The history of Vancouver, British Columbia, is one that extends back thousands of years, with its first inhabitants arriving in the area following the Last Glacial Period. With its location on the western coast of Canada near the mouth of the Fraser River and on the waterways of the Strait of Georgia, Howe Sound, Burrard Inlet, and their tributaries, Vancouver hasfor thousands of yearsbeen a place of meeting, trade, and settlement. The presence of people in what is now called the Lower Mainland of British Columbia dates from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago when the glaciers of the last ice age began to disappear. The area, known to the First Nations as S'ólh Téméxw, shows archeological evidence of a seasonal encampment ("the Glenrose Cannery site") near the mouth of the Fraser River that dates from that time. The first Europeans to explore the area were Spanish Captain José María Narváez in 1791, and British naval Captain George Vancouver in 1792. The area was not settled by Europeans until almost a century later, in 1862. The city grew rapidly following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) transcontinental line from Eastern Canada, allowing for continuous rail service in the late 1880s. Many Chinese settlers moved into the region following the completion of the CPR. Subsequent waves of immigration were initially of Europeans moving west, and later, with the advent of global air travel, from Asia and many other parts of the world. Early history First Nations settlements The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the original inhabitants of what is now known as Vancouver. The city falls within the traditional territory of three Coast Salish peoples known as, Squamish (Sḵwxwú7mesh), Tsleil-waututh and Xwméthkwyiem ("Musqueam"—from masqui "an edible grass that grows in the sea"). On the southern shores of Vancouver along the Fraser River, Xwméthkwyiem live with their main community. In the False Creek and Burrard Inlet area, Squamish currently live in numerous villages in North Vancouver, with their territory also a part of Howe Sound and upwards towards the town of Whistler. Further down the Burrard Inlet, Tsleil-Waututh have their main community. Xwméthkwyiem and Tsleil-Waututh historically spoke a language dialect of Halkomelem language, whereas Squamish language is separate but related. Their language is more closely connected to their Shishalh neighbours at Sechelt. Historically, the area where Vancouver is now was a resource-gathering place for food or materials. The