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- British Columbia joined Canada on condition that a railway would link it to the rest of the country. Why was the railway so important?
- After the 1886 fire, Vancouver was rebuilt with stone and brick. Why might builders change materials after a fire?
- Vancouver's SkyTrain runs without drivers. What would you like or not like about riding a driverless train?
Try at home or in class
- Rain chart: plot Vancouver's monthly precipitation and find the wet season.
- Railway map: draw a line across Canada and mark Vancouver at its western end.
- City and region: draw a circle for Vancouver and a bigger one for Metro Vancouver, and label each with its population.
Key vocabulary: province, terminus, inlet, automated, incorporate, cruise ship
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Natural Earth vector data , Natural Earth (NACIS) (Public domain)
- British Columbia: regional districts and municipalities (estimates 2002–2025) , City Population (Thomas Brinkhoff), from Statistics Canada
- Vancouver , Encyclopaedia Universalis (Meg Holden)
- Vancouver SkyTrain , UrbanRail.Net (Robert Schwandl)
- World Weather Information Service: Vancouver climatological information , World Meteorological Organization
- File:Skyline of Vancouver, Canada.jpg (Quintin Soloviev, 18 May 2026) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.