Strait of Georgia

Strait of Georgia
Strait of Georgia
Connects waters	Queen Charlotte Street
with water	Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget Sound
Separates land mass	Vancouver Island
of land mass	mainland canadian
Data
Geographical location	49 ° 18 ′  N , 123 ° 48 ′  W Coordinates: 49 ° 18 ′  N , 123 ° 48 ′  W
length	240 km
Smallest width	25 km
Coastal towns	Vancouver, BC
Islands	Gulf Islands
Aerial view of the waterfront

The Strait of Georgia ( English Strait of Georgia , also Georgiastraße , more rarely the Gulf of Georgia ) is an approximately 240 kilometers long and 25 to 30 kilometers wide waterway of the Pacific Ocean in the southwestern part of British Columbia , which separates Vancouver Island from the Canadian mainland. The strait is part of the Salish Sea . The banks are formed by fjords (inlets) with many islands .

At the southern end, the strait widens to a bay with many small islands and merges into the Puget Sound in a southern direction , while in a westerly direction the Juan de Fuca Strait is the exit to the Pacific. The Fraser River flows under 49 ° north latitude . To the north, the Königin-Charlotte-Straße leads into the open sea.

The main port city on the straits is Vancouver, BC The Georgia Strait must be crossed by all ships going to Vancouver.

The Gulf Islands lie in the Strait of Georgia . They include Galiano Island and Gabriola Island , among others . The shipping route is one of the busiest on the North American west coast.

The strait was named by the British captain George Vancouver , who explored and measured the region at the end of the 18th century. The street was named after the British King George III. Captain Vancouver and his officers on HMS Discovery originally named the waterway the Gulph of Georgia on July 4, 1792, the king's birthday . It was not until the British captain and cartographer George Richards changed the name of Gulph of Georgia to Strait of Georgia in 1852 . Before the strait was traveled and named by George Vancouver, it had been explored in 1790 by a Spanish expedition under José María Narváez and Francisco de Eliza . They named the street Gran Canal de Nuestra Señora del Rosario la Marinera (Canal of Our Lady of the Rosary).

Web links

Commons : Strait of Georgia  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Strait of Georgia ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Relative Sea-Level Change in the Northern Strait of Georgia, British Columbia

Individual evidence

1. ^ Andrew Scott: The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names: A Complete Reference to Coastal British Columbia . Harbor Publishing, Madeira Park, BC October 2009, p. 217-218 (English).