Columbia Británica

"Columbia Británica (en inglés: British Columbia; en francés: Colombie-Britannique), denominada oficialmente por el Gobierno canadiense Colombia Británica en sus documentos en español, es la provincia más occidental de Canadá, en la costa del océano Pacífico. Su capital es la ciudad de Victoria, la cual se ubica al sudeste de la isla de Vancouver. La ciudad más grande es Vancouver, cuya área metropolitana tiene más de dos millones de habitantes. Limita al norte con el estado estadounidense de Alaska, con el territorio del Yukón y con los Territorios del Noroeste, al este con la provincia de Alberta y al sur con los Estados Unidos (estados de Washington, Idaho y Montana). El sur de Columbia Británica goza de un clima agradable que permite el cultivo de frutas; en el norte la industria se centra en la silvicultura. La provincia tiene más de cuatro millones de habitantes y se divide en veintiocho distritos regionales."

"British Columbia, commonly referred to by its initials BC, is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than 4 million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion, along with the U.S. states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The province's name was chosen in 1858 by members of the Hudson's Bay Company. The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, which gave rise to the city of Victoria, at first the capital of the separate Colony of Vancouver Island. Subsequently, on the mainland, the Colony of British Columbia (185866) was founded, the first Lieutenant-Governor of which, from 1858 to 1863,was Richard Clement Moody, who was hand-picked by the Colonial Office in London to transform British Columbia into the British Empire's "bulwark in the farthest west", and to found a second England on the shores of the Pacific. Moody selected the site for and founded the original capital of British Columbia, New Westminster, and established the Cariboo Road and Stanley Park. Port Moody is named after him. In 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the united colony's capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu ("Splendour without Diminishment"). The capital of British Columbia remains Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the original colonies. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, and the third-largest in the Pacific Northwest. In October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371 (about 2.5 million of whom were in Greater Vancouver). The province is currently governed by the BC Liberal Party, led by Premier Christy Clark, who became leader as a result of a leadership convention vote on February 26, 2011, and who led her party to an election victory on May 14, 2013. British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871. First Nations, the original inhabitants of the land, have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area. Today there are few treaties and the question of Aboriginal Title, long ignored, has become a legal and political question of frequent debate as a result of recent court actions. Notably, the Tsilhqot'in Nation has established Aboriginal title to a portion of their territory, as a result of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision (William [Tsilhqot'in Nation] v. British Columbia). B.C.'s economy is diverse, with service producing industries accounting for the largest portion of the province's GDP. It is the endpoint of transcontinental railways, and the site of major Pacific ports that enable international trade. Though less than 5% of its vast 944,735 km2 (364,764 sq mi) land is arable, the province is agriculturally rich, (particularly in the Fraser and Okanagan valleys), because of milder weather near the coast and in certain sheltered southern valleys. Its climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism, though its economic mainstay has long been resource extraction, principally logging, farming, and mining. Vancouver, the province's largest city and metropolitan area, also serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies. It also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average. While the coast of British Columbia and certain valleys in the south-central part of the province have mild weather, the majority of its land mass experiences a cold-winter-temperate climate similar to that of the rest of Canada. The Northern Interior region has a subarctic climate with very cold winters. The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities, with nighttime January temperatures averaging above the freezing point."