Реферати українською
Canada - Іноземна мова -



CANADA

Official name. Canada.

Status. An independent federative state, a member of the Commonwealth, headed by the Queen of GB.

Area. 9,976,000 sq. km (3,851,790 sq. mi).

Population. 30,1 mln

Nationality. Canadian.

Ethnic composition.

About 40% are people of British origin.

30% are people of French origin.

1% are Indians and Eskimos.

European minorities (Irish, German, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, Italian, Dutch, Polish).

The “Open Door” policy of immigration which began in the 1890s has meant that Canada’s population is varied.

Language. English, French are both official languages. 20% of the population speak only French, while 13% speak both French and English.

Religion. Roman Catholics 46%, Protestants 41%.

Education. Literacy: 99%.

Canada has about 50 universities. Among them are:

New Brunswick (Fredericton, 1785),

Dalhousie (Halifax, 1818),

McGill (Montreal, 1821),

Toronto (1827),

Laval (Quebec, 1852) – French language university,

Montreal (1876) – French language university.

Capital. Ottawa (920,800).

Currency. Dollar.

Location.

Is situated in the north of North America continent.

Is the 2nd world’s largest country.

Is bordered by the USA.

Its only neighbour is the USA.

Is washed by the Arctic Ocean in the North, by the Atlantic Ocean in the East, by the Pacific Ocean in the West.

Is about 7,730 km from east to west.

Shares with the USA 7 of the world’s largest lakes.

Contains 3 of the globe’s longest 20 rivers.

Is blessed with the most fresh water of any country.

Topography.

Canada can be divided into 7 geographic regions:

The Appalachian Region, the far eastern area (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, the part of Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River), is hilly and wooded.

The St. Lawrence – Great Lakes Lowland (between Quebec City and Windsor, Ontario) includes most of the country’s large cities and towns. Half (1/2) of Canada’s people live here.

The Hudson Bay and Arctic Lowlands. This land is mainly flat, bog, little inhabited.

The Canadian Shield (Precambrian) formed 2,5 billion years ago (northern Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario, across Labrador to the northern edge of Alberta) is an ancient, rocky region with rivers, lake-filled timberland. It’s rugged, cool and little developed.

The Great Plains (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, parts of Alberta) is a huge, flat region responsible for Canada’s wheat crop.

Western Cordillera Region ( British Columbia, the Yukon, parts of Alberta) combines the Rocky Mountains, the Coast Mountains, the Selkirks, Mount Logan (19,850 feet). Mountains dominate this region.

The Arctic Region is in the far north.

Rivers: - the St. Lawrence

the Mackenzie

the Saskatchewan

the Columbia

the Yukon.

Climate. Temperate, varies from freezing winter cold to blistering summer heat.

The warmest area of Canada is along the US border.

The warmest areas with the longest summers and the shortest winters are British Columbia’s South, central coast, southern Ontario around the Niagara Peninsula.

July and August temperatures are + 20º Cs and few days + 30ºCs.

The hottest summer temperature and the most sunshine is in Manitoba.

The east and west coasts are wet.

The prairies are dry.

Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto can be humid in summer and damp in winter.

Nights are cool all year round.

January temperature is - 18º Cs.

The further north the more snow.

Vegetation (flora).

There are 8 vegetation zones:

The Arctic tundra.

The boreal forest.

The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River forest zone.

The Acadian forest.

The parkland zone.

Prairie grasslands.

The Rocky Mountain forest.

The Pacific Coast forest.

The sugar maple is one of Canada’s best known symbols and the leaf appears on the country’s flag. The sugar maples also produce edible maple syrup.

Wildlife (fauna).

Canada has abundant wildlife:

Bears (grizzly bear, brown bear, black bear, polar bear).

Beaver (a symbol, they say “as busy as a beaver”).

Buffalo / bison.

Wolf.

Coyote.

Deer (moose, caribou, elk).

Rocky mountain goat.

Lynx (a grey cat 90 cm long).

Skunk.

Birds.

Fish.

Тhe making of Canada

John Cabot, an Italian sea captain in the pay of the British, discovered Canada in 1497, five years after Columbus discovered America. He planted a huge cross on the shore and sailed home, with the news that he had reached north east China , the land of the Great Khan , and that the sea was full of fish.

