History of British Columbia, Canada

"British Columbia is Canada's most westerly province, and is a mountainous area whose population is mainly clustered in its southwestern corner. BC is Canada’s third-largest province after Québec and Ontario, making up 10 per cent of Canada’s land surface. British Columbia is a land of diversity and contrast within small areas. Coastal landscapes, characterized by high, snow-covered mountains rising above narrow fjords and inlets, contrast with the broad forested upland of the central interior and the plains of the northeast. The intense "Britishness" of earlier times is referred to in the province's name, which originated with Queen Victoria and was officially proclaimed in 1858." thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

"The southern part of the area now known as British Columbia was called "Columbia", after the Columbia River. The central region was given the name of "New Caledonia" by explorer Simon Fraser. To avoid confusion with Colombia in South America and the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean, Queen Victoria named the area British Columbia when it became a colony in 1858." nrcan.gc.ca

"British Columbia: Canada's unconventional westernmost province is seen by Canadians as the land of the future, and has more in common with Seattle than Toronto. Like many other western Canadians, many residents of British Columbia feel somewhat estranged from "easterners" (a general code word for those from Ontario and Quebec)." ediplomat.com