VANCOUVER ISLAND, an island be longing to British Columbia; in lat. 48° 19'-50°53' N. and Ion. 123° 17'428° 28' W.; is separated from the mainland by Queen Charlotte Sound, Johnstone Strait, and Strait of Georgia, which taken to gether form an open sea way. The island is 275 miles in length, and from 50 to 65 miles in breadth; area, about 12,000 square miles; pop. about 100,000. Its outline is boldly picturesque. The shores are marked by abrupt rocky cliffs and promontories, by pebbly beaches and sheltered coves, with fine harbors. The W. shores are gloomy and frowning in aspect, deeply indented by fiord-like arms of the sea, the banks of which are formed by steep rocks rising like walls. The whole country is more or less densely wooded, except where the moun tain summits afford no foothold for plants, or where open grass lands occur. There are no navigable rivers, and the streams, which are torrents in winter, and are nearly dry in summer, are short, and are valuable only as supplying power for mills. The climate resembles that of southern Britain; the warm Pa cific Gulf Stream striking the coast pre serves a mild and equable tempera ture; and in the S. E., where there is
much less rain than in the N. or on the mainland, snow seldom falls. Only a small proportion of the surface is suited for agriculture—perhaps a million acres. Fruit culture is profitably carried on. The island is very rich in minerals. Be sides gold, silver, copper, iron, etc., it possesses great fields of excellent coal, at Nanaimo in particular. Another source of wealth is in the fisheries; good banks lie off the coast, and fish and fish products of a considerable value annual ly are exported from VICTORIA (g. v.), the capital.
The island was discovered in 1592 by Juan de Fuca, and visited in 1792 by Capt. George Vancouver (1758-1798), an officer in the British navy; but the first permanent settlement was not made till 1843, when the Hudson Bay Com pany built a fort and trading post where Victoria now stands. See BRITISH COLUMBIA.