Inhabited
by American Indians and the Inuit
people the land was reached by Vikings
as early as 1000 AD. During the 16th century expeditions from different
European countries lead to France "claiming" the land
and establishing it's first settlement there in 1605.
The
British set up the Hudson's
Bay Company in 1670 beginning a century of trade rivalry with
the French which only ended after the Treaty of Paris in 1763 when
the territories were ceded to the British. This heralded an increase
in emigration to the land and these numbers increased again after
the American
War of Independence and throughout the 19th century.
Born
in Scotland on the Isle of Lewis in 1764Sir
Alexander Mackenzie entered the Canadian fur business during which
he discovered the Mackenzie River in 1789. In 1792 he set out to become
the first European to cross the Rocky Mountains and reached the Pacific
Ocean the following year.
The
English explorer Sir
John Franklin died in 1847 off King William Island in the Northwest
Territories while on an expediton to find the Northwest Passage around
Canada.
Matthew
Webb died in 1883 attempting to be the first person to swim
across the rapids of the Niagara River just below the Niagara Falls
on the US-Canadian border. He had been born in Dawley in Shropshire
in 1848 and in 1875 had become the first person to swim the English
Channel when he swam from Dover to Cap Gris Nez in France.
Historic
Events
Notable
Achievements
In
1901 the Italian scientist Guglielmo
Marconi succeeded in sending the first
transatlantic radio signal in the form of Morse code
from Poldhu in Cornwall across the ocean to St John's in Newfoundland.
In 1909 he was awarded the Nobel
Prize for Physics.
In
1919 a plane flown by the pilot Sir
John William Alcock and the navigator Sir
Arthur Whitten Brown took off from Newfoundland and less
than 17 hours later crash-landed at Clifden, County Galway in
Ireland, the successful end of the first
ever non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
Hudson's
Bay Company
(A London-based corporation that traded principally in furs
in the north and west of Canada)
Prime Ministers
Born
in Scotland in 1822 Alexander
Mackenzie arrived in Canada in 1842. He entered Canadian politics
and from 1873-78 served as the Canada's first ever Liberal Prime Minister.
Andrew
Bonar Law (known as Bonar Law) was British Prime Minister from
1922-23. He had been born in Rexton, New Brunswick in 1858.
In
1981 Head-Smashed-In
Buffalo Jump
was designated a World Heritage Site.The
site was where buffalo were once hunted by being chased
over a precipice to fall to their deaths below.
Containing
North America's largest population of wild bison, the
Wood
Buffalo National Park
was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983. The park
stretches into the Northwest Territories.
In
1984 the Canadian
Rocky Mountain Parks along the Alberta-British
Columbia border were
designated a World Heritage Site. These include the former
World Heritage Sites of Banff
and Jasper
National Parks in Alberta.
Lying off the Queen Charlotte Islands, SGaang
Gwaii illustrates
the Haida people's way of life and was designated a World
Heritage Site in 1981.
In
1984 the Canadian
Rocky Mountain Parks along the Alberta-British
Columbia border were
designated a World Heritage Site. These include the former
World Heritage Sites of Kootenay
and Yoho
National Parks together with the Burgess
Shale Site in British Columbia.
Newfoundland and Labrador
In
1978 the L'Anse
aux Meadows National Historic Site
was designated a World Heritage Site.The
site contains an 11th century Viking settlement, the first
evidence of Europeans reaching North America.
Situated
in the west of Newfoundland, the Gros
Morne National Park
was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Containing
North America's largest population of wild bison, the
Wood
Buffalo National Park
was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983. The park
stretches into Alberta.
Nova Scotia
In
1995 the Old
Town of Lunenberg
was designated a World Heritage Site. The town was established
by the British in 1753 and is the best example of the
planning of a colonial settlement.
In
2008 the Joggins
Fossil Cliffs
were designated a World Heritage Site. The cliffs contain
the world's best record of life during the Carboniferous
period, 300 million years ago.
Ontario
The
Rideau
Canal National Historic Site was
designated a World Heritage Site in 2007, protecting the
historic 202 km waterway which links the town of Kingston
to the capital of Ottawa.
Quebec
Founded
by the French in the early 17th century the Historic
District of Quebec
was designated a World Heritage Site in 1985. It is the
only city in North America to have preserved its fortifications.
In
1999 the Miguasha
Park
was designated a World Heritage Site. It contains the
world's best examples of fish fossils from the Devonian
period.
The
Scottish author of The Thirty-Nine StepsJohn
Buchan, died in 1940 in Montreal, Quebec while serving as the
country's Governor-General. He is buried in Elsfield in Oxfordshire.