Canada

Canada

Capital city

Ottawa in the province of Ontario

Inhabitants

27,367 millions

Territory

Canada is the 2nd largest country with more than 9,9 million km². Seven percent of the world's area and nine percent of the world's fresh water provision belong to Canada.

Provinces and territories

Canada has ten provinces and two territories. In 1999 the Northwest territory is going to split up. They will split the eastern part (two thirds of the territory) into two territories. The new territory will be named Nanavut.  It means 'our land' in the language of the Inuits. The provincial capital of Nanavut will be Iqaluit.

The provinces from west to east:

and territories:

The national symbol

Since the 18th century the maple leaf has been connected with Canada. The leaf is regarded as the most important national symbol of Canada since 1965. Since then Canada has also got its own flag.

The national anthem

On 1st July 1980 the hymn 'O Canada' became the Canadian national anthem.

The national currency

The currency is the Canadian dollar  1 can$ = 100 cents

The national holiday

1st July

The Canadian governmental system

Canada is a constitutional monarchy and a federal state with a democratically elected parliament. The parliament meets in Ottawa. It consists of the House of Commons and the senate. The head of state is the British monarch, who is substituted by a governor.

Geographical nature

The Canadian landscape is marked by its great variety. Plains with fertile farm land can be found as well as huge mountain ranges, lakes and rivers.

Canada's mountains

The huge mountain ranges in the eastern areas are the Torgat Mountains, the Appalachians and the Laurentians. In the west there are the Rocky Mountains and the Mackenzie Mountains. The Pelly Mountains and Mount St. Elias are situated in the north. The highest mountain is Mount Logan in the Yukon - territory.

The big lakes

there are a lot of big lakes in Canada. The biggest is Great Bear Lake. It covers 31.326 km².

The rivers

Canada's longest river is the Mackenzie River in the Northwest - territories. Other big rivers are the St. Lawrence River, the Churchill River, the Nelson River.

The time zone

Canada covers six time zones. In the east, in Newfoundland, the local time is three hours and thirty minutes behind Greenwich Mean Time.

In the West of the Country (Pacific Standard Time) the local time is eight hours behind GMT. Between these two times there are the Eastern time, the Atlantic time, the Central time and the Rocky Mountains time.

Trade and industry

In the St. Lawrence - valley dairy farming and potato farming is managed. Wheat is grown in the prairies. The timber industry is very important. Canada has a lot of mineral resources like oil, natural gas, iron ore, uranium, copper and nickel. The most important branches of industry are food and drink industry, construction of motor vehicles, paper, textiles and clothing industry also chemical, electrical, oil and coal industry. The basis of the Canadian industry is the cheap power supply with water power.

The railway network is 95.700 km long and the road network is 900.000 km.

The most important shipping route is the St Lawrence Sea Route. Important seaports are Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Halifax and Gander.

National parks and historical places

The Canadian government set up more than 100 historical places, which played a part in the country's history.

Canada's 37 national parks are spread over the whole country. The oldest one is the Banff National Park on the east side of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. It opened in 1885. The Vuntut National Park in the north of Yukon opened in 1993.

The population

In June 1996 Canada had 28,8 million inhabitants, which is 0,5 percent of the population of the earth. This means an increase of about 1,5 million (5,7 percent) since 1991.

Big cities

Toronto is the biggest city in Canada with its 4,26 million residents followed by Montreal (3,33 million), Vancouver (1,83 million), Ottawa - Hull (1,01 million) and Edmonton (860.000).

Urban and rural population

76,7 percent of all Canadians live in a city, only 23,4 percent have their home in the country.

In Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver live 31 percent of the Canadian population.

History

Canada was known by Norwegian sailors before the first millennium started. In 1576 Sir Martin Frobisher discovered Canada again.

Colonial time: 1534 - 1541 J. Cartier took possession of the area around the St. Lawrence River for the French crown. After the Seven Years War the eastern part of Canada became a British possession.

In 1783 the border between the USA and the British province was ruled. And nine years later Quebec split up into Uppercanada and Lowercanada.

1812 - 1814 the USA tried to conquer the British province.

In 1840 Upper- and Lowercanada reunited and became the province Canada with a parliament which is responsible to the government.

Because of the North America Act Great Britain created the Dominion of Canada with the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.

In 1869 separated areas from Canada became provinces and territories in 1912.

The independent federal state: The Canadian attendance in the First World War strengthened the expirations for a political independence. On the basis of the 'Balfour -  Formula', which was proclaimed at the Empire meeting, Canada got its national independence.

In the first years of the Second World War Canada was a mainstay for Great Britain.

In 1945 Canada was a founder member of the UN and in 1949 of the NATO. Also in 1949  the Dominion Newfoundland joined Canada as 10th province.

The Canadian unity was threatened by the attempt of the Parti Quebecois, the governing party of Quebec. They wanted Quebec to be independent from Canada. Plebiscite gave that plan a refusal in 1980.

Life expectancy

Compared to other countries Canada's average life expectancy is very high: men - 74,9 years and women - 81,2 years.

Standard of living

There are only five countries (USA, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany and Japan) where the standard of living is higher than in Canada. But Canada has a higher life expectancy and regarded to education Canada leaves Japan behind. More than 65. per cent of the Canadians have a house of their own and Canada has one of the best telecommunication systems. 99 per cent of the Canadians are telephonically connected.

Social contributions

Every Canadian is entitled to a free medical supply. The Canadian government spent 48 millions dollar for the medical supply from 1993 to 1994. Only the USA spend more money on medical supply.

Religious affiliation

The majority of Canadians belong to a Christian church. More than 14,3 million Canadians are Catholic, 9,8 millions are Protestants and 3,3 millions don't have any confession.

There are also small groups of Jews, Moslems, Hinduists and Buddhists.

Canada's languages

English and French are the national languages. English is the mother tongue of 16,9 millions and French the mother tongue of 6,6 millions. Many Canadians have other mother tongues like Chinese, Italian, German, Portuguese, Polish, Dutch,

In 1991 more than 193.000. Canadians said that one of the languages of the original inhabitants was their mother tongue.

4,4 millions speak both English and French.

Ethical extraction

Eleven million inhabitants, that is 42 per cent, have no British or French ancestor. The biggest groups of ethical minorities are Chinese, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Polish Canadians.

Education

The education differs from province to province. So the attendance of primary school covers six to eight years. The university basis study could take three to four years.

Sports

The best known kinds of sports are swimming, ice hockey, basketball, golf, cross - country skiing and skiing. The popular sports are football and baseball.

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