Canada

Basic information

Canada is one of the 53 independent states of British Commonwealth of Nations. Like many of them Canada was also the colony of United Kingdom. Its official head is the Queen Elizabeth II., represented by Governor-General at the moment David Johnston. Canada is the second largest country after Russia. It consists of 10 provinces and 3 territories. The capitol city is Ottawa - the fourth biggest city in Canada. Canada borders with The USA in the south and across the Arctic Ocean with Russia. The national currency is Canadian dollar. The national flag with red maple leaf (Canada is a big producer of maple syrup).

History

The country was discovered by the Vikings about 1000 years ago. In 15^th century was re-discovered by Europeans and a century ago a large part was occupied by French. English won most of the area in the wars. In 1763 it became an English colony and in 1867 a British dominion The original inhabitants came from Asia across a land bridge which is now the Bering Strait.

Landscape & nature

Canada’s terrain is various. This country is famous for 2 million lakes. Its shares four of the Great Lakes with the USA: Lake Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario (there are the Niagara falls between lake Erie and Ontario, calls Horseshoe Fall in the Canada side). Other lakes are Great Slave Lake or Winnipeg. The largest lake situated only in Canada is the Great Bear Lake. We can see there a number of mountain ranges for example: Rocky Mountains or Mackenzie Mountains in the West or Appalachians in the east. The highest top is Mt. Logan. Canadian Shield takes up large area. There are many rivers the longest river is Mackenzie and the most important is The St Lawrence. There are 38 nation parks, 1000 provincial parks and 50 territorial parks in Canada. The oldest national park is Banff. The Canadian animals are for example: bison, moose, bears or musk oxen.

 

The climate is various - we can see there permanently frozen land in the North but also lush vegetation in the West.

 

Canadian area includes many islands and group of islands mostly behind Arctic Circle. A few of these are Queen Elizabeth Islands or Victoria Island. There lives a typical nation - Inuit.

Cities

The most visited cities include Ottawa - the capitol city, Toronto and Montreal the largest cities - Montreal is also the second largest French speaking city in the world and Toronto is famous for CN tower - 3^rd tallest building in the world. The entire world knows Vancouver were the Winter Olympic Games take place in 2010.

Sports

The Canadian national sport is ice-hockey - There is the most prestigious league - NHL. Baseball, lacrosse or curling are favourite too.

Famous people

Margaret Atwood, the author of Blind Assassin is one of the award-winning writers. In music, famous Canadian are Celine Dion or Nelly Furtado or Bryan Adams. We know many actors for example Leslie Nielsen or Jim Carrey. From I love many Canadian groups like Three Days Grace, Simple Plan or Nickelback.