About British Columbia

British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC; French: Colombie-Britannique) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the continental divide of the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.2 million as of 2021, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for Queen Victoria, who reigned over the British Empire at the time of Confederation. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, and the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest. In October 2013, Greater Vancouver had an estimated population of approximately 2.5 million.