<P> With the booming economy came the expansion of the original fur trading posts into thriving communities (such as Victoria, Nanaimo, and Kamloops). It also led to the establishment of new communities, such as Yale, New Westminster, and--most notably, though a latecomer--Vancouver . The product of the consolidation of the burgeoning mill towns of Granville and Hastings Mill located near the mouth of the Fraser on Burrard Inlet in the later 1860s, Vancouver was incorporated in 1886 following its selection as the railhead for the Canadian Pacific Railway . Despite a devastating fire which all but wiped out the city three months later, Vancouver quickly became the largest city in the province, its ports conveying both the resource wealth of the province as well as that transported from the prairie provinces by rail, to markets overseas . Vancouver's status as the principal city in the province has endured, augmented by growth in the surrounding municipalities of Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, Delta, Coquitlam, and New Westminster . Today, Metro Vancouver is the third most populous metropolitan area in Canada, behind Toronto and Montreal . </P> <P> It was also during this period where ethnic diversity began to develop significantly, as immigration was not fed entirely by European countries . Chinese and Japanese emigrants made many coastal settlements home, beginning in the 1850s, and became increasingly more pronounced in the 1880s . </P> <P> Since the days of the fur trade, British Columbia's economy has been based on natural resources, particularly fishing, logging and mining . From the canneries to the mills and mines, B.C.'s resource sector was increasingly the domain of large commercial interests . </P> <P> With industrialization and economic growth, workers arrived to join in the seemingly boundless prosperity . Increasingly, these workers came from Asia as well as Europe . The mix of cultures and diversity was a source of strength, but also, often, of conflict . The early part of the 20th century was a time of great change and talk between immigrants and the First Nations, all of whom found their lives changing rapidly . </P>

When did the north west territories join confederation