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//**Brilliant British Columbia**//

**Major Cities** **Victoria** Victoria is the capitol of British Columbia. Victoria sprang up with gold-seekers: Native-Born Americans; Chinese; Germans; Italians; Spaniards; and many other who already tried their luck in California. Before the end of 1858 about 1.6 million worth of gold was taken from the stretch between Hope and Lillooet. **Vancouver** Vancouver is the most densely populated area in British Columbia and ranks as one of Canada`s largest cities. The city is the providence`s major center of commerce, culture, industry, and transportation. **Prince George** Prince George lies near the center of British Columbia. The leading industries in the city are manufacturing chemicals, lumber products, petroleum products, and pulp and paper. Mines in the area produce coal, copper, mercury, and molybdenum. **Major Bodies of Water**

**The Yukon River** is one of the largest rivers in North America. The river flows though the Yukon Territory, British Columbia, and Alaska. Two-thirds of this river flows through Alaska and only one-third of it flows through Canada. **Skeena River** is a river in British Columbia that has a length of 360 miles (580 Kilometers)! This river is one of the most valuable salmon fishing area in the world.

**Climate** British Columbia has a very wet climate. British Columbia has an annual rainfall of 98 inches and a yearly rainfall of 31 inches. Since British Columbia has the Pacific coast the mild winds make it warm in the winter and cool in the summer. **Economy**

In British Columbia there is a total of 2,314,200 worker and 783,600 of them are in community, business, and personal services. In British Columbia the population is 4,113,487. From 2001 the population has increased by 5%.

**Landforms** **Continental Divide** The divide forms part of Montana's boundary with Idaho. In America it is also called the Great Divide. **Cassiar Mountains** The highest mountain in the Cassiar Mountains is Thudaka Mountain. The mountains are 82% in British Columbia.

**Fun Facts** > Olympics were held in Vancouver > eld in Vancouver.
 * British Columbia's population is over 4.5 million.
 * Vancouver Island is the largest island on the west coast of North America.
 * British Columbia is the most biologically diverse providence.
 * The 2010 Winter [[image:http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/2010_vancouver_olympics_logo.jpg width="351" height="268" align="right" caption="The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics."]]

By Colby Stichter and Ben Reisenweaver Resources from Worldbook.com and the book "British Columbia" no author