Victoria (pronounced /vɪkˈtɔəriə/ ) is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy. Victoria is a cruise ship port where cruise liners stop at Ogden Point terminal. The city also receives economic benefits from its close proximity to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, the Canadian military’s main Pacific naval base. Downtown Victoria also serves as Greater Victoria's regional downtown, where many night clubs, theatres, restaurants and pubs are clustered, and where much larger regional public events occur. In particular, Canada Day fireworks displays and Symphony Splash and Victoria Electronic Music Festival concerts draw tens of thousands of Greater Victorians and visitors to the downtown core.
The city has hosted sports events including the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, 2005 Ford World Men's Curling Championship tournament, the 1994 Commonwealth Games, and 2006 Skate Canada. Victoria co-hosted the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup at Royal Athletic Park, and is the venue for the Bastion Square Grand Prix Criterium road cycling race. The city is also a destination for conventions, meetings, and conferences, including a 2007 North Atlantic Treaty Organization military chief of staff meeting. Every year, the Swiftsure International Yacht Race brings boaters from around the world, to participate in the boat race in the waters off of Vancouver Island as well the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival brings over 90 teams from around North America. The Tall Ships Festival brings sailing ships to Victoria for the public to see and feel the sailing way of life in the past and present. For the more adventurous sailors, Victoria also hosts the start of the Vic-Maui Yacht Race, the longest offshore sailboat race on the West Coast.
History
Prior to the arrival of the Captain James Cook in the late 1700s, the Victoria area was home to several communities of Coast Salish peoples, including the Songhees. The Spanish and British took up the exploration of the northwest coast of North America beginning with the visits of Juan Perez in 1774 and of Captain James Cook in 1778, although the Victoria area of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was not penetrated until 1790. Spanish sailors visited Esquimalt Harbour (within the modern Capital Regional District) in 1790, 1791, and 1792.
In 1841 James Douglas was charged with the duty of setting up a trading post on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, upon the recommendation by Sir George Simpson that a second line of forts be built in case Fort Vancouver and the other lower Columbia River valley forts fell into American hands (see Oregon boundary dispute). Charged with this task, Douglas founded Fort Victoria, on the side of present-day Victoria, British Columbia. This proved beneficial when in 1846 the Oregon Treaty was signed, extending the British North America/United States border along the 49th parallel from the Rockies to the Strait of Georgia.
Erected in 1843 as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post on a site originally called Camosun (the native word was "camosack", meaning "rush of water") known briefly as "Forts Albert", the settlement was later christened Fort Victoria, in honour of Queen Victoria. The Songhees established a village across the harbour from the fort. The Songhees' village was later moved north of Esquimalt. When the crown Colony of Vancouver Islandss was established in 1849, a town was laid out on the site and made the capital of the colony. The Chief Factor of the fort, James Douglas was made the second governor of the Vancouver Island Colony (Richard Blanshard was first governor, Arthur Edward Kennedy was third and last governor), and would be the leading figure in the early development of the city until his retirement in 1864.
With the discovery of gold on the British Columbia mainland in 1858, Victoria became the port, supply base, and outfitting centre for miners on their way to the Fraser Canyon gold fields, mushrooming from a population of 300 to over 5000 literally within a few days. In 1866 when the island was politically united with the mainland, Victoria remained the capital of the new united colony and became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871. Victoria was incorporated as a city in 1862. In 1865, Esquimalt was made the North Pacific home of the Royal Navy, and remains Canada's west coast naval base.
In 1886, with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway terminus on Burrard Inlet, Victoria's position as the commercial centre of British Columbia was irrevocably lost to the City of Vancouver. The city subsequently began cultivating an image of genteel civility within its natural setting, an image aided by the impressions of visitors such as Rudyard Kipling, the opening of the popular Butchart Gardens in 1904 and the construction of the Empress Hotel by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1908. Robert Dunsmuir, a leading industrialist whose interests included coal mines and a railway on Vancouver Island, constructed Craigdarroch Castle in the Rockland area, near the official residence of the province's lieutenant-governor. His son James Dunsmuir became premier and subsequently lieutenant-governor of the province and built his own grand residence at Hatley Park (used for several decades as Royal Roads Military College, now civilian Royal Roads University) in the present City of Colwood.
A real estate and development boom ended just before World War I, leaving Victoria with a large stock of Edwardian public, commercial and residential structures that have greatly contributed to the City's character. A number of municipalities surrounding Victoria were incorporated during this period, including the Township of Esquimalt, the District of Oak Bay, and several municipalities on the Saanich Peninsula. Since World War II the Victoria area has seen relatively steady growth, becoming home to two major universities. Since the 1980s the western suburbs have been incorporated as new municipalities, such as Colwood and Langford.
