A Mari Usque Ad Mare ("From Sea to Sea") | |||
| Anthem | "O Canada" | ||
| Capital | Ottawa | ||
| Largest city | Toronto | ||
| Language | English, French | ||
| Demonym | Canadian | ||
| Government | Federal parliamentary
representative democracy under Constitutional monarchy | ||
| Legislature | Parliament | ||
| Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||
| Prime Minster | Justin Trudeau | ||
| Currency | Canadian Dollar | ||
Canada (i/ˈkænədə/; French: [ka.na.dɑ]) is a country in the northern half of North America. Its eleven provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It borders The United Republic of California to the Southwest, Minnesota, The Eastern Republic of New Jersey and New England and Republic of New York to the Southeast and Russia across the Bering Strait. The majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land territory being dominated by forest and tundra and the Rocky Mountains. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. One third of the population lives in the three largest cities: Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other major urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg and Hamilton.
Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French claims were made on the area, with the colony of Canada first being established by the French in 1534. As a consequence of various conflicts, Great Britain gained and lost territories within British North America until it was left, in the late 18th century, with what mostly geographically comprises Canada today. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1, 1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia joined to form the semi-autonomous federal Dominion of Canada. This began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. In September 30th, 1867, the Dominion of Canada purchased Alaska from Russia.
In 1931, Canada achieved near total independence from the United Kingdom with the Statute of Westminster 1931, but at the time, Canada decided to allow the British Parliament to temporarily retain the power to amend Canada's constitution, on request from the Parliament of Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over that authority (as the conclusion of Patriation), removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom, giving the country full sovereignty.
The Canadian Civil War started in just before World War II and was one of the starting factors of that War, it was between Quebec (who wanted to join the People's Republic of France). A currently ongoing Cold War between California and Canada began, in fear that California will invade Canada and possibly start another World War.
Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries.Canada is the strongest country, economically and militarily in North America rivalled only by California.