Canada

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three
territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean,
covering 9.98 million square kilometres (3.85 million square miles), making it the
world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern border with the United
States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national
land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan
areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, with most of its land area dominated by
forest and tundra. Its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its
inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, and 70 percent residing
within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely
across its vast area, ranging from Arctic climate in the north to hot summers in the
southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

Various indigenous peoples inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years

before European colonization. Beginning in the 16th
century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic
coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its
colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North
American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as
a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and
territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This
widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and
culminated in the Canada Act of 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal
dependence on the British parliament.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in

the Westminster tradition, with a monarch and a prime minister who serves as the
chair of the Cabinet and head of government. The country is a realm within
the Commonwealth of Nations, a member of the Francophonie and officially bilingual at
the federal level. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of
government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and
education. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the
product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Canada's long and
complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on
its economy and culture.

A developed country, Canada has the sixteenth-highest nominal per-capita income

globally as well as the twelfth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index. Its
advanced economy is the tenth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant
natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of
several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including
the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American
Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis,

[21]
 the last being a mixed-blood people who originated in the mid-17th century when
First Nations and Inuit people married European settlers.[21] The term "Aboriginal" as
a collective noun is a specific term of art used in some legal documents, including
the Constitution Act 1982.[22]

The first inhabitants of North America are generally hypothesized to have migrated

from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 14,000 years ago.[23]
[24]
 The Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are two
of the oldest sites of human habitation in Canada.[25] The characteristics of Canadian
Indigenous societies included permanent settlements, agriculture, complex societal
hierarchies, and trading networks.[26][27] Some of these cultures had collapsed by the
time European explorers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and have
only been discovered through archeological investigations.[28]

The Indigenous population at the time of the first European settlements is estimated to

have been between 200,000[29] and two million,[30] with a figure of 500,000 accepted by
Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.[31] As a consequence of European
colonization, the population of Canada's Indigenous peoples declined by forty to eighty
percent, and several First Nations, such as the Beothuk, disappeared.[32] The decline is
attributed to several causes, including the transfer of European diseases, such
as influenza, measles, and smallpox to which they had no natural immunity,[29]
[33]
 conflicts over the fur trade, conflicts with the colonial authorities and settlers, and
the loss of Indigenous lands to settlers and the subsequent collapse of several nations'
self-sufficiency.[34][35]

Although not without conflict, European Canadians' early interactions with First Nations
and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful.[36] First Nations and Métis peoples
played a critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada, particularly
for their role in assisting European coureur des bois and voyageurs in the exploration
of the continent during the North American fur trade.[37] The Crown and Indigenous
peoples began interactions during the European colonization period, though the Inuit,
in general, had more limited interaction with European settlers. [38] However, from the
late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged Indigenous peoples to assimilate
into their own culture.[39] These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early
20th centuries with forced integration and relocations.[40] A period of redress is
underway, which started with the appointment of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada by the Government of Canada in 2008.[41]

REFERAT

Teacher` Ms. Rostomyan

Classroom` IX

Aghababyan Edgar