British Columbia Interior

"The Interior" redirects here. For other uses, see Interior.
British Columbia Interior
French: Intérieur de la Colombie-Britannique
Region of British Columbia
From top, left to right: Kelowna, CN train traversing Fraser Canyon near Ashcroft, Prince George, Hudson Bay Mountain, Nelson Bridge in Central Kootenay
Nickname: 
"The Interior"
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
Principal cities
List
Area
[1]
 • 14 Districts669,648 km2 (258,553 sq mi)
Highest elevation

Mt. Fairweather
4,671 m (15,325 ft)
Lowest elevation

Fraser River
127 m (417 ft)
Population
 (2016)
961,155[2]
 • Density7.41/km2 (19.2/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC−08:00 (PST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−07:00 (PDT)
Postal code prefixes
V
Area codes236, 250, 672, 778

The British Columbia Interior, popularly referred to as the BC Interior or simply the Interior, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the British Columbia Interior is generally defined to include the 14 regional districts that do not have coastline along the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea, and are not part of the Lower Mainland. Other boundaries may exclude parts of or even entire regional districts, or expand the definition to include the regional districts of Fraser Valley, Squamish–Lillooet, and Kitimat–Stikine.

Home to just under 1 million people, the British Columbia Interior's 14 regional districts contain many cities, towns, airports, and associated regional, provincial, and national parks connected by the province's highway and railway network. The region is known for the complexity of its landforms, the result of millions of years of tectonic plate movements. The ecology of the region is dominated by temperate coniferous forest with patches of alpine tundra found atop its numerous mountain ranges.

  1. ^ "2016 British Columbia Census Total Population Results". Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  2. ^ Population Estimates - Province of British Columbia