Vancouver Island

Canada · island · Pacific Ocean · wild nature

Massive island giant. Vancouver Island is 456 kilometers long and 100 kilometers wide, making it the largest island on the entire west coast of the Americas, from Canada all the way down to South America.

Surprisingly warm south. The southern tip of the island around Victoria has one of Canada's warmest climates, so warm that people can actually grow Mediterranean crops like olives and lemons there.

Nearly a million people. About 865,000 people live on Vancouver Island, with roughly 400,000 of them crammed into Victoria and surrounding areas at the southern tip.

City meets wild. While Victoria is the island's main city and also the capital of British Columbia, other towns like Nanaimo, Campbell River, and Parksville dot the eastern coast where it's easier to build.

Ancient home. Indigenous peoples have lived on Vancouver Island for thousands of years, long before Spanish and British explorers arrived in the late 1700s to map and name the island.