Q 01/05

What was the first name of the Royal Navy captain who explored Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave the city its name?

A) James

B) Simon

C) Francis

D) George

Answer · why

D) George

George Vancouver had sailed as a midshipman on Cook's second voyage; the island and a city in Washington state share his name.

Q 02/05

The settlement that became Vancouver grew around a tavern opened on 1 July 1867 by whom?

A) Gassy Jack Deighton

B) Lord Granville

C) Edward Stamp

D) William Van Horne

Answer · why

A) Gassy Jack Deighton

The Yorkshire seaman's saloon gave the district its name, Gastown; the steam clock marks the spot and his statue was toppled in 2022.

Q 03/05

Before it was renamed Vancouver in 1886, the townsite was officially called what?

A) Hastings

B) New Westminster

C) Port Moody

D) Granville

Answer · why

D) Granville

It honoured the British colonial secretary; the rename came through a deal with the transcontinental railway.

Q 04/05

Which company chose Vancouver as its western terminus in 1884, giving the city its name and its boom?

A) The Hudson's Bay Company

B) The Canadian Pacific Railway

C) The Canadian National Railway

D) The Great Northern Railroad

Answer · why

B) The Canadian Pacific Railway

Port Moody, New Westminster and Victoria all lost out; the first transcontinental train arrived in 1887.

Q 05/05

The Great Vancouver Fire that razed the whole city struck on 13 June of which year?

A) 1867

B) 1886

C) 1898

D) 1929

Answer · why

B) 1886

The city had been incorporated only two months earlier, on 6 April; 600 to 1,000 buildings burned.