It also ranks as one of the largest cities in Canada. The people who live in the Vancouver metropolitan area make up about half the entire population of British Columbia. The city is the province's major center of commerce, culture, industry, and transportation. The city's chief asset is its natural harbor in Burrard Inlet. The harbor is connected with the Pacific Ocean by English Bay, the Strait of Georgia, and Juan de Fuca Strait.
Ships can use the port the year around because the harbor's waters never freeze.
The port handles nearly all of Canada's trade with Japan and other Asian nations. Vancouver is often called Canada's Gateway to the Pacific. The first permanent European settlement on the site of what is now Vancouver grew up near a sawmill built in 1865. Rich timber resources helped the settlement become a bustling lumber town. In 1884, the Canadian Pacific Railway chose the site as the western terminal of Canada's first transcontinental railroad.