CANADA

CANADA
GEOGRAPHY

Canada occupies the whole of the northern part of North America and many islands. It is the largest country in the world.

It neigbours with the USA - with Alaska and with the continental states. The border on Great Lakes Area is the longest undefended border in the world.

There are also other big lakes, e.g. Great Bear Lake,, Great Slave Lake, Lake Winnipeg.

Canada has large mountain areas - the Rocky Mountains, the Mackenzie and the Melville. The highest mountain is Mt. Logan in the Alaska Region. The longest river is the Mackenzie, other big rivers are the Yukon,the Fraser and the Columbia and the River St. Lawrence.

PEOPLE

Canada's population is 27,000,000 inhabitants.

Interesting is that the name Canada comes from the original inhabitants. Indians used the word "kanata" which means "village".

The first Europeans here were the Vikings. It became a British dominion in 1867.

NATIONAL ECONOMY

Canada has mainly coal, metal, oil and gas, machine-building and chemical industries which are highly developed. The main mining province is Alberta. Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia with their large forests provide wood for building, furniture and paper production. It is the second largest wheat importer. Other important agricultural items are live-stock production, oats, vegetables, tobacco, leather.

Canada is very rich in natural resources - gold, uranium other metal ores, oil and gas.

Valid currency is Canadian dollar.

Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 2 territories.

Territories are very thinly inhabited. This area is wild, full of mountains and tundra, ice-packs, giant lakes and bushland. The two territories are Yukon and N. W. T. - Northwest Territories.

The biggest province is Quebec with the capital Quebec city. The population here is mainly French speaking. Now the talks are going on whether the Canadian Constitution will be re-draft on this issue (the premier of Quebec wants more powers for this province) or quebec would separate.

Other provinces are:

Newfoundland (St. John)

Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown)

Nova Scotia (Halifax)

New Brunswick (Fredericton)

Manitoba (Winnipeg)

Ontario (Toronto)

Saskatchewan (Regina)

Alberta (Edmonton)

The capital of Canada is Ottawa. The biggest city is Toronto. Other large cities are Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Quebec.

Canada has its own national flag since 1964. It is red and in the centre there is a white square with a simple red maple leaf. The red stripe are symbolical of Canada's position between the two oceans. A maple leaf has been used as Canada's national symbol for the past century or more. Red colour symbolizes the blood of the Canadians who had died in WWI, white represents the snow of the Canadian North.

The Canadian anthem is called Oh, Canada.