Canada (pronounced /'kæn?d?/) is a country occupying
most of northern North America, extending from the
Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the
west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the
world's second largest country by total area and its
common border with the United States to the south and
northwest is the longest in the world.
The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia
by various groups of Aboriginal people. Beginning in
the late 15th century, British and French expeditions
explored, and later settled along, the Atlantic coast.
France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North
America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. 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 federation that consists of ten provinces
and three territories. The country is governed as a
parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy
with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a
bilingual and multicultural country, with both English
and French as official languages both at the federal
level and in the province of New Brunswick. One of the
world's highly developed countries, Canada has a
diversified economy that is reliant upon its abundant
natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the
United States, with which Canada has had a long and
complex relationship. It is a member of the G8, G-20,
NATO, OECD, WTO, Commonwealth, Francophonie, OAS, APEC,
and UN.
http://www.asiatour.com/canada/content1.htm
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Jan Garanoz
Juhu Tara Road, Juhu,
Mumbai - 400049 India
Last updated: May 28, 2011