This is an accepted version of this page Nanaimo (/nəˈnaɪmoʊ/ nə-NY-moh) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada.

Nanaimo is served by the Island Highway along the east coast, the BC Ferries system, and its regional airport.

[6] 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.

A company clerk was dispatched and eventually the governor James Douglas visited the future site of Nanaimo.

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.

[10] On 27 November 1854, 24 coal miners and their families from England arrived at the settlement aboard the Beaver and Recovery.

Minetown Days have been celebrated in the neighbouring community of Lantzville to highlight some of the locale's history.

[citation needed] A private passenger ferry service connecting to Vancouver, named Hullo, began operating in August 2023.

Within this is the 46-acre (19 ha) "Buttertubs Marsh Conservation Area", owned by the Nature Trust of British Columbia.

Like much of coastal British Columbia, Nanaimo experiences a temperate climate with mild, rainy winters and warm, dry summers.

Due to its relatively dry summers, the Köppen climate classification places it at the northernmost limits of the Csb or warm-summer Mediterranean zone.

[17] Nanaimo is usually shielded from the Aleutian Low's influence by the mountains of central Vancouver Island, so that summers are unusually dry for its latitude and location—though summer drying as a trend is found in the immediate lee of the coastal ranges as far north as Skagway, Alaska.

[19] Nanaimo is served by two airports: Nanaimo Airport (YCD) with services to Vancouver (YVR), Toronto (YYZ), and Calgary (YYC) and [citation needed] Nanaimo Harbour Water Aerodrome (ZNA) with services to Vancouver Harbour (CXH), Vancouver Airport (YVR South Terminal), and Sechelt (YHS);[citation needed].

Nanaimo also has three BC Ferry terminals located at Departure Bay, Duke Point, and downtown.

A seasonal passenger ferry operates between Swy-a-Lana Lagoon and Saysutshun (Newcastle Island Marine) Park.

The Island Rail Corridor passes through Nanaimo and has a base of operations and yard in the downtown waterfront area.

[29] According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Nanaimo included:[30] The original economic driver was coal mining; however, the forestry industry supplanted it in the early 1960s with the building of the MacMillan Bloedel pulp mill at Harmac in 1958, named after Harvey MacMillan.

Today the pulp mill is owned by the employees and local investors[35] and injects well over half a million dollars a day into the local economy[citation needed] and makes the entire area smell like sulfur multiple times a year.

Proponents of these developments argue that they will bolster the city's economy, while critics worry that they will block waterfront views and increase traffic congestion.

The city was split into two separate ridings, Nanaimo—Cowichan (Jean Crowder, New Democratic Party), which includes South Nanaimo and Cassidy, and Nanaimo—Alberni (James Lunney, Independent elected as a Conservative), which includes North Nanaimo and Lantzville, until the 2012 federal electoral redistribution.

In response, Sheila Malcolmson resigned from federal politics and successfully ran for the vacated position.

[44] The city's planning department has steadily produced enough municipal data to warrant a Time magazine article on open-government.

[45] Working directly with Google, the city fed it a wealth of information about its buildings, property lines, utilities and streets.

[47] The main campus of Vancouver Island University is located in Nanaimo, which brings many international students, mostly East Asian, to the city.

In addition to contemporary exhibitions by local, national and international artists, the Gallery operates Art Lab which offers year-round art-based programs for learners of all ages.