Canada topic (0)

CANADA
Geography
Canada is the world’s second largest country in total area after Russia , since it covers nearly 10 million square kilometres, but is one of the most sparsely populated, with only about 34 million inhabitants. The majority of them live within 300 kilometres of Canada’s southern border. Much of the rest of Canada is uninhabited or thinly populated, because the country has a rugged terrain and severe climate.
Canada extends across the continent of North America, from Newfoundland on the Atlantic coast to British Columbia on the Pacific coast and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Canada shares land borders with the United States to the south and north- west .
Canada is a land of great variety. Towering mountains , crystal -clear lakes , and lush , green forests make Canada’s far west a beautiful region . Farther inland, fields of wheat and other grains cover Canada’s vast prairies. Thes fertile farmlands contrast vividly with the Arctic wastelands to the north. Most of the largest towns and industrial areas lie near the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River in central Canada. In the east , fishing villages and sandy beaches dot the Atlantic coast. Across the country, Canadians experience many different landscapes from rolling plains and mountains to the cold tundra of the north.
Geographically, Canada can be divided into five major regions : the Pacific Region, the Prairie Provinces, Central Canada, the Atlantic Provinces, and the North.
The Pacific Region includes Canada’s westernmost province , British Columbia. The region is known for its mild coastal climate, its forests, and its spectacular mountains, including the famous Rockies. The Rocky Mountains are the youngest and highest mountains in Canada. British Columbia is in the landform region called the Western Cordillera. (’Cordillera’ means a system of mountain ranges ). Between the mountain ranges are areas of high plateaus and deep trenches. Since the landscape is very rugged, most people live in the south and near the coast.
Vancouver and Victoria are the largest cities in British Columbia. The region includes the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island . All these islands are peaks of a mountain range that is partly covered by the Pacific Ocean. The St Elias Mountains in the Yukon include Canada’s highest peak , Mount Logan . It towers 5,951 metres above sea level.
Because the Coast Mountains are on the seashore, the coast of British Columbia has many long, narrow inlets called fiords . The fiords provide a water route to Canada’s most valuable forests. These forests consist of red cedars, hemlocks, and other evergreen trees that grow on the lower mountain slopes.
Alberta , Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are Canada’s Prairie Provinces. They are known for their rolling plains and extreme climate with long, cold winters and hot, dry summers . Much of the area is covered with farms producing large quantities of wheat and other grains. The region is also rich in oil and natural gas.
Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba are covered by the Great Canadian Shield – a rocky landscape with lakes, rivers and forests. The Canadian Shield is a vast horseshoe-shaped region. It curves round Hudson Bay from the Arctic coast of the Northwest Territories to the coast of Labrador , the mainland part of Newfoundland. The Canadian Shield covers about half of Canada and is made up of extremely ancient rock. The Canadian Shield mostly consists of eroded hilly terrain and contains thousands of lakes. These lakes are the sources of rivers that break into great rapids and waterfalls used for hydroelectric production , providing power for pulp and paper mills, and a variety of other industries. Relatively few people live in the Canadian Shield because of its poor soil and cold climate. The Canadian Shield has much of Canada’s mineral wealth, producing most of the country’s iron ore.
Central Canada, which includes Ontario and Quebec , is not really the geographic centre of Canada. The region gets its name because, historically, it has been the centre of political and economic power in the country. Canada’s capital city is Ottawa , Ontario. Toronto and Montreal are the two largest cities in Canada. Central Canada is also the most heavily populated and industrialized area of Canada, particularly in the south around the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River.
The Great Lakes are the largest body of fresh water in the world. In order of size , they include Lake Superior , Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. These waterways along with the St Lawrence River are an important transportation route from the Atlantic Ocean to Canada’s interior . Between Lake Eire and Lake Ontario, the Niagara River plunges over a rocky ledge and forms the famous Niagara Falls .
In the far north we find the Hudson Bay Lowlands, which are cold, flat, and swampy, with very few cities. This area is home mainly to Inuit and other indigenous peoples who have lived there for centuries .
The St Lawrence Lowlands have excellent transportation facilities and lie near markets in the United States. These features help make the region a manufacturing centre, producing three-fourths of Canada’s manufactured goods . Fertile soil and a mild climate enable farmers produce such important crops as barley, maize, soybeans, oats, fuits and vegetables. The region also has a large number of dairy farms.
The Atlantic Provinces of the country include the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador. Fishing, shipping, and farming are important activities for the people of this area. Along the coast, bays and inlets provide excellent harbours for fishing fleets.
The Appalachian mountain range extends from Alabama in the southern United States through the Atlantic Provinces, creating rolling hills indented by river valleys. The Appalachian Mountains in this region are old, rounded mountains. Valleys in the region, are important farming areas producing fruit, vegetables, and dairy products .
The North includes the Yukon Territory and the Northwest territories, along with all of Canada’s Arctic islands. Much of the North is treeless tundra. In the summer months, there is no darkness; the sun never sets. In winter it is so cold that the earth is frozen for most of the year and never thaws more than half a metre from the surface. Only simple plants called lichens grow on the northernmost islands. The North is home to indigenous peoples, and to a great variety of wildlife including caribou and polar bears.
Canada has an extremely large number of lakes, the largest of them are Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake. The two principal river systems are the Mackenzie and the St Lawrence.
Canada’s climate helps explain why there are so few people in so big a land. Northern Canada has short, cool summers and long cold winters. In the northern Arctic Islands, July temperatures average below 4 degrees. Winters can be harsh in many regions of the country, particularly in the interior and prairie provinces which experience a continental climate, where average daily temperatures can drop below -40 degrees with severe wind chills.
On the east and west coast, average high temperatures are generally in the low 20s C, while between the coasts the average summer high temperature ranges from 25 to 30 degrees with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 40 C.
