Geography
Canada is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean (and Alaska) to the west, the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and shares the world’s longest international border with the United States to the south. After Russia, Canada is the world’s largest country by area, with a diverse topography of vast forests, mountain ranges, plains, and large bodies of water. The climate ranges from polar in the north to a more continental climate in the south, with warm summers and cold winters. Its size, large coastline, and proximity to the Artic Circle means that Canada is more susceptible to climate change than most other countries, particularly from threats such as glacial melting, rising sea levels, and forest fires. Canada is a global leader in green energy, notably hydroelectric power, however many climate change activists point to Canada’s role as one of history’s largest fossil fuel producers when advocating for the government’s responsibility to do more.History
Humans first arrived in the Americas via the Bering Strait approximately 20,000 years ago, although relatively little is known about the early societies that inhabited Canada until the last millennia due to a lack of permanent settlements or written history. Apart from a brief viking settlement in the 11th century, Canada’s modern history is generally traced back to the colonial period, where France and Britain began settling the region. France held the largest territory by the mid-1700s, before Britain took control of most of the country following the Seven Years War – a significant share of the French settlers remained in the region of Quebec, which maintains the French language and a distinct Québécois identity. As with the rest of the Americas, European contact with the indigenous population, namely the First Nations, Inuit, or Métis people, caused their numbers to fall significantly through disease, conflict, and oppression – in Canada, it fell from possibly 500,000 people in pre-Columbian times to just 100,000 in the 19th century.The early 1800s saw large waves of migration from Europe, first from Ireland and Britain, then Scandinavia and mainland Europe. Settlement was challenging in this century - infectious disease eventually killed up to a third of all European settlers, and up to one third of Canada’s population migrated south to the U.S. in the late 1800s. Canada gained almost de facto independence from the UK in 1931, before achieving full sovereignty in 1982. Its armed forces played important roles in the European theaters of both World Wars, and Canada gained a much greater international presence from the mid-20th century through its role in major international organizations such as the G7, NATO, and various trade organizations.