Country Overview
Canada is as varied as itis vast, stretching over 7,000km from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 90% of thecountry's 34 million inhabitants live less than 100 miles of the US border inthe south leaving the majority of the 10,000,000 square kilometers of wildernessuntouched.
Canada is made up of 10provinces and 3 territories in the north. The Yukon Territory, NorthwestTerritory and Nunavut make up Canada's three territories which umbrella theprovinces in the south. The majority of the territories remain uninhabited andair transport is often the only way around.
History
The first inhabitants of Canada were native Indian peoples, primarily the Inuit(Eskimo). The Norse explorer Leif Eriksson probably reached the shores ofCanada (Labrador or Nova Scotia) in 1000, but the history of the white man inthe country actually began in 1497, when John Cabot, an Italian in the serviceof Henry VII of England, reached Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. Canada was takenfor France in 1534 by Jacques Cartier.
The actual settlement ofNew France, as it was then called, began in 1604 at Port Royal in what is nowNova Scotia; in 1608, Québec was founded. France's colonization efforts werenot very successful, but French explorers by the end of the 17th century hadpenetrated beyond the Great Lakes to the western prairies and south along theMississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Meanwhile, the EnglishHudson's Bay Company had been established in 1670. Because of the valuablefisheries and fur trade, a conflict developed between the French and English; in1713, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Nova Scotia (Acadia) were lost to England.
During the Seven Years'War (1756–1763), England extended its conquest, and the British general JamesWolfe won his famous victory over Gen. Louis Montcalm outside Québec on Sept.13, 1759. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 gave England control.
Later in 1776, the yearof American Independence, colonists loyal to the British Empire fled USA andsettled in Canada.
Economy
Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations, with a high per-capita income,and it is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) and the G8.
It is one of the world'stop ten trading nations. Canada is a mixed market, ranking above the U.S. onthe Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom and higher than mostwestern European nations.
As of October 2009,Canada's national unemployment rate was 8.6%. Provincial unemployment ratesvary from a low of 5.8% in Manitoba to a high of 17% in Newfoundland andLabrador.Canada is one of the fewdeveloped nations that are net exporters of energy. Canada is one of theworld's largest suppliers of agricultural products. It is the largest producerof zinc and uranium, and is a global source of many other natural resources,such as gold, nickel, aluminium, and lead.
Canada also has a sizablemanufacturing sector centered in southern Ontario and Québec, with automobilesand aeronautics representing particularly important industries.