7._CANADA

CANADA

* BASIC FACTS – LOCATION, AREA, CLIMATE, POPULATION, ORIGINAL INHABITANTS, LANGUAGES…

location, area

- Canada is situated in the Northern part of North America; the only exception is Alaska which is a part of the USA

- Canada is 2nd largest country in the world with its area of about 10 million square kilometres
- it borders with the USA and Alaska

- the capital is Ottawa
- neighbour across the Arctic ocean is Russia

- from west to east, Canada encompasses six time zones

climate

- as for the climate, most of inhabited parts of Canada have a continental climate (long hot summers, cold winters) - on the Pacific coast the climate is milder and in the uninhabited north there is an arctic climate

population, original inhabitants, languages

- the number of population is 37 million people
- the density of population is very low - only 3 inhabitants within 1 square km
- most people live in large urban centres located 200 - 300 miles from southern borders
- the rest of the country is rather cold and these bad living conditions make uninhabitable more than 85% of the land
- there are only trading stations, isolated settlements and mining settlements in these areas

- more than 40% of the population are of British origin, 30% French, 20% German, Polish, Italian and Dutch,

the rest are Native Americans and Inuits

- Canada is often called the “Mosaic of people” or “Salad bowl” because the different ethnic groups have preserved

their culture ( in opposition to the American “Melting Pot” )
- the name Canada (= Kanata) comes from Indian language and means a village

- the original inhabitants was Inuits
- the number of native people is decreasing, their main occupation is hunting, fishing and reindeer raising

- official language is English and French

* GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES, NP, FLORA AND FAUNA, PLACES OF INTEREST

the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, The Arctic Ocean, Baffin Bay, the USA, Alaska, Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, Quebec, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, Lake Eire, Superior, Huron, Ontario, Niagara Falls, Mt. Logan,

the St. Lawrence River, The Rocky Mountains, the Coast Mountains, the Mackenzie River, Quebec, Northwest Territory, Yukon Territory, Nunavut, British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Baffin Island, Winnipeg, Hudson Bay, the Yukon River

geographical features

- the western part of Canada is very mountainous and rocky

- all the mountain ranges are called the Cordilleras (The Rocky Mountains, Mackenzie Mountains, Melville Hills)

- on the eastern coast there are lowlands

- between the mountains in the west and in the east there are large prairies suitable for agriculture especially for the

wheat growing (fertile soil)

- important rivers are the Mackenzie, the Yukon, the Fraser, the Columbia and the St. Lawrence River

- the Great Lakes are situated in the southern part of Canada (Lake Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario)

- the Niagara Falls called horseshoe (because of its shape) in Canada are situated between Lake Erie and Ontario