In 1534 , the French explorer, Jacques Cartier, sailed right down the St.Lawrence River until he could go no further. Among the great forests along the shore he met Indians who welcomed him, but in return he kidnapped some of their chiefs . He was the first European to treat the Indians with cruelty and treachery. It was almost another hundred years before French colonists settled on the banks of the St Lawrence and founded Quebec. They were sent there to give food and shelter to the French fur traders, who were carrying on a profitable trade with the Indians.

By the middle of the 18th century, the French in North America realized that they could not avoid a fight to the death with the British and their American colonists, but back in France the French king , Louis XV , was too busy with his wars with Prussia to bother much about what was going on in the ‘ Land of Ice and Snow’. So the French troops in Canada did not receive the supplies they needed so badly, and the few ships that did try to get through were usually captured by British warships.

Yet this colonial war ended in a famous battle. The British surprised the French by climbing the cliffs at Quebec in the middle of the night. After their defeat , the French were forced to give up each inch of land in North America. But the British allowed the French colonists , all 60,000 of them , to stay on, and they did no try to change the French way of life or their religion. The French were all Catholics. But the British warned them that Louis XV of France was no longer their King. Their King, from now on, would be King George III of England.

At that time there were very few British colonists in Canada. The first British settlers in Canada were American refugees who refused to fight against the British army in the Revolutionary War , because they felt they were more British than American. They called themselves Loyalists, but their fellow Americans accused them of being traitors and took away their possessions. 80,000 Loyalists helped the British to defend Canada against Americans during the Revolutionary War.

During the first half of the nineteenth century one million immigrants, mostly British, settled in Canada, but there were hardly any French immigrants from France. However, the French Canadians‘ birth rate was high, so that in just over two centuries the French Canadian population increased from 60,000 to 6 million.

Canada spread from Atlantic right across the prairies and the Rocky Mountains to British Columbia; and northwards to the bare but beautiful Yukon and the ice-covered islands of the Arctic. The pioneer farmers found that the black earth of the prairie provinces could grow some of the finest grain in the world. The tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway pushed to westwards through Indian lands. To protect their land the Indians made fierce attacks on the railway-builders and the farmers.

Canada moved slowly towards self-rule during the second half of the nineteenth century. A federation of the provinces was formed from Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast to British Columbia on the far side of the Rockies. In 1936 Canada became a Dominion (a self-governing nation) within the British Commonwealth and Empire. The Dominions of Canada, New Zealand and South Africa went to war alongside Britain in 1918 and again in 1939.

People of Canada

Canada is a good example of the way peoples of different ways of life and different languages can live side by side under one government. The population of Canada has risen from 11,5 million in 1941 to 25 million in 1980. Most of the newcomers are from Europe, Asia and the USA, so that today less than 44% of Canada’s population is of British origin. Quebec Province is still 90% French. There are some groups of French Canadiands in Ontario and Manitoba, but the numbers are quite small.

There are many Indians, Pacistanis and Chinese, and also blacks from the USA, among the immigrants who are pouring into Canada now. Some Canadians are afraid that before long Canada will have coloured citizens that white. Other Canadians are disturbed by the growing racism in their country. Canada, like so many countries, has only just begun to treat her own non-white citizens, Eskimos (or Inuit) and the Indians, as generously as they deserve. The Indian and Eskimo populations have grown quite a lot in the last few years. The government is at last realizing that it has a duty towards this people that it has neglected for so long.

All Canadian children have to learn both French and English at school, but Francophones and Anglophones do not enjoy learning each other’s language. Still, most Quebecois middle class families, living in Montreal are bilingual - they speak English and French equally well.

Until the Second World War, every Canadian province except Quebec was overwhelmingly British. Some Canadians were more patriotic than the British themselves and were really angry if anyone walked out of a cinema while ‘God Save the King’ was being played. Now Canadians think of themselves as a people in their own right, not tied to either Britain or the USA. The USA has not been a threat to Canada for almost two hundred years. In fact, the 6,416 km US-Canadian frontier is the longest continuous frontier in the world, has no wire fence, no soldiers, no guns on either side. It is called ‘The Border’.



History of Canada

Date

People

Influences, results

25000 years ago

From Asia across the Bering Strait

People can be divided into 6 groups:

The arctic peoples (in the far north) à hunting.

The sub-arctic peoples (from Newfoundland to British Columbia) à hunting, fishing à the Beothuks.

The eastern woodlands tribes (Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island) à agriculture à permanent settlements à the Iroquois.

The plains peoples (the prairies, from lake Winnipeg to Rocky Mountains) à hunting, fishing à the Cree, the Blackfoot.

