Canada | History, Population, Immigration, Capital, & Currency

Despite Canada ’ s bang-up size, it is one of the populace ’ s most sparsely populate countries. This fact, coupled with the nobility of the landscape, has been central to the sense of canadian home identity, as expressed by the Dublin -born writer Anna Brownell Jameson, who explored cardinal Ontario in 1837 and remarked exultantly on “ the apparently endless wrinkle of trees before you ; the boundless wilderness around you ; the mysterious depths amid the countless foliation, where foot of valet hath never penetrated…the solitude in which we proceeded nautical mile after mile, no human being, no human dwelling within sight. ” Although Canadians are relatively few in number, they have crafted what many observers consider to be a exemplary multicultural club, welcoming immigrant populations from every early continent. In accession, Canada seaport and exports a wealth of natural resources and intellectual capital equaled by few other countries .

Britannica Quiz
Geography Fun Facts
What was the appoint of the supercontinent that existed over 200 million years ago ? On which continent did mankind ’ s good ancestors originate ? Unfold your mental road map and test your cognition of geography in this quiz .
Canada is officially bilingual in English and French, reflecting the nation ’ sulfur history as ground once contested by two of Europe ’ s great powers. The give voice Canada is derived from the Huron – Iroquois kanata, meaning a village or village. In the sixteenth hundred, french explorer Jacques Cartier used the name Canada to refer to the area around the colony that is now Quebec city. Later, Canada was used as a synonym for New France, which, from 1534 to 1763, included all the french possessions along the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. After the british conquest of New France, the name Quebec was sometimes used alternatively of Canada. The diagnose Canada was amply restored after 1791, when Britain divided old Quebec into the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada ( renamed in 1841 Canada West and Canada East, respectively, and jointly called Canada ). In 1867 the british North America Act created a confederation from three colonies ( Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada ) called the Dominion of Canada. The act besides divided the honest-to-god colony of Canada into the separate provinces of Ontario and Quebec. dominion status allowed Canada a boastfully measure of self-government, but matters pertaining to international delicacy and military alliances were reserved to the british crown. Canada became entirely self-governing within the british Empire in 1931, though fully legislative independence was not achieved until 1982, when Canada obtained the right to amend its own constitution.

Canada shares a 5,525-mile- ( 8,890-km- ) long edge with the United States ( including Alaska ) —the longest molding in the world not patrolled by military forces—and the consuming majority of its population lives within 185 miles ( 300 kilometer ) of the external limit. Although Canada shares many similarities with its southerly neighbour—and, indeed, its popular acculturation and that of the United States are in many regards indistinguishable—the differences between the two countries, both moody and material, are profound. “ The central fact of canadian history, ” observed the 20th-century literary critic Northrop Frye, is “ the rejection of the American Revolution. ” Contemporary Canadians are inclined to favour orderly cardinal politics and a sense of community over individuality ; in international affairs, they are more probably to serve the function of conciliator rather of warrior, and, whether at home or abroad, they are likely to have a pluralistic means of viewing the worldly concern. More than that, Canadians live in a company that in most legal and official matters resembles Britain—at least in the english-speaking helping of the country. Quebec, in finical, exhibits french adaptations : more than three-fourths of its population speaks french as their basal language. The french character in Quebec is besides reflected in differences in religion, architecture, and schooling. elsewhere in Canada, french influence is less apparent, confined largely to the double function of French and English for place names, product labels, and road signs. The french and british influences are supplemented by the cultures of the area ’ s native american peoples ( in Canada often jointly called the First Nations ) and Inuit peoples, the former being far greater in issue and the latter enjoying semiautonomous condition in Canada ’ sulfur newest territory, Nunavut. ( The latter prefer the term Inuit, which is normally used in Canada, to the term Eskimo. ) In summation, the growing act of immigrants from other european countries, Southeast Asia, and Latin America has made Canada even more broadly multicultural .Moraine Lake in Banff National Park Moraine Lake at dawn, Banff National Park, southwestern Alberta, Canada .© Mike Norton/Shutterstock.com Canada has been an influential member of the Commonwealth and has played a go function in the organization of french-speaking countries known as La Francophonie. It was a establish member of the United Nations and has been active agent in a numeral of major UN agencies and early cosmopolitan operations. In 1989 Canada joined the Organization of American States and signed a spare trade agreement with the United States, a treaty that was superseded in 1992 by the north american Free Trade Agreement ( which besides includes Mexico ). A initiation member ( 1961 ) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada is besides a penis of the Group of Seven ( G7 ), which includes the populace ’ s seven largest industrial democracies and, as the Group of Eight ( G8 ), had included Russia until it was indefinitely suspended from membership in 2014. The home capital is Ottawa, Canada ’ s one-fourth largest city. It lies some 250 miles ( 400 kilometer ) northeasterly of Toronto and 125 miles ( 200 kilometer ) west of Montreal, respectively Canada ’ s first and second cities in terms of population and economic, cultural, and educational importance. The third base largest city is Vancouver, a center for trade with the Pacific Rim countries and the principal western gateway to Canada ’ s developing interior. other major metropolitan areas include Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta ; Quebec city, Quebec ; and Winnipeg, Manitoba.