Mr. Womack
Geography
Canada
Canada is the second largest country in
the world.
 Canada is highly industrialized.
 Canada has a high standard of living,
and much land and open space.
 Canada has far fewer people than the
United States but does share a similar
culture and economy.
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Canada-Statistics
Population: 34,299,000
 Area (in square miles): 3,849,670
 Longest River: Mackenzie (2,635 miles)
 Highest Mountain: Mt. Logan (19,524 feet)
 Major Languages: English, French
 Currency: Canadian Dollar
 Number of Newspapers: 108
 Number of Television Sets: 19.4 million
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Where is Canada?
Canada stretches 3,987 miles from east to west.
 That is almost one-quarter of the way around
the world.
 The Atlantic Ocean is the border on the east.
 The Pacific Ocean is the border on the west.
 The Arctic Ocean is the border on the North.
 The United States is the border on the south.
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Canada
What Physical Regions Exist?
Canada has six physical regions.
 The Canadian Shield
 The Central Plains
 The Rocky Mountains
 The Arctic Region
 The Appalachian Mountains
 Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands
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Physical Regions of Canada
What Political Regions Exist?
There are six political regions in Canada.
 Maritime Provinces
 Quebec
 Ontario
 Prairie Provinces
 British Columbia
 Arctic North
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Political Regions of Canada
Maritime Provinces
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Maritime means bordering on or near the sea.
The provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island make up
the Maritime Provinces.
They border the Atlantic Ocean.
They were the first places Europeans settled.
These are rugged areas of low, forested mountains.
People depend upon the forests and sea to make a
living.
The Grand Banks have some of the best commercial
fishing in the world.
The Maritime Provinces
Confederation Bridge-Linking Prince
Edward Island and New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
Newfoundland
Quebec
This is Canada’s largest province.
 One out of every four Canadians live in
Quebec.
 Its most famous cities are Montreal and
Quebec City.
 Both cities are on the St. Lawrence
River.
 Quebec is an important center for
manufacturing.
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Quebec
Montreal
Quebec City
Ontario
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This is the industrial center of Canada.
Great forests cover Northern Ontario.
Most of the people live in Southern Ontario.
The United States buys most of the things that
Ontario produces.
Ontario is one of the fastest growing business
centers in the world.
Toronto, the biggest city in Canada is located in
Ontario.
The capital of Canada, Ottawa is also in Ontario.
Ontario
Toronto
Ottawa
Prairie Provinces
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This was once an area that was covered with tall
grasses.
Today the provinces produce much of the world’s
wheat.
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta make up the
Prairie Provinces.
Manitoba has manufacturing and agriculture.
Saskatchewan is mostly agricultural.
Alberta has natural gas, oil, farming and tourism is
important.
Major cities are Winnipeg, Manitoba; Regina,
Saskatchewan; Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta.
Prairie Provinces
Winnipeg
Regina
Prairie Provinces
Edmonton
Calgary
British Columbia
The Rocky Mountains separate this
province from the rest of the country.
 The part of the Rocky Mountains in British
Columbia is called the Brooks Range.
 Thick forests and rivers loaded with salmon
make British Columbia famous.
 The largest city is Vancouver.
 It is Canada’s port city on the Pacific Ocean.
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British Columbia
Vancouver
Brooks Range
Arctic North
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This area covers more than a third of the
country.
This area included the Yukon Territory, the
Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
Nunavut was created for the Inuit, who are also
called Eskimos.
This area is a desert, because it is dry, but it is a
cold desert.
Much of this area is covered by tundra.
Tundra is a cold plain with no trees.
Miners have discovered huge mineral deposits
there.
Arctic North
Ice Breaking Ship
The Northern Territories
of Canada
Physical Features of Canada
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Glaciers once covered much of Canada.
They wore down the eastern mountains of
Canada.
These glaciers created the gentle rolling land
that dominate Eastern Canada.
These glaciers also left behind many lakes and
rivers.
Canada has more lakes than any other country
in the world.
About 30% of the world’s freshwater is located in
Canada.
How did glaciers change
Canada?
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The melting of glaciers left behind rich soil in the
prairie.
There are still many glaciers in the Rocky
Mountains of Canada.
The St. Elias Mountains in the Yukon have the
tallest mountain in Canada: Mt. Logan (19,542 feet).
Glaciers cover many islands in Canada.
Canada has over 50,000 islands.
The three largest islands are Baffin, Ellesmere, and
Victoria.
Those three islands are bigger than many countries.
Glaciers in Canada
Mt. LoganHighest Point in
Canada
Baffin Island
Canadian Islands
Major Bodies of Water in Canada
Hudson Bay is so big that the entire state
of Texas would fit into it!
 The southern shore is flat and swampy
so very few people live there.
 The northern part of Hudson Bay is
frozen much of the year.
 Hudson Bay is in inlet from the ocean.
 It has a mix of salt water and fresh water.
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Hudson Bay
Other major bodies of water
The longest river is the Mackenzie. It is
frozen much of the year.
