- For other places with the same name, see Burrard
Burrard can mean many things:* One of the Burrard Baronets, including** Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet, of Lymington , a British General** Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet, of Walhampton...
.
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal
fjordGeologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
in southwestern
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Formed during the last
Ice AgeAn ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, it separates the City of
VancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and the rest of the low-lying
Burrard PeninsulaThe Burrard Peninsula is a peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of southwestern British Columbia, Canada, lying between Burrard Inlet to the north and the Fraser River to the south, and bounded by Georgia Strait on the west and the Pitt River on the east...
(to the south) from the slopes of the
North Shore MountainsThe North Shore Mountains are a mountain range overlooking Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Their southernmost peaks are visible from most areas in Vancouver and form a distinctive backdrop for the city....
, home to the communities of West Vancouver and the
CityThe City of North Vancouver is a waterfront municipality on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, directly across from Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the smallest of the three North Shore municipalities, and the most urbanized as well...
and
District of North VancouverThe District of North Vancouver is a district municipality in British Columbia and is part of the GVRD. It surrounds the City of North Vancouver on three sides.-Geography:The District of North Vancouver is separated from Vancouver by Burrard Inlet...
.
History
What is now known as Burrard Inlet has been home to the Indigenous peoples of the Sḵwxwú7mesh and
Tsleil-waututhThe Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, also known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Band, is a First Nations government in the Canadian Province of British Columbia...
, who have resided in this territory for thousands of years.
In 1791, the first European explorers in the region,
Juan CarrascoJuan Carrasco was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century. He was second in command of the 1791 voyage of José María Narváez, the first European exploration of the Strait of Georgia.Many details...
and
José María NarváezJosé María Narváez was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Pacific Northwest of present-day Canada. In 1791, as commander of the schooner Santa Saturnina, he led the first European exploration of the Strait of Georgia, including a landing on present-day...
, sailing under orders of
Francisco de ElizaFrancisco de Eliza y Reventa was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest...
, entered the western part of the inlet in their ship, the
Santa Saturnina. They failed to find the
Fraser RiverThe Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
, mistaking the lowland of the river's delta as a major inlet of the sea, which they named Canal de Floridablanca. This led to one of the prime objectives of the 1792 expedition of
Dionisio Alcalá GalianoDionisio Alcalá Galiano was a Spanish naval officer, cartographer, and explorer. He mapped various coastlines in Europe and the Americas with unprecedented accuracy, using new technology such as chronometers...
, which was to determine the exact nature of the Canal de Floridablanca. Galiano spent many days exploring the general area, realizing that there was a great river there and sighting Burrard Inlet itself on June 19, 1792. Just days later, the inlet was again named by Captain
George VancouverCaptain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
, after his friend and former ship-mate Captain (later Admiral) Sir Harry Burrard.
In 1888, the inlet was described in
The British Columbia Pilot published by the British Admiralty as follows.
Burrard inlet differs from most of the great sounds of this coast in being comparatively easy of access to steam vessels of any size or class, and in the convenient depth of water for anchorage which may be found in almost every part of it; its close proximity to Fraser river, with the great facilities for constructing roads between the two places, and its having become the terminus of the Pacific and Canadian Railway, likewise add considerably to its importance. It is divided into three distinct harbours, viz., English bay or the outer anchorage; Vancouver (formerly called Coal harbour), above the First Narrows; and Port Moody at the head of the eastern arm of the inlet.
Geography
The inlet runs almost directly east from the
Strait of GeorgiaThe Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...
to Port Moody and is urbanized on most of its shores. About two-thirds of the way east from the sea, a secondary, much steeper-sided glacial fjord,
Indian ArmIndian Arm is a steep-sided glacial fjord adjacent to the city of Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia. Formed during the last Ice Age, it extends due north from Burrard Inlet, between the communities of Belcarra and the District of North Vancouver , then on into mountainous wilderness...
, extends straight north from the main inlet, between Belcarra and
Deep CoveDeep Cove refers to both the community in the easternmost part of the District of North Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada, and also the geographic name of the small bay beside the town. It is affectionately referred to as "The Cove" by local residents. Located at the foot of Mount Seymour,...
in North Vancouver, then on into mountainous wilderness. (Indian River, a small dock at the north end of the arm, can be reached by a washed out logging road from
SquamishSquamish is a community and a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located at the north end of Howe Sound on the Sea to Sky Highway...
.)
From Point Atkinson and Point Grey on the west to Port Moody in the east, the inlet is about 25 km (15.5 mi) long; Indian Arm extends about 20 km (12.4 mi) north. Settlements on the shores of Burrard Inlet include Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Burnaby, and Port Moody. Three bridges, the First Narrows Bridge (aka
Lions' Gate BridgeThe Lions Gate Bridge, officially known as the First Narrows Bridge, is a suspension bridge that crosses the first narrows of Burrard Inlet and connects the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the North Shore municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and...
) (built in the 1930s), the
Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows CrossingThe Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, also called the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, is the second bridge constructed at the Second Narrows of Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
(1960) and the
CNR railway bridgeThe Second Narrows Bridge is a vertical lift railway bridge that crosses the Burrard Inlet and connects Vancouver with the North Shore. As the name suggests, it is located at the second narrowing of the Burrard Inlet....
(1969) at the Second Narrows, and the
SeaBusThe SeaBus is a passenger-only ferry service in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It crosses Burrard Inlet to connect the cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver. The SeaBus is owned and operated by the Coast Mountain Bus Company and is an important part of TransLink's integrated public...
passenger ferry, cross the inlet. It is widest (about 3 km or 1.9 mi) between the First and Second Narrows, also the busiest part of Vancouver's
portThe Port of Vancouver was the name of the largest port in Canada, the largest in the Pacific Northwest, and the largest port on the West Coast of North America by metric tons of total cargo, with 76.5 million metric tons...
.
The Port of Vancouver
Protected from the open ocean, the calm waters of Burrard Inlet form Vancouver's primary port area, an excellent one for large oceangoing ships. While some of the shoreline is residential and commercial, much is port-industrial, including railyards, terminals for container and bulk cargo ships, grain elevators, and (towards the eastern end) oil refineries. Freighters waiting to load or discharge cargoes in the inlet often anchor in
English BayEnglish Bay is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, west of the downtown peninsula, which separates the bay from Burrard Inlet connecting to the northwest, and False Creek to the southeast. English Bay Beach, near the city's West End residential neighbourhood, is the most popular...
, which lies south of the mouth of the inlet and is separated from it by Vancouver's downtown peninsula and
Stanley ParkStanley Park is a 404.9 hectare urban park bordering downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was opened in 1888 by David Oppenheimer in the name of Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor-General of Canada....
.
On the main inlet, a few park areas remain forested as they were centuries ago, but the steep slopes of Indian Arm are so impassable that most have seen no development, despite the proximity of such a major city. Only in 2003 was a rough wilderness hiking trail around the whole of Indian Arm completed, and it was the work of one man over many years.