Vancouver, British Columbia is the third largest metro area in Canada, and the largest in the country’s western region. The city traces its roots to logging sawmills established in 1867 in Gastown, and in the 1880s it became the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Today, Vancouver is the third largest film and TV production site in North America, Canada’s largest and busiest port handling more than $75 Billion in goods with 130 economies globally, and host of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Vancouver skyline. On the waterfront is the newly constructed Vancouver Convention Center West Building, which serves as International Broadcast Center for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Vancouver Harbour Water Airport in Coal Harbour, a part of Burrard Inlet between downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park. Burrard Inlet is a coastal fjord that separates Vancouver from West Vancouver, North Vancouver, and the North Shore Mountains.

Skyline of the Coal Harbour neighborhood of Vancouver, looking west toward Stanley Park

Curved walkway on the Coal Harbour waterfront

North Vancouver and the North Shore Mountains, seen from Burrard Inlet

From left to right: Stanley Park, Lions Gate Bridge, and Sulfur piles at Vancouver Wharves Terminal, in North Vancouver

Cargo ship An May in Burrard Inlet

Canada Place houses the East Building of Vancouver Convention Center, the Pan Pacific Hotel, and the Port Metro Vancouver Cruise Ship Terminal.

Entrance to Waterfront Station, Vancouver

Capilano Suspension Bridge, a 450 foot long simple suspension bridge that sits 250 feet above the Capilano River in North Vancouver.

Carved wood Starbucks sign at the base of Grouse Mountain

Drink menu at The Daily Pig, in Gastown

Skyline graffiti

UVA Wine Bar in the Granville Entertainment District

Guest service book at Moda Hotel. The hotel’s logo is made in mosaic of small tiles.

Korean restaurant sign, Vancouver

Canada Line, connecting downtown and Vancouver International Airport, under construction in 2008

Part of the underground section of Canada Line in downtown Vancouver, under construction in 2008

Scale model of the Museum of Anthropology at University of British Columbia (UBC)

Foreground: The Ramp, entrance to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Background: Great Hall, housing post and beam wood carvings from Northwest Coast indigenous communities including Haida, Kwakwaka’wakw, Gitxsan, Nisga’a, Haisla, and Oweekeno.

Carved wood sculptures in an exhibit space on the Ramp, Museum of Anthropology

Coast Salish “Coca-Cola” sign in the Museum of Anthropology