The plateau peoples (British Columbia) à hunting, gathering.

The northwest peoples (from Vancouver to Alaska) à hunting, fishing à the Haida.

6000 years ago

The Eskimos

The Inuit (Eskimos) à hunting.

1000 AD

The Vikings from Iceland and Green-land

Occupied the eastern edge of Canada, founded Norman settlement which existed only 1 year.

1497 AD

English seaman John Cabot

Reached Newfoundland.

1534 AD

1535 AD

French explorer Jacques Cartier – founder of Canada

Discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Settled Kanata (a Huron-Iroquois word “village”) which gave the name to the whole country Canada.

1608 AD

1642 AD

French explorer Champlain

Established the first permanent settlements at Quebec (“where the river becomes narrow”).

Montreal.

1663 AD

Canada became a province of France (60.000 French settlers).

1670 AD

British Trade Company

Hudson’s Bay Company (fur) occupied northern territories of the country à Ontario.

1713 AD

1717 AD

The British

Newfoundland were under

Nova Scotia British control.

1754 AD

French-Indian War.

1756 AD – 1763 AD

Rivalry between the English and the French à

The Seven Years’ War in which Great Britain gained military victory.

1759 AD

1763 AD

The British captured Quebec.

The British obtained control of the rest of New France. France handed Canada over to Britain.

1774 AD

The Quebec Act (France retained the rights to their own language, religion and civil laws).

1775 AD – 1783 AD

The American Revolution.

1791 AD

Canada was divided into Upper (English speaking Ontario) and Lower Canada (French speaking Quebec).

1793 AD

Sir Alexander Mackenzie

Reached the Pacific Ocean.

1812 AD

Lord Selkirk

Formed a settlement of Scot Immigrants, Manitoba.

1812 AD –

1814 AD

British-American War which ended in a draw.

1837 AD –

1839 AD

British Lord Durham

Political agitation.

1840 AD

Act of Union (Quebec and Ontario were united). They didn’t like to be under British or American control.

1848 AD

Canada got internal self-government.

1867 AD, July 1st

The Canadian

Dominion of Canada (a national holiday, Day of Canada). 4 provinces were united Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick.

By 1912 AD

All provinces had become part of the central government.

1931 AD

Canada

A voluntary member of Commonwealth.

1945 AD

Canada

A member of United Nation Organization.

1949 AD

Newfoundland became part of the central government.

1949 AD

Canada

A member of NATO.

1950s

A time of unprecedented wealth (the middle class mushroomed).

1960 AD

Canada’s first Bill of Rights was signed.

1995 AD

Canada won in the so-called fish wars with Spain.

2000 AD

Canada maintains its position in NATO and is one of the so-called G-7 countries. (The G-7 group of Germany, France, the USA, the UK, Japan, Italy and Canada meet regularly to develop major economic policies.)

Provinces and Territories of Canada

Province in brief

Occupation

Cities

1

2

3

1. Ontario

“rocks standing high near the water”

Entered Confederation: 1 July 1867

Area: 1,068,587 sq km

Location: in the center of Canada

Population: 10,084,885

Provincial symbols:

the trillium

the eastern white pine

the loon

It’s a geographic and cultural transition between eastern Quebec and the Midwestern prairie provinces.

It’s the largest province in the terms of wealth and population.

It’s the most industrial center of Canada.

It produces: 98% of motor vehicles,

93 % of heavy electrical equipment,

92% of agricultural machinery,

¼ of the world’s nickel (Sudbury).

It’s the national leader in car production (Oshawa, Winsdor).

It’s Canada’s iron and steel center (Hamilton).

Elliot Lake sits on the largest uranium deposits.

The Niagara Peninsula is an important fruit and wine-producing region.

Toronto – the capital of the province and the largest city.

It is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

It’s one of the chief Great Lakes ports.

It has an international airport at Malton.

It is famous as an artistic and musical center.

The sights are: the Art Gallery, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Royal Ontario Museum.

Educational centers are: the University of Toronto,

Ryerson Iinstitute of Technology, York University.

Ottawa – the capital of Canada.

It sits on the south bank of the Ottawa River at its confluence with the Rideau River.

It’s a political center, the government and the parliament are situated here.

The sights are: Parliament Hill, Peace Tower, Rockcliffe Park, the National Gallery, the Royal Canadian Mint, the Canadian War Museum, the National Museum of Science and Technology, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stables and Practice Ground.

