page_title: Vancouver Island
hierarchical_section_title: Vancouver Island
context_page_description: Vancouver Island is in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 460 km in length, 100 km in width at its widest point, and 32,134 km² in area. It is the largest island on the west coasts of the Americas.
  The southern part of Vancouver Island and some of the nearby Gulf Islands are the only parts of British Columbia or Western Canada to lie south of the 49th parallel. This area has one of the warmest climates in Canada, and since the mid-1990s has been mild enough in a few areas to grow subtropical Mediterranean crops such as olives and lemons.
  The population of Vancouver Island was 870,297 as of 2019. Nearly half of that population live in the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. Other notable cities and towns on Vancouver Island include Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Parksville, Courtenay, and Campbell River.
  Indigenous peoples had inhabited Vancouver Island for thousands of years, long before the arrival of British and Spanish naval expeditions in the late 18th century.
context_section_description: Vancouver Island is in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 460 km (290 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,134 km² (12,407 sq mi) in area. It is the largest island on the west coasts of the Americas.
  The southern part of Vancouver Island and some of the nearby Gulf Islands are the only parts of British Columbia or Western Canada to lie south of the 49th parallel. This area has one of the warmest climates in Canada, and since the mid-1990s has been mild enough in a few areas to grow subtropical Mediterranean crops such as olives and lemons.
  The population of Vancouver Island was 870,297 as of 2019. Nearly half of that population (401,700) live in the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. Other notable cities and towns on Vancouver Island include Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Parksville, Courtenay, and Campbell River.
  Indigenous peoples had inhabited Vancouver Island for thousands of years, long before the arrival of British and Spanish naval expeditions in the late 18th century. The British and Spanish conjointly named it Quadra's and Vancouver's Island in commemoration of the friendly negotiations held in 1792 between the Spanish commander of Fort San Miguel in Nootka Sound, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, and British naval captain George Vancouver, during the Nootka Crisis. (Bodega y Quadra's name was eventually dropped.) It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, who between 1791 and 1794 explored the Pacific Northwest coast.
  Vancouver Island is the world's 43rd largest island, Canada's 11th largest island, and Canada's second most populous island after the Island of Montreal. It is the largest Pacific island east of New Zealand.
caption: Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Strait, and from Washington by the Juan De Fuca Strait.
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