7. Commonwealth countries

• The end of the colonial period - Union of Canada

• 1867 - British North America Act unites Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the Dominion of Canada.

http://www.atlapedia.com/online/maps/political/Canada.htmhttp://www.atlapedia.com/online/maps/physical/Canada.htm

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY

• the North American Continent and occupies nearly all of it north of the United States except for Alaska to the west and a few small French islands

• Divided into five regions

• The Atlantic provinces (= Maritimes) which consist of hills and rolling plains as well as rugged coasts. Lobsters

• The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence lowlands which consist of fertile low-lying plains and constitute the heartland of the population.

• The Canadian Shield, which is a rocky area of with moss covered, frozen subsoil and treeless plains in the north as well as thick forests to the south. Oldest part of the North America

• The Interior Plains which are unforested in the south and forested in the north with large deposits of oil. Flat and agriculture.

• The Cordillera region (= Rocky Mountains) which is the western strip of mountains and plateaux. The country's highest point is Mount Logan at 5,951 metres, which is located in the Yukon Territory. + Rockies, Mackenzie mountains.

• The country's chief rivers include the Yukon and Mackenzie in the West, Saskatchewan and the Athabasca Rivers in central Canada as well as the Ottawa and St. Lawrence River in the East.

• Major Cities (pop. est.); Toronto 5,6 million, Montreal 3,8 million, Vancouver 2,3 m, Ottawa 1,2, Edmonton 1,1, Calgary 1,2.

• Land Use; forested 54%, pastures 3%, agricultural cultivated 5%, other 38% (1993).

CLIMATE

• mostly continental climate, arctic = North, maritime = West coast

  • The North Canadian coast is permanently icebound (permafrost), Hudson Bay frozen for 9 months of the year.

  • The west coast has mild winters and mild summers with rainfall occurring throughout the year.

  • On the Atlantic coast the winter temperatures are warmer than those of the interior, but summer temperatures are lower.

  • Average temperature (Ottawa) are from -15 to -6 degrees in January to 16 to 26 degrees in July.

PEOPLE AND INDUSTRY

• Native peoples: The indigenous Amerindian and Inuit groups = 4.3% of the population.

  • The Canadian Amerindians = 7 cultural groups: the Algonquin tribes, the Agricultural tribes of the eastern woodlands, the Plains tribes, the Pacific Coast tribes, the Western Cordillera tribes, the Basin tribes of the Yukon and Mackenzie Rivers, and the Eskimo tribes.

• Demographic statistics:

  • Density of population: 3,8 persons/km2

  • Life Expectancy: 80 years - male, 84 years – female

• Canada has been metric (metres, litres etc.) since the mid-1970s

• Main trading partners: the USA, the EU and Japan

• Resources/Raw materials: coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, oil and natural gas, timber, uranium

• Agriculture/Farming: dairy products, fish, lobster, cattle, fruit, tobacco, beef farming (Alberta)

• Major industries: chemical, food processing, forestry, hydroelectricity, mining, oil and gas refining, paper and other timber products, telecommunications