Surprisingly, Vancouver's name comes indirectly from the Dutch. Captain George Vancouver's ancestors hailed from the town of Coeverden in northeast Holland. His grandfather was John Jasper van Coeverden. In Dutch, Coeverden means "cow crossing." Here, in a nutshell, are the some of the other "moo-ving" highlights of Vancouver's history.

16,000-11,000 BC: Segments of the Coast Salish people - the ancestors of the Squamish, Burrard, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam (Xw'muthk'i'um), Tsawwassen, Coquitlam (Kwayhquitlam), Katzie and Semiahmoo Indian bands - arrive from Asia. They seem quite satisfied to find the beaches and forests teaming with wildlife and they name English Bay 'Ayyulshun,' which means "soft under feet." Nearby is the mouth of the Fraser River, where big, silvery salmon swim by six months out of every year.

1592-1774 AD: The Spaniards cruise by as part of their exploration of the area. Spain claims the West Coast of North America by virtue of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. Their presence is still felt today - Vancouver has a number of streets named after Spaniards, including Cordova, Cardero, Valdez, and Narvaez.

1792: Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy arrives. He spends one day here - long enough to discover that the Spanish have already claimed the place. He meets with Spanish captains Valdez and Galiano on one of Vancouver's best beaches, now named Spanish Banks. English Bay was named for similar territory-claiming reasons.

1808: Simon Fraser, an explorer and fur trader, arrives via an overland route from Eastern Canada by a river he thought was the Columbia. Even though he was wrong about his travel plans, the river he paddled was still named after him.

1827: Hudson's Bay Company builds a trading post on the Fraser River. It's the area's first permanent non-native settlement. Since 1893 the department store company has occupied a prime Vancouver location at the corner of Georgia and Granville Streets. It's also a national partner of the city's 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

1858: The news of gold discoveries on the banks of the Fraser raise a bit of interest. About 25,000 prospectors drop in for a look.

1860: Three Englishmen who should have stayed out of the sun built a brickyard. The business flopped amid much guffawing from the locals who dubbed them the "Three Greenhorns." The area they carved out is now known as the West End, one of North America's most populated neighbourhoods. There's no shortage of brickwork in the surrounding buildings.

1867: A talkative chap nicknamed "Gassy Jack" opens a saloon for forestry workers on the shore of Burrard Inlet. It becomes so popular that a community develops around it and names itself "Gastown."

1870: Gastown is incorporated as the town of Granville.

1884: The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) moves its terminal from the head of Burrard Inlet to the area of Granville, now known as Coal Harbour. Port Moody is miffed but Granville grows like Topsy. The same year, the vessel Robert Kerr leaves England with Seraphim Fortes aboard. Originally from Barbados, Seraphim has been working in Liverpool as a bath attendant and swimming instructor. His boat founders en route to Victoria and is towed into English Bay where "Joe" Fortes begins teaching the local kids to swim.

1886: With a population of around 1,000, Granville incorporates as the City of Vancouver. The first mayor is realtor M.A. McLean. On June 13, a brush fire spirals out of control and burns the new city to the ground in less than 30 minutes. McLean, knowing the value of real estate, gets the rebuilding going in a matter of days.

1887: The CPR's first train arrives; the final stop of Canada's first transcontinental railway trip.

1888: The last body is buried in Pioneer Cemetery, the graveyard of many of Vancouver's earliest citizens. The cemetery stretches from Brockton Point to the Nine O'clock Gun. Why no more? Well: 1888 was when the road that would eventually encircle Stanley Park was first constructed in the Brockton Point area. This first perimeter road was paved with the shells from the park's native middens.

1889: The first Granville Bridge is completed. A second incarnation was built in 1909. The one standing now is the third, built in 1954.

1890: The first lighthouse is built at Brockton Point and electric streetcars are in service around the city.

1891: The city's first tram-based public transit system, the Interurban, starts-up.

1898: Sand is added to English Bay beach, making it more accessible to bathers. A large rock on the beach separates men and women (no peeking!). The Nine O'clock Gun is placed at Brockton Point in Stanley Park - it still booms every evening.

1900: Vancouver surpasses the provincial capital of Victoria in size. Did they immediately move the capital to Vancouver? No.

1906: Vancouver's population hits 50,000 and a new courthouse is demanded to replace the current one near Gastown's Victory Square.

1908: The University of British Columbia (UBC) opens for business. A few students show up. There are over 45,000 full-time students and more than 4,500 faculty there now.

1909: The Dominion Trust Building, the city's first skyscraper, opens at Hastings and Cambie Streets. It's still there but looks kind of puny now.

1911: Canada's first artificial ice-rink, the Arena, opens. At the time, it was the world's largest indoor ice rink. The Vancouver Millionaires, the city's first hockey team, was created from players swiped from the National Hockey League.

1914-15: The Millionaires become Western League hockey champions.

1915: The first lighthouse at Brockton Point is replaced. Notice the arch at the bottom of the current lighthouse. It was going to be part of a boathouse until someone realized the area's strong ocean currents might make boat launching a bit of a challenge.

