Nanaimo is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is known as “The Harbour City”. The city was previously known as the “Hub City”, which has been attributed to its original layout design where the streets radiated out from the shoreline like the spokes of a wagon wheel, as well as its generally centralized location on Vancouver Island.

Nanaimo began as a trading post in the early 19th century. In 1849, the Snuneymuxw chief Ki-et-sa-kun (“Coal Tyee”) informed the Hudson’s Bay Company of coal in the area. Exploration proved there was plenty of it in the area and Nanaimo became chiefly known for the export of coal. In 1853 the company built the Nanaimo Bastion, which has been preserved and is a popular tourist destination in the downtown area.

The original economic driver was coal mining; however, the forestry industry supplanted it in the early 1960s with the building of the MacMillan Bloedel pulp mill at Harmac in 1958, named after Harvey MacMillan. Today the pulp mill is owned by the employees and local investors and injects well over half a million dollars a day into the local economy.

The Nanaimo Art Gallery is a public art museum located downtown at 150 Commercial Street. In addition to local, national and international artists, the Gallery operates Art Lab which offers year-round art-based programs for learners of all ages. The Gallery Store, features work by local artists and artisans, and runs Artists in the Schools, a program that operates across three school district. The Port Theatre in downtown Nanaimo hosts many performers and shows during the year. Smaller, local theatre companies such as In Other Words Theatre, Western Edge Theatre

and Schmooze Productions perform at the Nanaimo Centre Stage. Nanaimo also began running a fringe theatre festival in 2011.

A huge component of the underground music scene in Nanaimo is from the student body of Vancouver Island University. The Nanaimo Blues Society has organized and presented five highly successful, Summertime Blues festivals.

The Nanaimo bar, which is a no-bake cookie bar with custard filling, is a Canadian dessert named after Nanaimo.