Vancouver

===Before 1850===
[[Archaeology|Archaeological]] records indicate that [[First Nations in Canada|Aboriginal people]] were already living in the Vancouver area from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web |last=Thom |first=Brian |year=1996 |url=http://home.istar.ca/~bthom/LONGTERM-FIN.htm |title=Stó:lo Culture – Ideas of Prehistory and Changing Cultural Relationships to the Land and Environment |access-date=November 23, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718061334/http://home.istar.ca/~bthom/LONGTERM-FIN.htm |archive-date=July 18, 2007}}</ref><ref name="Atlas">{{cite book |editor-last=Carlson |editor-first=Keith Thor |title=A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Historical Atlas |location=Vancouver, BC |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |year=2001 |pages=6–18 |isbn=978-1-55054-812-9}}</ref>

The [[Squamish people|Squamish]], [[Musqueam Indian Band|Musqueam]], and [[Tsleil-Waututh First Nation|Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard)]] peoples of the [[Coast Salish]] group<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Vancouver |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=March 12, 2019 |last=Roy |first=Patricia E. |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver |access-date=July 2, 2021 |archive-date=July 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720053605/https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vancouver |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Barman |first=Jean |title=Stanley Park's Secret |publisher=Harbour Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-55017-346-8 |page=21 |author-link=Jean Barman}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Schultz |first=Colin |title=One of Canada's Biggest Cities Just Officially Admitted That It Was Built on Unceded Aboriginal Territory |website=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/one-canadas-biggest-cities-just-officially-admitted-it-was-built-unceded-aboriginal-territory-180951873/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183255/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/one-canadas-biggest-cities-just-officially-admitted-it-was-built-unceded-aboriginal-territory-180951873/ |archive-date=July 9, 2021}}</ref> had villages in various parts of present-day Vancouver, such as [[Stanley Park]], [[False Creek]], [[Kitsilano]], [[Point Grey]] and near the mouth of the [[Fraser River]].<ref name="Atlas" /> The region where Vancouver is currently located was referred to in contemporary [[Halkomelem]] as ''Lhq’á:lets'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Stolo Dictionary |url=https://www.ufv.ca/media/assets/modern-languages/halqemeylem/Hal-Dic-Hal-Eng-(Stolo-Dictionary).doc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703015509/https://www.ufv.ca/media/assets/modern-languages/halqemeylem/Hal-Dic-Hal-Eng-(Stolo-Dictionary).doc |archive-date=July 3, 2020 |access-date=January 10, 2020 |publisher=[[University of the Fraser Valley]] |format=DOC |quote="Lhq'á:lets Vancouver"}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Galloway |first1=Brent Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YEslDQAAQBAJ&q=Lhq%E2%80%99%C3%A1:lets&pg=PA291 |title=Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem |date=2009 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-09872-5 |page=291 |author-link=Brent Galloway |access-date=July 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019165921/https://books.google.com/books?id=YEslDQAAQBAJ&q=Lhq%E2%80%99%C3%A1:lets&pg=PA291 |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> meaning "wide at the bottom/end".

Europeans became acquainted with the area of the future Vancouver when [[José María Narváez]] of [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] explored the coast of present-day [[West Point Grey|Point Grey]] and parts of Burrard Inlet in 1791—although one author contends that [[Francis Drake]] may have [[New Albion#Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada|visited the area in 1579]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bawlf |first=R. Samuel |year=2003 |title=The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577–1580 |publisher=Walker & Company |isbn=978-0-8027-1405-3}}</ref>

[[File:Draft of Major Matthews map of Vancouver's indigenous place names.tif|thumb|Draft map of villages and landmarks with their Indigenous names, [[Burrard Inlet]] and [[English Bay, Vancouver|English Bay]], by Vancouver archivist [[J. S. Matthews]] ]]
The explorer and [[North West Company]] trader [[Simon Fraser (explorer)|Simon Fraser]] and his crew became the first-known Europeans to set foot on the site of the present-day city. In 1808, they travelled from the east down the Fraser River, perhaps as far as Point Grey.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of City of Vancouver |work=Caroun.com |url=http://www.caroun.com/Countries/America/Canada/Vancouver/2-VancouverHistory.html |access-date=January 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070329195141/http://www.caroun.com/Countries/America/Canada/Vancouver/2-VancouverHistory.html |archive-date=March 29, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>