The name of this section is my way of saying “Lower Mainland”. Lower Mainland is a region in Canadian province of British Columbia, in its south-west corner, adjacent to the American state of Washington. It’s called mainland because it’s not on an island, of which BC has a gazillion (40,000 to be exact – I googled), and lower – because it’s relatively flat in an otherwise pretty mountainous province. Open Google Maps, switch to Terrain view, and you will see what I mean. Compared to the rest of BC, Lower Mainland is very small, just 4% of the province’s territory, but it houses 60% of its population. Yeah, people are packed pretty tight in here…
No wonder. All of the biggest BC cities are in Lower Mainland, including Vancouver. Actually, most of the region is occupied by the Vancouver metropolitan area, formally called Metro Vancouver, the third biggest in the country (after Toronto and Montreal). So, it made sense to call this section this way, since people who are not from here probably never heard of Lower Mainland before, but they definitely heard of Vancouver. However, Vancouver itself is just one piece of this place. Lower Mainland is much bigger than its biggest city. Especially considering the fact that, in terms of population, Vancouver is scheduled to be outpaced by a neighbouring city, Surrey, pretty soon. As early as 2027, actually. Then this section will be renamed “Surrey & Environs”. 😊