Kamloops

Kamloops (ˈkæmluːps ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, whose district offices are based here. The surrounding region is sometimes referred to as the Thompson Country. The city was incorporated in 1893 with about 500 residents. The Canadian Pacific Railroad was completed through downtown in 1886, and the Canadian National arrived in 1912, making Kamloops an important transportation hub. With a 2021 population of 97,902, it is the twelfth largest municipality in the province. The Kamloops census agglomeration is ranked 36th among census metropolitan areas and agglomerations in Canada with a 2021 population of 114,142. Kamloops is promoted as the Tournament Capital of Canada. It hosts more than 100 sporting tournaments each year (hockey, baseball, curling, etc) at world-class sports facilities such as the Tournament Capital Centre, Kamloops Bike Ranch, and Tournament Capital Ranch. Logging, beef cattle, vegetable farming, transportation, viticulture, health care, tourism, and education are major contributing industries to the regional economy and have grown in recent years. Thompson Rivers University (~25,000 students) was established as Cariboo College in 1970. The first European explorers arrived in 1811. David Stuart, a trader sent from Fort Astoria, then still a Pacific Fur Company post, spent a winter with the Secwépemc people. In May of the following year, trader Alexander Ross established a post, which was known as "Fort Cumcloups". The rival North West Company established Fort Shuswap nearby in the same year. The two businesses merged in 1813 when the North West Company bought the operations of the Pacific Fur Company. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company merged with the North West Company, and the post became known commonly as Thompson's River Post, or Fort Thompson. Later it was known as Fort Kamloops.