 The St. Lawrence river is smaller but very
important.
 More than 60% of Canada’s population lives
close to or near this river.
 Canada and the United States share four of
the five Great Lakes.
 The countries also share Niagara Falls.
 This huge waterfall is 158 feet high and 2,600
feet wide.
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Mackenzie River
St. Lawrence River
Niagara Falls
Subarctic climate
Most of Canada is in this climate which is the
area immediately outside the Arctic Circle.
 Canada is one of the coldest countries in the
world. Average: 22 degrees
 In the Arctic North the ground is always frozen.
This is called permafrost.
 This area gets less snow than the rest of
Canada, but it so cold the snow never melts.
 Some parts of Canada get as warm as 80
degrees, but the summers are short.
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Arctic Circle
Arctic North of
Canada
Maritime Climate
This climate exists on Canada’s west
coast.
 Being close to water influences this
climate.
 Rain falls more frequently than snow in
the winter.
 On the winward side of the coastal
mountains some place receive as much
as 195 inches of rain a year.
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Continental Climate
The Prairie Provinces have a continental climate.
 This area is landlocked and far from the ocean.
 They have short, warm summers and long winters.
 The summers are even shorter in Canada
because they are in higher latitudes.
 Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta do not
receive much rain because they are on the
leeward side of the mountains.
 Chinook winds from the mountains can cause a
break from cold temperatures and droughts in the
summer.
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Prairie Provinces
Chinook Winds
Humid Continental Climate
There is one small part of Canada that
experiences this very mild climate.
 It is the southernmost point in Canada
and is farther south than some parts of
California.
 People here enjoy four different
seasons.
 They have short winters and long
summers .
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Point Pelee,
Ontario
The Southernmost
Point in all of
Canada
How does geography affect the
Canadians?
The Inuit have a great balance with nature.
 They have over 100 names for snow because
it is so important to them.
 They live by hunting and fishing.
 Fish and other seafood provide work for
commercial fishermen, and attract tourists to
Canada.
 Agriculture is a big business in the prairies.
 Canada’s mineral resources and forests also
provide work for many Canadians.
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The First Canadian Culture
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The oldest cultures are those of the native
peoples, called “First Nations” in Canada.
The Inuit were given a new territory, Nunavut
in 1997. They govern themselves.
About 370,000 Non-Inuit natives live in
Canada.
The Inuit’s have their own language and
culture.
They used to live in igloos and drive dog sleds.
They now live in wood or brick homes, and
drive snowmobiles and watch television.
Other cultures in Canada
Canada is a country of immigrants.
 When the country was founded in 1867,
there were only 3.4 million people.
 Today there are over 34 million people.
 Many cities have a European influence
from all of the immigrants.
 Asians now make up 3 percent of
Canada’s population
 Many settled in Vancouver.
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What languages are spoken?
Most Canadians speak English.
 In Quebec most people speak French.
 Canada is bilingual because it has two
official languages.
 Road signs and other messages appear
in both English and French.
 Besides these two languages, many
other languages are spoken by natives
and immigrants.
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Road signs in
Canada have
information in
English and
French.
Where do most Canadians live?
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About 23% of Canadians live in rural areas.
About 6% live on farms.
Most people live in urban areas.
Three main areas are Toronto, Montreal,
and Vancouver.
Toronto is Canada’s largest city and has
many different cultures inside the city.
Montreal is the center of French-Canadian
culture.
Vancouver developed after the completion
of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.
Trends in Canada
Diversity is becoming more and more
important in Canada as more cultures
come into the country.
 The U.S. controls much of Canadian
industry, and produces much of what the
Canadians read and see on television.
 Some people in Quebec want to be their
own country and feel very strongly about
the French language being used by
everyone.
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Natural Resources in Canada
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Canada has a lot of good farmland.
Canada has lots of water used for fishing and
hydroelectricity.
Canada has about 10% of the world’s forests.
Canada leads the world in zinc and uranium
production.
British Columbia has some of North America’s
largest coal deposits.
Huge reserves of oil and natural gas lie in
Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and off the
coast of Newfoundland.
Canadian Forests
Canadian
Hydroelectricity
Major Canadian Industries
Every major U.S. automaker operates
factories in Canada.
 Japan and Germany are the only
countries that export more vehicles.
 Forest products are Canada’s single
largest export.
 The trees are used to produce paper.
 Large amounts of lumber are exported
to Asia, especially to Japan.
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Other Jobs in Canada
Not a lot of people work in mining or in
agriculture, but these industries are very
important because they provide
important resources to Canada and the
rest of the world.
 Most Canadians work in service
industries.
 About 80 percent of them work in
tourism, banking, and restaurants.
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Environmental Problems
The paper industry has created a lot of
water pollution.
 Soil erosion is happening in some areas
because of poor farming methods.
 Deforestation has been a problem
because of the size of the logging
industry.
 Some wetlands have been threatened
which creates a variety of problems.
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