Canada is a country in the north of North America and will have more than 38 million inhabitants in 2022. The country has an area of ​​9,984,670 square kilometers and is the second largest country in the world after Russia. The country is more than 260 times the size of the Netherlands. The capital is Ottawa, the largest city is Toronto.

Geography

The Highway 1 in British Columbia (Trans-Canada Highway) through the Kicking Horse Canyon east of Golden, British Columbia.

According to ABBREVIATIONFINDER, Canada is a large country bordered to the west by the Pacific Ocean and Alaska, to the south by the United States, namely the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean, to the northeast is Greenland, and to the north is the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay. The country is divided into ten provinces and three territories. Canada measures a maximum of 5,500 kilometers from west to east and 4,600 kilometers from north to south. Baffin Island is the largest island in Canada with 507,451 km² and the fifth largest island in the world.

Canada’s landscape is diverse, with low mountains and hills in the east, vast prairies in the middle that turn into coniferous forests and taiga in the north, and the Rocky Mountains in the west. Dotted across the land are numerous large and small lakes. On the border with the United States are a number of large lakes, such as Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, but there are also large lakes such as Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake, Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis. Major rivers include the Fraser, Nelson, Mackenzie, and St. Lawrence. Canada has the longest coastline in the world at 243,000 kilometers.

Canada is usually divided into the east, west and north, the country has no defined south, in our experience the whole of Canada coincides with the inhabited part, a strip of 200 to 500 kilometers from the American border. The lack of a south is mainly because in winter almost all of Canada is cold, the Vancouver region is the only part of Canada where there are no bitterly cold winters. Many Canadians will rarely, if ever, make it to the north of the provinces, let alone the territories. The Northern Ontario region (which is much larger than Southern Ontario) is the only part of northern Canada that is still somewhat inhabited, but where there is no cultivated land. The uncultivated parts of the other provinces are extremely sparsely populated or even inaccessible by land, such as northern Québec and Manitoba.

Economy

The Canadian economy is one of the largest in the world, which makes it one of the most prosperous countries. In Canada payment is made with the Canadian dollar ($ or C$). Canada’s economy is closely intertwined with that of the United States, which is one of the reasons why the imperial system of measures in Canada is relatively widely used in colloquialism. The economy is dominated by the service sector. The median salary is about $25 per hour. Canada also has a large primary sector, namely the extraction and export of energy (particularly oil and gas), other mining products in the north, forestry and agriculture. The countryside of the ‘prairie provinces’ (Alberta, Manitoba & Saskatchewan) is dominated by mechanized farming. Farms are often very large. Canada is one of the few highly developed countries that is a net exporter of energy. In addition to fossil energy, Canada also has a lot of renewable energy, especially in the form of hydropower, mainly in British Columbia and Québec. Canada owns about 13% of the world’s oil reserves. The Athabasca Oil Sands in northern Alberta probably have as much oil as the rest of the world combined, but only part of it is economically viable.

Economic development in Canada is not evenly distributed. The eastern maritime provinces are somewhat backward, especially Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador have a high unemployment rate of 10-15%. Québec and Ontario are around the Canadian average, but the western provinces in particular are the most prosperous because of their many resources. Alberta is Canada’s wealthiest province. The prairie provinces also tend to have the lowest unemployment rate in Canada, while the East Coast has the highest unemployment rate. The wealthiest major cities are Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton.

Demographics

The vast majority of the population lives in the diverse cities of the south of the country, particularly in and around the cities of Toronto, Montréal, Québec, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. See Canada population density. The capital Ottawa is in the province of Ontario, and the largest city is Torontoin that same province. Canada is a fast-growing country, growing from 24.8 million inhabitants in 1981 to 34.3 million in 2011. The population is ethnically diverse, especially in the major cities. Throughout Canada, Western ethnicities are dominant, but in large cities and suburbs, sometimes more than 50% of the inhabitants belong to a ‘visible minority’. In addition, there are also aborigines in Canada, who are called ‘first nations’ in Canada. In addition, there are the Métis and Inuits. The term ‘Eskimo’ is perceived as insulting.

Canada has traditionally had two dominant languages; the English and French. French is mainly spoken in the province of Québec, but is a minority language in some other provinces. Compared to later languages ​​of immigrants, French has a higher legal status, even though it is not the second language in many cities. For example, bilingual signposts in English and French are found in urban areas where French is not one of the 5 most widely spoken languages. The capital Ottawa is located on the border of the English and French speaking regions. Language facilities for French speakers are available in many provinces.

