The first Europeans – the English expedition of John Cabot, reached the shores of Newfoundland in 1497. In 1534 the French expedition of Jacques Cartier entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 1791 the country was divided into two provinces: Upper Canada – with English population, and Lower Canada with French population. Great Britain united the two provinces in 1840. After 1931 Canada became independent in its foreign and home policy. The head of the country is the Queen of Great Britain, represented by a Governor General, appointed by her for a mandate of 5 years. Canada is among the most scarcely populated countries in the world – the average density of the population is less than 4 people per square kilometre. The population is concentrated in the Southern part, where the climate is much milder as compared to the frosty northern part.

Canada has three large differentiated economic regions – Eastern, Western and Northern Canada. The heavily indented relief of Eastern Canada was formed at the time of the Pleistocene glaciation, when the entire country was covered by a vast glacier. The subsequent tectonic movements accelerated the river erosion – a number of weirs and waterfalls formed with enormous potential energy. The most famous is the majestic Niagara Falls, located between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Every second more than 5.5 million litres of water flow out of it. In winter the big lakes freeze for about 140 days, and the turbulent waters of the Niagara Falls form an incredibly beautiful icy curtain.

New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia are the four smallest Canadian provinces. The population is occupied in fishing, agriculture, furniture and cellulose industry, etc. The Newfoundland Island is the richest region in fish in the world.

The leading provinces in Eastern Canada are Ontario and Quebec. About 60% of the Canadian population lives in these provinces. The largest plants for ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, car manufacturing, ship building, aircraft building, food processing industry, etc. are located there.

On the western bank of Lake Ontario is situated Canada’s largest city – Toronto. One of the most beautiful buildings in Toronto is the headquarters of the Royal Bank. Impressive is its facade glazing, which shines like gold at sunset. Gold was added indeed in the glass as a sign of the power of the building’s owners. The most attractive landmark in Toronto is the television tower, built in 1976 with a height of 553 m. The tower is among the tallest ones in the world and is visited by about 2 mln tourists annually. The capital city of the country Ottawa is located in the Ontario province. Its population takes pride in the annual Spring Tulip Festival. During the Second World War the city offered asylum to the Dutch royal family, and ever since then it sends as a gift to the city thousands of tulips.

The Quebec province is rich in ores and minerals, abundant water, thick forests, and fertile soils. Quebec is the capital of the province. The old part of the city was declared a monument of culture of world importance by UNESCO. The largest city in the province is Montreal. It is a beautiful city, dubbed “Paris on the North American continent”, as it is the second largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris. Montreal is a fairly busy port and a major financial hub.

Western Canada comprises the mountainous province of British Columbia and the prairie provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. British Columbia is the only Canadian province with an outlet on the Pacific Ocean. In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are located the northernmost parts of the Great Plains (the prairies). Major deposits of petroleum and natural gas were discovered here in 20th c.

British Columbia is famous for its beautiful mountainous scenery and picturesque natural harbours. The diverse wildlife – Baribal and Grizzly bears, elk, otters, water fowls, etc, is preserved in more than 675 natural parks, which attract more than 23 mln visitors every year. The larger part of the population of British Columbia lives in the two biggest cities – Vancouver and Victoria. In 1792 the English seafarer George Vancouver set foot on the island. A hundred years later the island was named after him. Vancouver is the third largest city in Canada. It has a vast natural harbour and is the most important Canadian commercial hub of the Pacific Ocean sailing.

In Alberta, on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is located the oldest Canadian national park - Banff, famous for its mountainous scenery. Alberta provides for 90% of the country’s needs for natural gas, and Saskatchewan has over 18,000 operational oil wells, which provide about 1/5 of the total crude oil production.

Canada is the biggest producer of barley in the world. More than 90% of the total production is harvested in Western Canada.

Northern Canada consists of three extremely rarely populated territories – the Yukon, the Northwestern territory and Nunavut, which take up about 40% of the country’s area. The basic part of the population consists of Eskimo and Indians occupied in fishing, hunting and deer breeding. Northern Canada is the habitat of Polar bears. Since 1973 hunting prohibitions have been imposed in order to preserve this endangered species.