Richmond (British Columbia)

Richmond is a city in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of Vancouver on the shores of the Strait of Georgia at the mouth of the Fraser River. Richmond is part of the district of Metro Vancouver and is home to the Vancouver International Airport.

Geography

The urban area includes most of the islands in the delta of the Fraser River, the largest and most populous is Lulu Iceland (the eastern tip belongs to the neighboring city of New Westminster). The second largest island is Iceland Sea, on which is the international airport. In addition, there are thirteen smaller islands.

Since the entire urban area is situated on islands in a river delta, Richmond has plenty of fertile alluvial soil. The estuary of the river was one of the first areas in British Columbia, operated in the European settler agriculture. The disadvantage, however, was that the country average of only just one meter above sea level and was therefore frequently affected by flooding, especially at high tide. For this reason, dikes have been built around all the major islands.

History

Various Indian tribes of the Salish group came to the islands to fish and to gather berries. In the 1860s, the settlement began by European farmers. The official founding of the church Richmond took place on November 10, 1879 About the origin of the name, there are several theories. A states that the place was named after a district in the province of Ontario, where some settlers herstammten. Another assumes the name came from an eponymous farm in Australia, or from the city of Richmond in England.

From the 1880s the fishery had a great importance for the local economy. The fish were processed in several factories that had arisen on the Fraser River. Also, the boat building brought jobs. As a result, many Japanese fishermen moved here; this stayed mainly in the village of Steveston on the southwestern tip of Lulu Iceland.

Richmond was and still is the center of aviation in British Columbia. The first aircraft took off from the then Racecourse Minoru Racecourse on 25 March 1910. The first airfield with a simple grass runway was on Lulu Iceland. In 1931 the airport to Iceland Sea was opened, which has since been expanded several times. On December 3, 1990 Richmond received city status awarded.

Population

The census in 2011 showed a population of 190 473 inhabitants for the city. The population has thereby increased since the census of 2006 at 9.2%, while the population in British Columbia grew simultaneously only by 7.0%. After Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby Richmond is the fourth most populous city in the region Aldi Strict Metro Vancouver. She has with 59% the highest percentage of minorities of all Canadian cities. More than half of the population is of Asian origin, most of these people emigrated from Hong Kong and China from here. Others are originally from Taiwan and Japan and have already the end of the 19th century settled in the Steveston area. According to Bureau of Statistics, life expectancy of 83.4 years is the highest in Canada.

Economy

In Richmond, there are about 100,000 jobs in the areas of trade, services, tourism, light industry, aviation, agriculture, fisheries and management. Richmond applicable in the region as a leading center for high- tech enterprises.

Around one third of the urban area (4800 ha) is agricultural land, especially in the eastern part of Richmond. Be Planted mainly American Large-fruited blueberries and cranberries, besides also strawberries, corn and potatoes. Since blackberries grow wild and uncontrolled, they are considered by many farmers as a weed. Almost half of the cranberry harvest in British Columbia comes from Richmond.

Richmond has many shopping centers, which are built in the Asian style, most of them are located in an area that by the Municipal Tourism Authority officially as the " Golden Village " (Golden Village ) is called. The names of many businesses (including non-Asian ) are written both English and Chinese.

In Richmond numerous major television series and movies have been made, including Supernatural, Outer Limits, The X-Files, Smallville, Stargate - Kommando SG -1 and Scary Movie. The Vancouver International Airport is often used as a backdrop for airport scenes, even if the action takes place in other airports; Examples include Final Destination, A 4, The L Word, Lizzie McGuire Movie and Fantastic Four.

Traffic

The Vancouver International Airport on Sea Iceland is located north of the city center. It is the second largest airport in Canada and one of the main international airports on the North American west coast.

Because of the insular nature of Richmond is connected by numerous bridges and a tunnel to the neighboring cities. Two highways run through the city, Highway 99 in north-south direction to the U.S. border, in east-west direction of Highway 91 from Delta over Richmond to New Westminster. Railroads of the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway lead to Vancouver, New Westminster and Annacis Iceland, but only drive in freight transport.

Numerous funded by the transport company Translink buses take public transport and connect Richmond with downtown Vancouver, as well as Surrey, New Westminster, Burnaby, Delta and the University of British Columbia. Richmond is connected to a subway line with Vancouver, the Canada Line opened in August 2009.

Education

In Richmond, there is a campus of Kwantlen University College. In addition, find the aircraft maintenance courses at the British Columbia Institute of Technology held in facilities at the airport. The city forms the School District 38; this includes 38 elementary schools and eleven secondary schools. Eight schools offer instruction in French.

Sports

To carry out the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Richmond Olympic Oval was built in Richmond, a hall with 8,000 seats for the speed skating competitions. The opening took place in December 2008. After the Games, the hall was converted into a leisure center.

Twin Cities

• Pierrefonds ( suburb of Montreal ) Canada Canada
• Wakayama, Honshu Japan Japan

Personalities

• Aaron Ashmore ( b. 1979 ), actor
• Shawn Ashmore ( b. 1979 ), actor
• Scott Hannan ( born 1979 ), ice hockey player
• Brent Seabrook ( born 1985 ), ice hockey player