History

Beginning in the late 15th century, French and British colonies were established on the Atlantic coast of what is now Canada. In the 18th century, the United States was formed as an independent country, leaving the British and French colonies in what is now Canada. On July 1, 1867, three colonies formed the ‘Dominion of Canada’, which was later gradually expanded into present-day Canada. Most of present-day Canada was formed in 1871 with the accession of British Columbia as a province. In 1880 the Arctic islands joined Canada. The last territorial expansion was in 1949, when Labrador and the island of Newfoundland joined Canada, which later became the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.would become. Later there were some domestic divisions and name changes. In 1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces, in 1912 the territory of the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Québec was expanded considerably to the north. With these changes, the Northwest Territories became smaller and smaller. Nunavut was split off from the Northwest Territories in 1999. The last change was in 2003 when ‘Yukon Territory’ was renamed to Yukon for short.

In the early 20th century, the United Kingdom was still responsible for Canada’s foreign policy. This brought the country automatically into World War I in 1914. With the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Canada got full self-government. Canada was hit hard during the depression of the 1930s and the Dust Bowl. Canada became involved in World War II in 1939. One million Canadians fought in Europe during World War II. The Dutch royal family moved to Canada during the war, which ensured that the Netherlands and Canada maintained good relations for a long time afterwards. Canada’s economy grew strongly during the war.

In 1965 the current flag, the well-known ‘Maple Leaf’, was put into use. In 1969, the country officially became bilingual English and French. In the 1960s, nationalism rose in the province of Québec, with two referendums for independence in 1980 and 1995, both of which fell short of a small minority. There was also anti-Québec sentiment in other parts of Canada at the time. This is partly due to the fact that French is reasonably well facilitated elsewhere in Canada, but English is not or hardly facilitated in Québec.

Provinces & Territories

Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces comprise the south of the country, the territories the north. Policy in the territories is determined to a greater extent by the federal government than in the provinces. The border between the provinces and territories is usually at 60° north latitude. The Canadian Confederation was the process by which modern independent Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, four British colonies became part of Canada, namely Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Manitoba and the Northwest Territories followed in 1870, British Columbia in 1871 and Prince Edward Island in 1873. Alberta and Saskatchewan became independent provinces of Canada in 1905. In 1949 Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada. Originally, Yukon and Nunavut were part of the Northwest Territories, which became separate territories in 1898 and 1999, respectively. Before 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan were also part of the Northwest Territories, and thus also belonged to Canada since 1870, although they did not become provinces until 1905.

Geographically, Canada is divided into several regions. ‘Eastern Canada’ usually refers to the provinces on the east coast, a region often referred to as the ‘maritimes’ in Canada. ‘Central Canada’ refers to Ontario and Québec, and ‘Western Canada’ refers to the provinces west of them. This is primarily historically determined, abroad (particularly the United States) Ontario and Québec are often considered eastern Canada, and the prairies as central Canada, as they lie north of the eastern states and the Midwest respectively.. From an American perspective, only British Columbia is often seen as Western Canada, possibly Alberta.

Towns

Five Canadian cities have more than 1 million inhabitants and 6 urban areas have more than 1 million inhabitants. It is striking that the top 10 largest cities in Canada also include two Toronto suburbs, namely Mississauga and Brampton. The Toronto area is growing rapidly, as are the cities in the Prairie Provinces, especially Calgary and Edmonton. Growth is limited in the east, especially Quebec citiesgrow slowly. This seems to be related to an unfavorable business climate for non-French speaking companies, since the language law of 1977 Québec has grown more slowly than the Canadian average, before that Québec grew faster than the Canadian average. There seems to be an interaction between Montreal and Toronto in particular, before the language law Montreal was the fastest growing city, then Toronto. Both cities are relatively close to each other.

The greatest concentration of cities is in southern Ontario and along the St. Lawrence in Québec. Other cities are scattered throughout the country, all in southern Canada. It is striking that there are no large cities on the east coast of Canada, in the so-called “maritime provinces”, with 440,000 inhabitants Halifax in Nova Scotia is the largest city. Population growth has moved westward over the years, starting in the coastal provinces, then Québec, followed by southern Ontario and Vancouver, and then especially Alberta.

Toronto and Montreal were originally Canada’s two equal largest cities, but in recent years Toronto has become more dominant. The suburbs of Toronto in particular are growing rapidly, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is growing by approximately 100,000 inhabitants per year.