| Feature Type: | City - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a city municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. |
| Status: |
Not official
Lookup the official name |
| Relative Location: | SE side of Vancouver Island, Nanaimo Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°09'49"N, 123°56'16"W at the approximate location of the Municipal Hall. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92G/4 |
| Related Maps: |
92F/1 92G/4 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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"Nanaimo (not Colvilletown)" identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer. Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971) |
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"The settlement is marked Colvilletown [sic] on the war office map of 1859, also on the Nanaimo District official map of the same year (named after Andrew Colvile, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company 1852 - 1856). Letters for the settlement, previous to 1859, were usually addressed "Colville Town, Nanaimo, V. I." After that date the first name was gradually discontinued and has not been used since 1860. See Walbran for extensive additional description......." Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |