The Strait of Georgia (French: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait[3] is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United States.

The strait is a major navigation channel on the west coast of North America, owing to the presence of the port of Vancouver, and also due to its role as the southern entrance to the Intracoastal route known as the Inside Passage.

The Ballenas Basin in the centre of the strait reaches a maximum depth of 420 m (1,380 ft) approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) north of Nanaimo.

As defined by George Vancouver in 1792, the Gulf of Georgia included all the inland waters beyond the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, including Puget Sound, Bellingham Bay, the waters around the San Juan Islands, as well as the Strait of Georgia.

The first European exploration of the area was undertaken by Captain Jose Maria Narvaez and Pilot Juan Carrasco of Spain in 1791.

Vancouver designated the mainland in this region as New Georgia and areas farther north as New Hanover and New Bremen.

The June 23, 1946, Vancouver Island earthquake shocked the Strait of Georgia region, causing the bottom of Deep Bay to sink between 3 and 26 m (9.8 and 85.3 ft).

In March 2008, the Chemainus First Nation proposed renaming the strait the "Salish Sea", an idea that reportedly met with approval by B.C.