Greater Victoria periodically experiences calls for the amalgamation of the thirteen municipal governments within the Capital Regional District. The opponents of amalgamation state that separate governance affords residents a greater deal of local autonomy. The proponents of amalgamation argue that it would reduce duplication of services, while allowing for more efficient use of resources and the ability to better handle broad, regional issues and long-term planning.
Geology
The landscape of Victoria was molded by water in various forms. Pleistocene glaciation put the area under a thick ice cover, the weight of which depressed the land below present sea level. These glaciers also deposited stony sandy loam till. As they retreated, their melt water left thick deposits of sand and gravel. Marine clay settled on what would later become dry land. Post-glacial rebound exposed the present-day terrain to air, raising beach and mud deposits well above sea level. The resulting soils are highly variable in texture, and abrupt textural changes are common. In general, clays are most likely to be encountered in the northern part of town and in depressions. The southern part has coarse-textured subsoils and loamy topsoils. Sandy loams and loamy sands are common in the eastern part adjoining Oak Bay. Victoria's soils are relatively unleached and less acidic than soils elsewhere on the British Columbia coast. Their thick dark topsoils denoted a high level of fertility which made them valuable for farming until urbanization took over.
Climate
Victoria has a temperate climate that is usually classified as Marine west coast (Cfb), with mild, damp winters and relatively dry and mild summers. It is sometimes classified as a Mediterranean climate (Csb), due to its usually dry summers.
Daily temperatures rise above 30°C (86°F) on an average of one or two days per year and fall below -5°C (23°F) on an average of only 2 nights per year. During the winter, the average daily high and low temperatures are 8°C (47°F) and 4°C (38°F), respectively. The summer months are equally mild, with an average high temperature of 20°C (67°F) and low of 11°C (52°F). Victoria does occasionally experience more extreme temperatures. The highest temperature ever recorded in Victoria was 36.1°C (97°F) on July 16, 1941, while the coldest temperature on record was -16°C (4°F) on December 29, 1968 and January 28, 1950.
Total annual precipitation is just 608 mm (23.9 in) at the Gonzales weather station in Victoria, contrasted to nearby Seattle, (137 km/85 mi away to the southeast), with 970 mm (38.2 in) of rainfall, or Vancouver, 100 km away, with 1,219 mm (48 in) of rainfall. Perhaps even more dramatic is the difference in rainfalls on Vancouver Island. Port Renfrew, just 80 km from Victoria on the wet southwest coast of Vancouver Island receives 3,671 mm (144.5 in). Even the Victoria Airport, 25 km north of the city, receives about 45 per cent m
Accommodation Tofino | Tofino Hotel Vancouver Island | Wickaninnish ...
World class Tofino accommodation at the Wickaninnish Inn - Experience nature at its wildest while enjoying the luxurious comfort of world-class accommodation BC Tofino.
Tofino Hotels: Read Tofino Hotel Reviews and Compare Prices ...
Hotels in Tofino, Canada: See 1,800 traveler reviews, 1,100 candid photos, and great deals for 14 Tofino hotels at TripAdvisor.
Vancouver Island Pacific Rim Hotels near Campbell River British ...
Pacific Rim Vancouver Island - Tofino Hotel . Tofino, located on the Esowista Peninsula, is the furthest west one can drive in Canada – and the official terminus of the Trans ...
Tofino Accommodation | Long Beach Lodge Resort, Tofino BC | Vancouver ...
Long Beach Lodge Resort - luxurious beachfront resort hotel accommodation and conference centre in Tofino BC on the pacific sands of Vancouver Island British Columbia, is perched ...
Tofino, BC Hotels, Resorts Accommodations, Canada.
Hotels, Motels, Resorts and Inns in Tofino, BC in the Pacific Rim on Vancouver Island, Canada. An Accommodation Guide and Directory for British Columbia.
Tofino Hotel | Vancouver Island Hotel | British Columbia Travel Guide ...
Tofino Hotel In Vancouver Island Bc ... Tofino, British Columbia Tel: 800 - 899-1947 Our lodge is open for you to stay at while visiting the Tofino and surrounding area.
Hotels in Tofino, Vancouver Island - Reviews and Photos - TripAdvisor
Hotels in Tofino: See 1,800 traveller reviews, 1,100 candid photos, and great deals for 14 Tofino hotels at TripAdvisor.
Tofino, BC Cottages, Cabins, Accommodations, Vancouver Island, Canada.
Hotel or Motel: Hostel: Vacation ... Tofino campground on enchanting Vancouver Island offering 58 wilderness campsites ...
Best Western Hotels on Vancouver Island British Columbia, Canada
Best Western hotels on Vancouver Island with over ten locations to choose from you will find the perfect accommodations located from downtown Victoria BC to Campbell River.
Tofino Inlet Cottages aka The Mini Motel (Vancouver Island, Canada ...
Tofino Inlet Cottages aka The Mini Motel, Vancouver Island: See traveler reviews, 5 candid photos, and great deals for Tofino Inlet Cottages aka The Mini Motel, ranked #2 of 85 ...