Vancouver Island Geography
...an undersea mountain raises it's head!

Vancouver Island geography must provide a background for stardom for the island has been voted the #1 Island in North America for eight (yes 8!!) consecutive years, by readers of "Conde Nast", the world famous traveler magazine. Not only that, but it has also been voted as the "Best Island-North America" by the readers of "Travel+Leisure Magazine"!
[...links to these at the bottom of the page ]

The travel industry must have found something special about this Canadian Island in the Pacific North-West.

Vancouver Island is a product of volcanic activity that started about 300 million years ago. Much of the earth was moved around like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and Vancouver Island is no different. The actual land mass was probably located south of the Equator and slowly moved north: at an estimated rate of about two inches a year!...okay 7 or 8 centimetres.

Today the island is made up primarily of the north-south running Beaufort Range, which is the top of a much larger undersea mountain range.

Vancouver Island Geography is quite impressive. It is the forty-third largest island in the world, the largest island on the western side of North America, the eleventh largest in Canada and the largest in British Columbia.

At 12 407 square miles or 32 134 square kilometers it measures 285 miles by about 50 miles (or 460 km by 80 km), and is Canada’s second most populated, after Montreal. (Isle de Montreal)

The population was estimated at 734 860 in 2004 with about half living in the greater Victoria area (331 491), at the south end of the island.

The highest point is “The Golden Hinde” at 7200 feet (2195 metres), which is located in Strathcona Provincial Park near the centre of Vancouver Island. There is one Glacier, also in this park, named the “Comox Glacier”.

The west coast is isolated and rugged with many inlets and fjords. The largest lake is Kennedy Lake on the west coast. The east coast, on the other hand, is a land of rolling hills and meadows.

Vancouver Island is separated from the British Columbia mainland by the Strait of Georgia (moves are afoot to have this renamed!), Johnston Strait and Queen Charlotte Strait in the north. The island is separated from the U.S. (Washington State) by the Straits of Juan de Fuca. It takes about one hour and forty-five minutes to cross the straits by ferry.

The main cities by population, after Victoria (Victoria itself is 78 659), are: Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Parksville, Comox, Courtney and Campbell River.

Vancouver Island Geography, much for you to discover.

[you may wish to visit the "Island History" page at this point!]

Check out the "Conde Nast Traveler Magazine" Survey


Check out the "Travel+Leisure Readers" choice awards.

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