Canada
Study the map of Canada, find these places and write them in your empty map:
water: the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Hudson Bay, the Hudson Strait, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Strait of Cabot, the Labrador Sea, the Baffin Bay, the Beaufort Sea, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Niagara Falls, Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, Lake Winnipeg, the St. Lawrence River, the Saskatchewan River, the Fraser, the Yukon, the Mackenzie (the longest river)
islands and peninsulas: Vancouver Island, Labrador, Newfoundland, Baffin Island, Victoria Island, Queen Elisabeth Islands, Queen Charlotte Islands
provinces: British Columbia (Victoria), Alberta (Edmonton), Saskatchewan (Regina), Manitoba (Winnipeg), Ontario (Toronto), Quebec (the largest province, Quebec city), Newfoundland (St. John`s), New Brunswick (Fredericton), Nova Scotia (Halifax), Prince Edward Island (Chralottetown)
territories: the Yukon (Whitehorse), Northwest Territories (Yellowknife), Nunavut (Iqaluit)
cities: Ottawa, Toronto (the largest), Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec city, Halifax
mountain ranges: the Cordillera, the Coast Mountains, the Rocky Mountains, the St. Elias Mountains (Mt. Logan – 6.050 m), the Mackenzie Mountains, the Canadian Shield, Lowlands
Facts and figures
Capital: Ottawa
Area: 10 million sq. km
Number of provinces: 10, number of territories: 3
Population: more than 30 million
Official languages: English, French
Flag: red stripes on the sides symbolize Canada`s position between two oceans, white square in the middle with a simple red maple leaf – red symbolizes the blood of Canadians who died in WWI, white represents the snow of the north
Form of government: federal parliamentary democracy
Head of state: Queen Elisabeth II, represented by Governor General
Head of government: Prime Minister
Legislative power: Federal Parliament: House of Commons (5 years), Senate
Currency: Canadian dollar
Climate + agriculture + industry
Canada can be divided into seven regions:
a) the Pacific Coast – the coast of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, moderate climate influenced by the Pacific
b) the Cordillera – made up of the Rocky Mts., the Coast Mts. and other ranges running north to south, alpine snowfields, deep valleys, desert-like conditions
c) the Prairies – Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, plains, the richest grain-producing region in the world, deposits of oil, natural gas, potash (potaš – uhličitan draselný)
d) the Canadian Shield – around the Hudson Bay, deposits of gold, silver, zinc, copper and uranium
e) the Great Lakes – southern Quebec, Ontario, 50% of Canadians live here, 70% of manufactured goods is produced here, sugar maple (javor cukrový), grapes, peaches, pears, fruit, ship-building, paper mills, timber (almost half the area of Canada is covered by forests)
f) the Atlantic Provinces – New Brinswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland – first lands to be settles by Europeans, wheat, fishing
g) the Arctic – no longer inaccessible, can be reached by road or air, most communities have electricity, health service, long and bitterly cold winters, short summers with continuous daylight (temperatures can reach 30°C), tundra
Explorers of Canada
name
|
time
|
place
|
extra info
|
JOHN CABOT
(1450-1499)
|
1497
1498
|
Labrador, Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island
second expedition, maybe reached America
|
Italian-born English explorer and navigator, sailed on ship called Matthew, wanted to find a northwest passage to Asia, claimed the land for England, explored the coastline and named many islands
|
JACQUES CARTIER
(1491-1557)
|
1534
1535
1541
|
1.000 miles up to St. Lawrence River
tried to start a settlement in Quebec, but abandoned after a terribly cold winter
|
French explorer, looking for a northwest passage to the Pacific, named the land Canada (kanata means village in Huron-Iroquois language), Huron-Iroquois Indians gave him directions, claimed the land for France
|
HENRY HUDSON
(1565-1611)
|
1609
1610-1611
|
150 miled up to today`s Hudson River (flows to St. Lawrence), discovered today`s New York City
the Hudson Strait, the Hudson Bay
|
English explorer and navigator, sailed there four times, looking for the northwest passage to Asia, encouraged Dutch settlements
died on this trip
|
GEORGE VANCOUVER
(1758-1798)
|
1792
|
Strait of Juan de Fuca (today`s US-Canada border), Puget Sound (Vancouver), Vancouver Island
|
English explorer and navigator, two ships Discovery and Chatham
|
ALEXANDER MACKENZIE
(1755-1820)
|
1789
1793
|
the Mackenzie River from Great Slave Lake to the mouth in the Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean
second expedition: from Fort Chipewyan across the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific coast across Peace, Parsnip, McGregor and Fraser Rivers
|
Scottish-born fur trader and explorer, 1779 emigrated to Canada, 1788-96 commanded the trade in Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca, the first European to cross the North American continent north of Mexico (2x), retired in Scotland
|
ROALD AMUNDSEN
(1872-1928)
|
1899
1900
1903
1904
1926
1905
|
started the expedition to the North Magnetic Pole
bought a ship Gjoa
sailed from Oslo around Greenland, through Baffin Island to King William Island, here he spent two years building 2 ships, observatory and huts, Netsilik Indians taught him Arctic survival techniques
continued to the Pole – had moved 30 miles since it was originally located in 1831 – the first time anyone realized that the magnetic poles move
the first person to fly over the North Pole
the first person to sail around the world through the northeast and northwest passage
|
Norwegian polar explorer, the first person to reach both North and South Pole
|
History
Match the dates and events:
date
|
event
|
cca 30.000 years ago
|
the first inhabitants (American Indians) came across the Bering Strait from Asia, some of them settled in Canada, the others continued to the south; later the Inuits came to live in the Arctic regions
|
10th century
|
the first Europeans were the Vikings from Norway, they settled for a short time on Newfoundland island
|
1497
|
John Cabot searching for the northern route to the Orient reached the land and claimed it for the English crown
|
1534
|
Jacques Cartier claimed the land for the French
|
1763
|
the rivalry between England and France because of fish and fur trade ended by the Treaty of Paris, which gave all the French territory east of the Mississippi River to the British
|
1867
|
the Dominion of Canada was established (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick), later other provinces joined
|
1931
|
the Statute of Westminster gave Canada constitutional autonomy from Britain
|
World War II
|
Canadian forces fought in Italy and the Atlantic
|
1947
|
Canada was declared to be of equal status with Great Britain within the Commonwealth
|
1980
|
a referendum on the separation of Quebec was defeated
|
1999
|
the territory of Nunavut was formed as the first territory in Canada to have the majority of indigenous people
|
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