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British Columbia or British Columbia, commonly abbreviated BC, is one of the ten provinces that, together with the three territories, make up the thirteen federal entities of Canada. Its capital is Victoria and its most populous city, Vancouver. It is located in the west of the country, bounded on the north by the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the east by Alberta, on the south by the United States, on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the northwest by Alaska. With 4,648,055 inhabitants as of 2017 it is the third most populated entity, behind Ontario and Quebec.
The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, which gave rise to the city of Victoria, originally the capital of the separate colony of Vancouver Island. Subsequently, on the mainland, the Colony of British Columbia was founded by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Moody was the chief commissioner of Land and Works for the Colony and the first lieutenant governor of British Columbia: he was chosen by hand by the Colonial Office in London to transform British Columbia into the "bulwark on the western edge" of the British Empire, And "to found a second England on the Pacific coast". Moody selected the site and founded the original capital of British Columbia, New Westminster, established Cariboo Road and Stanley Park, and designed the first version of the British Columbia Shield. Port Moody bears his name.
In 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the capital of the United Colony. In 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada. The economy of is diverse, and the industries producing services represent the largest portion of the GDP of the province. It is the terminus of two transcontinental railways, and the site of 27 main maritime cargo and passenger terminals. The province is rich in agriculture, due to a milder climate near the coast and in certain protected valleys of the south. Its climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism, although its main economic support has long been the extraction of resources, mainly logging, agriculture and mining. Vancouver, the largest city in the province, serves as the headquarters for many natural resource companies based in the west.
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 some valleys in the south-central part of the province have a temperate climate, most of its landmass experiences a cold-winter-temperate climate similar to the rest of Canada. The Northern Interior region has a subarctic climate with very cold winters. Vancouver's climate is by far the mildest winter climate in major Canadian cities, with night temperatures in January averaging above freezing.