Canada [antikvár]

The diversity and splendor of Canada as a nation is spectacularly evidenced by cruising, on a clear day, along Alberta's provincial Highway 2, a 500-kilometer stretch of road that extends southward from the capital city of Edmonton, through Calgary and on to the United States border at Montana.While driving along Highway 2, the stunning contrasts of this great land become unmistakable. A mere glance to the west unveils the majestic, yet harsh and jagged Canadian Rocky Mountains, 125 kilometers away in the distance, but seemingly close enough to reach out and touch.A glance to the east, however, reveals an altogether different, but equally absorbing, study of Canadian topography - the prairie flatlands, serenely stretching away for endless miles; the horizon appearing to be in some far-off location on the other side of the world.These visions of Canada - produced by a mere turn of the head - encompass two of this nation's most prominent gifts: its great beauty, which attracts tourists from all parts of the world, and its great crop of natural resources, such as the prairie wheat harvest, which yields an annual dividend of $2.5 billion.Add to this the splendor and excitement of large urban centers such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, a population incorporating people from virtually all ethnic backgrounds, and the mystery of a far northern location, and ifs easy to perceive why Canada ranks among the world's most fascinating regions.The shame in all of this is the propensity of Canadians to pass up the expansive beauty of their homeland in favor of visiting foreign destinations. So many Canadians run to Europe, or to popular American outposts like New York and California, only to be taken aback when they finally explore the charm and majesty of their own nation. A popular saying in Canada is "Gee, I never realized there was so much to see right in our back yard."The second-largest country in the world (only the Soviet Union encompasses more square-mileage), Canada was discovered by French navigator Jacques Cartier, who led three voyages of exploration to the St. Lawrence region between 1534 and 1541. The area of Quebec was the first to be labelled "Canada," in 1534.More than 450 years later, the land Cartier so courageously explored is a major economic outpost, divided into twelve distinct and diversified regions -called provinces - each with its own history, culture and sovereignty.The Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, plus the province of Newfoundland, are a cluster of peninsulas and islands on the easternmost boundary of Canada. All are significantly affected by the Atlantic Ocean and they are home to about seven percent of the nation's population.The inland provinces of Quebec and Ontario are the largest and most populous regions of Canada: sixty-two percent of Canadians reside here. South-central Ontario -surrounding the western end of lake Ontario - is the most densely populated area of the country. Termed the "GoldenHorseshoe," this region includes the cities of Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton and St. Catharines and has a population of approximately four million people.The Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta each extend north from the United States border to the southern plain of the Northwest Territories. They contain Canada's richest and most sought after natural resources -primarily oil, gas and wheat.British Columbia, Canada's westernmost and third-largest province, is largely a mountainous region whose population is mainly clustered in the southwest comer. About fifty-five percent of British Columbia is forested and, thanks to prime growth conditions for coniferous trees, the province contains about forty percent of Canada's merchantable wood.The NorthwestTerritories constitute the largest political subdivision within Canada (roughly thirty-four percent of the national area) and incorporate the regions north of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, extending as far north as the Arctic islands near Greenland, to within 800 kilometers of the North Pole. The region is very sparsely populated in relation to its immense size, being inhabited by roughly 53,000 people - 0.25 percent of the national population.The Yukon Territory lies in the far northwest corner of Canada's continental mainland and is bordered on the east by the NorthwestTerritories and on the west by the American state of Alaska. The Yukon economy revolves around the fur trade and the mining of zinc and lead. It too is sparsely populated, supporting only about 24,000 people, more than half of whom live in the capital city of Whitehorse.Exploring the various regions within Canada is an experience enjoyed by millions of people each year. In 1986, Canadians spent $10.8 billion on domestic tourism as they explored their own country; $4.2 billion was spent by United States visitors, and $2.25 billion came from offshore tourists.Just about everyone who visits a region of Canada is left with an indelible impression of the beauty this nation possesses - an extravagant visual experience that lingers in the mind. The picturesque mountain regions of Alberta and British Columbia are the most photographed and admired by Canadian tourists, superseded only, perhaps, by the spectacle of Niagara Falls in Ontario - the world's greatest waterfall by volume, visited by between twelve and fourteen million people a year.Vancouver, the largest city in British Columbia, is widely regarded as Canada's most picturesque urban center. The city is an island-like extension of the mainland, surrounded by three waterways: the Burrard Inlet to the north, the Strait of Georgia to the west and the Fraser River to the south.First-time visitors to Vancouver are often deceived by dense cloud that comes from warm coastal air masses over the Pacific Ocean. The coast of British Columbia receives a large amount of rainfall, mainly during late autumn and early winter. During this period, an entire day of bright sunshine is considered a luxury, if not a fluke.