The history of Canada covers the period from the ancient Indians thousands of years ago to the present. Canada has been inhabited by unique indigenous groups in the past decades, and they have gradually formed a trade network, spiritual beliefs and social hierarchy. Some of these civilizations had disappeared for a long time when the first Europeans arrived and were discovered through archaeological investigations. Various treaties and laws have been made between European settlers and indigenous people.
From the late15th century, French and British expeditions explored along the Atlantic coast and later settled down. After the Seven Years' War, France ceded almost all its colonies in North America to Britain in 1763. 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies, Canada formed a federal dominion composed of four provinces. This began the growth of provinces and territories and the process of gaining more and more autonomy from the British Empire. This process became formal with the Westminster Act of 193 1 and was completed in the Canadian Act of 1982, which cut off the remnants of legal dependence on the British Parliament.
For centuries, elements of aboriginal, French, British and recent immigration customs have combined to form Canadian culture. Canada is also strongly influenced by its language, geography and economic neighbor, the United States. Since the end of World War II, Canadians have always supported multilateralism abroad and domestic social and economic development. At present, Canada is composed of ten provinces and three regions, with parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.
geography
Canada occupies most of northern North America, bordering the United States in the south, Alaska in the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west. To the north is the Arctic Ocean. In terms of total area (including waters), Canada is the second largest country in the world, only next to Russia. In terms of land area, Canada ranks fourth.
The country lies between 4 1 degree north latitude and 84 degrees west longitude and between 52 degrees and 14 1 degree west longitude. Since 1925 degrees, Canada has always claimed sovereignty over the Arctic between 60 degrees west longitude and 14 1 degrees, but this claim has not been universally recognized. The northernmost settlement in Canada (and the world) is the Canadian Army Guard Station at the northern end of ellesmere island-82.5 degrees north latitude-8 17 kilometers (450 nautical miles, 508 miles) from the North Pole. Most of the Canadian Arctic is covered with ice and permafrost. Canada also has the longest coastline in the world: 202,080 kilometers (125,570 miles).
Since the last ice age, Canada has been made up of eight different forest regions, including the vast boreal forest on the canadian shield. Canada has more lakes than any other country and contains most of the fresh water in the world. There are also freshwater glaciers in Canada's Rockies and Coastal Mountains. Canadian geology is active, with many earthquakes and potential active volcanoes, especially Fresnel Mountain, garibaldi Mountain, Kailai Mountain and Eziza Volcano Group. 1775 The eruption of Tseax Cone volcano caused a catastrophic disaster, killing 2,000 Nisga people and destroying their villages in the Nass Valley in northern British Columbia; The volcanic eruption produced a lava flow of 22.5 kilometers (14.0 miles), which, according to Nisga legend, blocked the flow of the Nasi River.
The population density is 3.3 people per square kilometer (8.5 people per square mile), which is one of the lowest in the world. The most densely populated area in Canada is the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, which is located in southern Quebec and southern Ontario, along the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
The average high temperature in winter and summer in Canada varies from region to region. In many parts of this country, it will be very cold in winter, especially in inland and grassland provinces, where the climate is continental and the average daily temperature is close? 15 c (5 f) but can it be reduced to the following? 40 degrees celsius (? 40 degrees Fahrenheit) accompanied by severe cold. In non-coastal areas, snow covers the ground for almost six months of the year (more in the north). Coastal British Columbia has a mild climate and mild and rainy winters. On the east coast and west coast, the average high temperature is usually around 20 C (70 F), while between the two coasts, the average high temperature in summer is between 25°C and 30 C (77 F to 86°F), and some inland areas occasionally have high temperatures exceeding 40 C (104 F).
government
Canada has a strong democratic tradition, which is maintained through the parliamentary system within the framework of constitutional monarchy; Canada's monarchy is the basis of the separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers. The Queen is Elizabeth II. She is also the head of state of other 15 Commonwealth countries and ten Canadian provinces, mainly living in Britain. Therefore, the representative of the Queen, the Governor-General of Canada (now David Lloyd Johnston) performs most of the duties of the federal royal family in Canada.
The direct participation of members of the royal family and deputy royal family in the field of governance is limited; In practice, their exercise of executive power is under the command of the Cabinet, which is a royal ministerial committee selected and led by the Canadian Prime Minister (now stephen harper), who is responsible for the elected House of Commons. In order to ensure the stability of the government, the governor usually appoints the current leader of a political party who can win the trust of the majority in the House of Commons as the prime minister. Therefore, the Prime Minister's Office is one of the most powerful institutions in the government, proposing most legislation for approval by Parliament, which is selected and appointed by the king. Besides, there are governors, deputy governors, senators, federal court judges and heads of royal companies and government agencies. The leader of the political party with the second largest number of seats usually becomes the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition party (now Nycole Turmel) and is part of the confrontational parliamentary system aimed at restraining the government. [96]
Senate chamber in the central block of Capitol Hill.
The 308 members of the House of Commons are all elected by a simple majority of constituencies or constituencies. The general election must be held by the governor-general within four years after the last election on the proposal of the prime minister, or triggered by the government's loss of confidence in the House of Representatives. The seats of 105 members of the Senate are distributed by region, and the term of office is 75 years old. In the 20 1 1 election, representatives of five political parties were elected as members of the federal parliament: Canada Conservative Party (the ruling party), New Democracy Party (the official opposition party), Canada Liberal Party, Quebec Group and Canada Green Party. There are many political parties with elected representatives in history.
Canada's federal structure divides government responsibilities between the federal government and ten provinces. The provincial legislature is unicameral and operates in a parliamentary system similar to the House of Commons. There are also legislatures in three regions of Canada, but they are not sovereign institutions. Compared with other provinces, their constitutional responsibilities are less and there are some structural differences.
culture
Canada is composed of many nationalities and cultures, and the policy of promoting multiculturalism is protected by the Constitution. In Quebec, cultural identity is very strong, and many French-speaking critics talk about the difference between Quebec culture and English-speaking Canadian culture; However, as a whole, Canada is a cultural mosaic-a collection of several regions, indigenous and national subcultures. Government policies, such as publicly funded health care, higher taxes to distribute wealth, prohibition of the death penalty, vigorous poverty eradication, emphasis on multiculturalism, stricter gun control and legalization of same-sex marriage, are different social indicators for Canada's political and cultural development from that of the United States.