2. Quebec

“where the river narrows”

Entered Confederation: 1 July 1867

Area: 1,540,687 sq km

Location: St. Lawrence Lowlands

Population: 6,895,960

Provincial symbols:

the white lily

the snowy owl

The Climate and the soil are good for general farming.

Manufacturing is the prime industry.

There are vast amounts of hydroelectric power.

It’s the main paper producer in North America.

Half the province is forest.

Other important industries are: aluminium, minerals, timber, tourism, dairy goods, apples and maple syrup.

St. Lawrence River is a link between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.

Quebec City – the capital of the province.

It was founded by Jacques Cartier in 1534 (was called Stadacona).

It was named Quebec (“kebec”) by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.

Montreal – an island city.

It’s the largest Canada’s city and most important port.

It’s the largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris.

It’s called the “Paris of the Western Hemisphere”.

It’s a financial, commercial and industrial center of the country.

Here is James Street known as the “Wall Street of Cana-da”.

The Metro was opened in 1966.

The sights are: the square Place Royal (old), Basilica Notre Dame (the church), Museum of Archaeology and History, the park Mont Royal, Fine Arts Museum, the Contemporary Art Gallery, the Cathedral of Montreal, the Olympic Sports Complex, the Biodom, Wax Museum.

Educational centers: McGill University (English), the University of Montreal (French).

3. Newfoundland and Labrador

Entered Confederation: 31 March 1949

Area: 404,520 sq km

Location: island of Newfoundland, the coast of Labrador on the main-land

Population: 568,474

Provincial symbols:

the pitcher plant

the marine Atlantic puffin

It’s rugged, weather-beaten land at the edge of Canada, heavily influenced by the sea and the conditions of the not-to-distant north.

Fishing and forestry gave prosperity to this province.

They export raw natural resources: nickel, copper, oil, cobalt.

Labrador is the second largest producer of nickel in the world.

St. John’s – the capital of the province.

4. Nova Scotia

Entered Confederation: 1 July 1867

Area: 55,491 sq km

Location: a 380 mi long peninsula at the Atlantic Coast

Population: 930,000

Provincial symbols:

the mayflower

the osprey

Fishing remains important.

Major moneymakers are: mining, shipbuilding, tourism, crafts.

Agriculture is a significant part of the economy. The main products are: dairying, fruit, Christmas trees.

Halifax – the capital of the province.

5. Prince Edward Island

Entered Confederation: 1 July 1873

Area: 5,657sq km

Location: is separated from the mainland by a strait

Population: 131,600

Provincial symbols:

the common lady’s slipper

the blue jay

It’s primarily a farming community because of good red soil. They grow potatoes and sold it all over the country.

Fishing is also important.

Tourism is a growing industry. The quiet, gently rolling hills with good beaches attract a lot of tourists.

Charlottetown – the capital of the province.

6. New Brunswick

Entered Confederation: 1 July 1867

Area: 73,437 sq km

Location: along the Atlantic Coast

Population: 723,900

Provincial symbols:

the purple violet

the chickadee

It’s largely forested.

Two of the main industries are: Lumber and pulp and paper operations.

Fishing, manufacturing and minerals are also important.

Fredericton – the capital of the province.

7. Manitoba

“great spirit” “Manito Waba”

Entered Confederation: 15 July 1870

Area: 650,090 sq km

Location: between Ontario and Saskatchewan

Population: 1,091,942

Provincial symbols:

the prairie crocus

the grey owl

The western edge is best for farming.

Wheat is the major agricultural product.

Manufacturing is the main source of income.

Food processing and clothing factories are important.

In the northern Shield area there are rich deposits of gold, copper, nickel, zinc.

Winnipeg – the capital of the province.

8. Saskatchewan

“river which turns around when it runs”

Entered Confederation: 1 September 1905

Area: 651,903 sq km

The south is flat.

It’s the greatest grower of wheat in North America.

It produces 2/3 of Canada’s crop.

Other agricultural products: barley, rye, sunflowers, beef cattle.

In the north there are 100,000 lakes.

Regina – the capital of the province.

Location: between Manitoba and Alberta

Population: 988,928

Provincial symbols:

the

назад |  1  | вперед


Назад

 Это интересно
 Реклама
 Поиск рефератов
 
 Афоризм
Если дым стелется по земле - вернитесь и выключите утюг, если поднимается столбом - можете уже не возвращаться.
 Гороскоп
Гороскопы
 Счётчики
bigmir)net TOP 100