New Westminster

It was founded in 1858 by Richard Clement Moody as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia, and served as such until the mainland and Vancouver Island colonies were merged to form the new Colony of British Columbia in 1866. It was the British Columbia mainland's largest city from its foundation until the first decade of the 20th century, when it was surpassed in population by Vancouver.

It is located on the banks of the Fraser River as it turns southwest towards its estuary, on the southwest side of the Burrard Peninsula and roughly at the centre of the Greater Vancouver region.