Coastal British Columbia is an exception and enjoys a temperate climate with a mild and rainy winter.
Southeastern Canada has a humid climate. The average annual precipitation ranges from about 75 centimetres in southern Ontario to about 150 centimetres on the coast of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
Canada
is a federation of 10 provinces (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia) along with 3 territories (the Yukon Territory, the Nunavut Territory and the Northwest Territories).
History
The first explorers were of many nationalities and came to Canada as early as 1,000 A.D., but it was the French who first began to colonize early in the 17th century . This was largely a French country for a century and a half, although New Brunswick and the mainland of Nova Scotia were coded to Britain in 1713.
In 1735 a war began between France and England over the fur trade in North America. Since 1759 and on to this day Canada became British.
In the middle of the 19th century it seemed practical to unite the colonies into one self- governing country. In 1867 the Dominion of Canada was created - an independent country within the British Empire consisting of 4 provinces: Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec and Nova Scotia, with the monarch represented in Canada by governor-general.
HOW CANADA GOT THE NAME CANADA
There have been many theories about the origin of the name Canada but there can be a little doubt that the word is Indian in origin. When Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River in 1534 to the Indian village of Stadacona, now Quebec, he heard the village called „kanata“ and took that to be the name of the country. However , in some Huron dialects, „Kanata“ means settlement or a village. In the Mohawk language , a similar word means simply a place .
In Cartier’s map of St. Lawrence, he put tha name Canada on the area between the Saguenay River and what is now Quebec City.
In the 16th century mapmaker, Mercator, used the name New France for the French colony along the St. Lawrence, but Dutch and English mapmakers gave that name a much broader meaning, extending it to all French colonies in the New World. After the English Conquest of the French colony of Acada in 1713, the name Canada started to be applied to the whole St. Lawrence colony and not just to a part of it.
After the British victory on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, the name Quebec started to be used for the entire French territory. Along the St. Lawrence, and this name remained in use until the Canada Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1791.This Act created a new colony called Upper Canada (now Ontario) and gave the name Lower Canada to what is now known as Quebec.
From this time, the name Canada, was used for the joint territory occupied by the two colonies, and this was not changed by the Act of Union passed in London in 1840. This united the two colonies into what was officially called the Province of Canada, with Upper Canada being remained Canada West, and Lower Canada becoming Canada East. This system remained in effect until Confederation in 1867, when the name was applied to the four provinces that joined forces at that time - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.
Eventually the other provinces joined Confederation: Manitoba in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, prince Edward Island in 1873, the two prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905, and finally Newfoundland in 1949. Thus the name Canada spread from a small community on the St. Lawrence to embrace half a continent from sea to sea and from 3rd to 49th parallel to the North Pole.
Political System of Canada
Canada is an independent, self-governing nation. However, Canadians recognize Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain as Queen of Canada. The position symbolizes the country’s strong ties to Great Britain, which ruled Canada completely until 1867. Canada and the United States have had a relationship of cooperation and friendship since the 1800’s.
In Canada a federal form of government is combined with a cabinet system.
As a federation, Canada is made up of ten provinces and three territories. Its national problems are resolved through its central government in Ottawa. Each province has its own government. The territories are self-governing.
The Cabinet system of Canada unites the legislative and executive branches of the Government. The Prime Minister and the members of the Cabinet are usually members of the House of Commons. Sometimes a senator may be in the Cabinet. Ministers are resposible for all their actions to the House, which is elected by the people. The Prime Minister directs the government.
The Parliament is the national legislature of Canada. It has two houses , an upper house called the Senate, and a lower, more powerful house, is called the House of Commons.
The Senate has 104 members. Senators are appointed by the governor generally on Prime Minister’s recommendation . The Speaker is the Senate’s presiding officer. A new Prime Minister generally has an appointment with a new speaker. Senators must retire at the age of 65.
The House of Commons consists of members elected by the people for five-year terms , unless an election is called earlier. The number of members for each province is determined after each Canadian census .
To vote in national elections, a person must be at least 18 years old and a Canadion citizen.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is the Queen of Canada as well. She is the official head of state, but a governor generally acts as her representative. The governor generally performs only certain formal and symbolic tasks.
Canada, a member of Commonwealth of Nations, is an independent, self-governing democracy, equal in rank to Great Britain and all other nations.
Canada has equal rights with the United Kingdom; is loyal to Queen Elizabeth II; has membership in the United Nations; appoints her own ambassadors and other representatives abroad ; makes her own treaties; draws up her own laws ; imposes her own taxes , maintains her own army , navy and air forces.
Population
The Canadian people are not a compact, homogeneous group, but rather a collection of diverse national and cultural groups. The two biggest ethnic groups are those of British and French extraction, and in fact the country is officially bilingual.
Canada
has the population of about 34 million. Only 44 % are of British descent; 32 % of French ancestry; 15 % of foreign origin. About 67 % of the people speak English, 26 % speak French and about 7 % some other tongue. There are many people of German , Italian, Ukrainian, Polish or of Scandinavian origin. The native people – Indians and Inuits (Eskimos) , proud and free – have been retreated, live in the North West territories, in the remote and lonely areas, which except a few settlements, and a few mines, is as God made it. Here the Indian is a nomadic hunter still. Here the Eskimo , in a Stone Age of his own. The number of Indians and Eskimos are about 380, 000 and 25,000 accordingly. Thanks to their rapid birth rate their number has increased during the 20th and 21st century.
Picturesque Quebec
is the most French of Canada’s big cities. It attracts many visitors. Canada’s largest city, Montreal, is also largely French. Next to Paris it is the largest French-speaking city in the world. In the two cities many signs are in both French and English.