Nanaimo

Sister cities

• Saitama

History

The Indigenous peoples of the area that is now known as Nanaimo are the Snuneymuxw. An anglicized spelling and pronunciation of that word gave the city its current name. The first Europeans known to reach Nanaimo Harbour were members of the 1791 Spanish voyage of Juan Carrasco, under the command of Francisco de Eliza. They gave it the name Bocas de Winthuysen The city has been called "The Harbour City" since the lead-up to Expo 86. The HBC attempted to start a coal mine at Port Rupert but the project had been unsuccessful. In 1850 Snuneymuxw Chief Che-wich-i-kan, commonly known as "Coal Tyee", brought samples of coal to Victoria. A company clerk was dispatched and eventually the governor James Douglas visited the future site of Nanaimo. While open to selling coal, the Snuneymuxw wished to retain control of it and retain the exclusive right to mine it. Chief Wun-wun-shum offered to sell coal for five barrels in exchange for one blanket. The HBC representative Joseph William McKay deemed this "impertinent". The Snuneymuxw retained their rights to the resource for a while, but gradually lost them due to other tribes and miners from the failed Port Rupert project. On 27 November 1854, 24 coal miners and their families from England arrived at the settlement aboard the Beaver and Recovery. They had travelled seven months on the ship Princess Royal arriving at Esquimalt two days earlier. They transferred to the two smaller vessels for the trip to Colvile Town. In the 1940s, lumber supplanted coal as the main business. Minetown Days have been celebrated in the neighbouring community of Lantzville to highlight some of the locale's history. In the late nineteenth century, numerous immigrants came from China and settled here. What was known as the first Chinatown in Nanaimo…

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  22,151
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  20,888
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  19,370
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  18,408
• Chestnut-backed Chickadee

  Poecile rufescens (J.K.Townsend, 1837) · Aves
  17,961
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  17,827
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  15,689
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  15,229

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2025-10-21
  10 km SE of Salt Spring Island, Canada
• M 2.6 — 2025-09-18
  14 km SW of Cowichan Bay, Canada
• M 3.7 — 2025-08-19
  17 km NNW of Sekiu, Washington
• M 2.8 — 2025-04-05
  20 km ENE of South Pender Harbour, Canada
• M 2.52 — 2025-03-26
  4 km ENE of Oak Bay, Canada
• M 4.8 — 2025-02-21
  28 km W of Squamish, Canada