1920: Vancouver outgrows Winnipeg, Western Canada's main city. For its next trick, the population turns out in droves to watch Houdini suspend himself from the top of the Sun Tower. The media-savvy escapologist chose that building because it housed the offices of The Vancouver Sun. In the same year, a New Year's Day polar bear swim is started in English Bay - it still takes place today.

1922: "Joe" Fortes dies of pneumonia. The city pays for his funeral as thousands of people, many of whom learned how to swim with Joe's meaty hands holding them up in the waters of English Bay, line Granville and Hastings Streets to say goodbye.

1925: The first Second Narrows Bridge connects the city with North Vancouver. The one that's there now is the second incarnation.

1929: The Commodore Ballroom, built in the majestic Art Deco style by architect H.H. Gillingham for entrepreneur George Conrad Reifel, opens to the dance-loving public.

1931: The new English Bay bathhouse is constructed from concrete, replacing the first bathhouse, which was made of wood.

1936: The new City Hall at 12th Avenue and Cambie is dedicated. It still looks like it should be in Gotham City. The same year, the Denman Street ice-skating arena is destroyed by fire.

1938: The Lions Gate Bridge is completed by the Guinness family, enabling access from the city to the large swathe of real estate the family is developing on the North Shore.

1954: Vancouver's British Empire and Commonwealth Games features the "Miracle Mile" in which Roger Bannister and John Landy both break the four-minute mark for the first time. It was the first sports event televised in all of North America.

1959: A busy year. The city's first shopping mall - the Oakridge Centre - as well as the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and the Vancouver Maritime Museum open. This year they also sunk the George Massey Tunnel. Fortunately, sinking it was the right thing to do because it goes under the Fraser River.

1964: The B.C. Lions win the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup for the first time.

1970: The Vancouver Canucks play their first game in the National Hockey League, winning against the Los Angeles Kings.

1974: The locomotive Royal Hudson logs its first run since being rebuilt. After retiring again in 2001, the train - now protected at Squamish's West Coast Heritage Railway Park - has been restored for a return to the rails in 2007.

1977: SeaBus passenger ferry service between the North Shore and downtown Vancouver launches.

1979: The Vancouver Whitecaps win the North American Soccer League. Also this year, the first annual Gay Pride Parade is held in downtown Vancouver. It's now the city's biggest annual street party.

1983: BC Place Stadium inflates, looking like a cake in the oven. Once up, it becomes the world's largest air-supported dome with 60,000 seats. Let's put that in perspective: if you put all the residents of Vancouver in it when the city was incorporated 97 years earlier, you would have 59,000 empty seats. Also this year, the old Court House was officially converted into the Vancouver Art Gallery. It now houses more than 7,900 works of art in a collection valued at over $100 million.

1985: SkyTrain launches mid-December. The initial route, from Vancouver to New Westminster, retraces part of the city's old Interurban line. SkyTrain's original Expo Line is later expanded to Surrey and a new route - the Millennium Line - opens in 2002, linking the city to Coquitlam and Burnaby. Additional rapid transit lines to the airport and further into Coquitlam and Port Moody are planned for completion in 2009 and 2011.

1986: Vancouver's centennial is marked by the six-month, transport-themed Expo 86 world exposition, located on the north shore of False Creek. They had to rip out a big rail yard to make room for it but the event is a huge success.

1994: The Vancouver Canucks reach the Stanley Cup finals but lose in the closing moments of the final game. Disappointed fans riot in downtown Vancouver. On the other hand the B.C. Lions football team win the Grey Cup for the second time in their history. The rioters stay home in droves for that one.

1995: The new Vancouver Public Library, shaped like something Roman, opens its doors. Nearby, General Motors Place opens as a venue for hockey and mega music concerts. It's immediately nicknamed "The Garage."

1996: Estimates show that the central city's population has increased by more than 107,000 since 1981 - a 26 per cent jump!

1999: Vancouver creates a team to bid for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Tourism Vancouver plays a large role in the initiation of this original bid.

2003: Vancouver is selected as the host city for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. GM Place broadcasts the announcement live to a sold out crowd, while celebrations take place across the city.

2005: A major expansion to the waterfront Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre begins, with plans to triple the capacity of the original facility.

2006: A series of windstorms hit Vancouver and surrounding municipalities late in the year, causing damages around the city. Most devastating damage is to the city's beloved Stanley Park, where thousands of trees fell to the ground.

2009: On April 3, the new Vancouver Convention Centre is officially opened. It is one of the "greenest" in the world and is the largest waterfront convention centre anywhere in Canada.

2009: SkyTrain welcomes its newest addition to Metro Vancouver’s rapid rail service, the Canada Line, on August 17, months ahead of schedule.

Story Idea: Consider a story tracing Vancouver's early historic sites for visitors. The feature could include visits to Spanish Banks, Gastown, Brockton Point, Pioneer Cemetery, the Dominion Trust Building and the Commodore Ballroom. You could also include a historic walking tour from the Architectural Institute of B.C. (www.aibc.ca) and lunch at the grand Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (www.fairmont.com/hotelvancouver).