Vancouver, Whistler & Vancouver Island - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 737

Royal Navy sailed up in 1792, he met a couple of Spanish captains who informed him of
their country's longstanding claim on the region. But Britain's territorial demands even-
tually won out, and when thousands of fur traders and gold-rush prospectors flocked here
in the 1850s, the Brits officially named it their colony.
Entrepreneur John 'Gassy Jack' Deighton kick-started the city in 1867 by opening a
bar on Burrard Inlet's forested shoreline, triggering a rash of development called
'Gastown' that eventually became modern-day Vancouver. Not everything went to plan
for the fledgling city: it was almost completely destroyed in an 1886 fire. A prompt re-
build followed and a new downtown soon took shape.
Growing steadily throughout the 20th century, Vancouver added a National Hockey
League (NHL) team and other accoutrements of a midsized North American city. Finally
reflecting on its heritage, old-school Gastown was saved by gentrification in the 1970s,
becoming a National Historic Site in 2010.
In 1986 Vancouver hosted a successful Expo World's Fair, sparking a massive wave of
new development and adding the first of the mirrored skyscrapers that now define the
downtown core. The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, staged here in 2010, show-
cased the city to a global audience once more.
Sights
Vancouver's most popular attractions are in several easily walkable neighborhoods, espe-
cially Gastown, Chinatown, Stanley Park and Granville Island.