User:Ewaladel/VI
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vancouver Island is the largest island on the west coast of North America, located in the provice of British Columbia, Canada. Separated from the mainland by the Strait of Georgia, Queen Charlotte Strait and the Juan de Fuca Strait, Vancouver Island is characterized by a temperate west-coast rainforest, a mountainous interior, and a gently rolling east coast. This landscape is home to dozens of species of plants and animals, including the endemic Vancouver Island Marmot.
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Pacific Ocean, on Canada's southern west coast. |
Coordinates | 49°30′N 125°30′W [1] |
Area | 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) |
Area rank | 43rd |
Highest elevation | 2,200 m (7200 ft) |
Administration | |
Canada | |
Demographics | |
Population | 748,937[2] |
Pop. density | 23.94/km2 (62/sq mi) |
Originally inhabited for thousands of years by several indigenous groups, lifestyles are now a contrast of urban and rural, based around the technology, logging, fishing, and tourism industries that dominate the economy.
It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, a British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794.