Portal:British Columbia

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BRITISH COLUMBIA, the western province of the Dominion of Canada. It is bounded on the east by the continental watershed in the Rocky Mountains, until this, in its north-westerly course, intersects 120° W., which is followed north to 60° N., thus including within the province a part of the Peace river country to the east of the mountains. The southern boundary is formed by 49° N. and the strait separating Vancouver Island from the state of Washington. The northern boundary is 60° N., the western the Pacific Ocean, upon which the province fronts for about 600 m., and the coast strip of Alaska for a further distance of 400 m. Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, as well as the smaller islands lying off the western coast of Canada, belong to the province of British Columbia.

Physical Features.—British Columbia is essentially a mountainous country, for the Rocky Mountains which in the United States lie to the east of the Great Basin, on running to the north bear toward the west and approach the ranges which border the Pacific coast. Thus British Columbia comprises practically the entire width of what has been termed the Cordillera or Cordilleran belt of North America, between the parallels of latitude above indicated. There are two ruling mountain systems in this belt—the Rocky Mountains proper on the north-east side, and the Coast Range on the south-west or Pacific side. Between these are subordinate ranges to which various local names have been given, as well as the "Interior Plateau"—an elevated tract of hilly country, the hill summits having an accordant altitude, which lies to the east of the Coast Range. The several ranges, having been produced by successive foldings of the earth's crust in a direction parallel to the border of the Pacific Ocean, have a common trend which is south-east and north-west. Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands are remnants of still another mountain range, which runs parallel to the coast but is now almost entirely submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific. The province might be said to consist of a series of parallel mountain ranges with long narrow valleys lying between them.^{Source: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica (British Columbia)}

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