Otázka: Canada
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): 33
I would like to speak about Canada. At first I’ll tell you something about geography and population. The second part will be about history, political system or interesting places.
Geography
- Canada is a country occupying the whole of the northern part of North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It has common border with the USA to the south and northwest. There are also many islands around continental land (e.g. Baffin Island, Newfoundland, Vancouver Island, Prince Edward Island etc). Canada’s area is almost 10 million sq km – it is the second largest country in the world.
- The capital city is Ottawa and other important cities are Toronto – which is the biggest, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
- Mountains are situated in the west: the Rocky Mountains, the Mackenzie Mountains and the Melville Hills. Some mountains are also on the east coast e.g. Laurentians. The highest peak is Mount Logan (5959 m) in the Alaska Region.
- The longest river is the Mackenzie (flows from the Rocky mountains to the Arctic Ocean) and other big rivers are: the Yukon, the Fraser, the Columbia (flow into the Pacific Ocean) a and the River St. Lawrence (into the Atlantic Ocean).
- Canada is famous for its diverse and beautiful scenery particularly in the Great Lakes Area in the southeast. There are for example: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. Between the lakes Erie and Ontario there are famous Niagara Falls. Other big lakes in Canada are: Lake Winnipeg, Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake.
Population
- Canada’s population is almost 38 million, which means that the density is one of the lowest – 3,5 people per one sq km. Most of people live in the big cities near the border with the USA.
- Canada is a bilingual country…it means that there are two officil languages – English and French. Quebec is the place where French is spoken.
- The name Canada comes from the original inhabitants. Indians used the world „kanata“, which means „village“.
History
- The original inhabitans (the Inuits) came to Canada about 30 000 years ago from Asia across a land bridge, which is now the Bering Strait.
- Canada was „discovered“ twice, first by the Icelandic Vikings more than a thousand years ago and than by Europeans in the 15th century (Italian Giovanni Caboto in 1497 explored Canada’s Atlantic coast for England and Frenchman Jacques Cartier in 1534 explored Canada for France).
- Bewteen 1689 and 1763 there were a series of four Intercolonial Wars. In 1867 Canada became a British dominion. The Statue of Westminster affirmed Canada’s independence from Britain in 1931.
- Now it is an independent federal state and a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Polititcal system
- Canada is an independent federal parliamentary system. The head of state is British Queen Elizabeth II represented by the Governor General. The head of government is the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Parliament consists of two houses: the House of Commons and the Senate.
- The flag is formed of white square with a simple red maple leaf. There are also two red strips which symbolise the position of Canada between two ocean.
- Canada consists from 10 provinces and 3 territories. The newest territory is Nunavut.
National economy
- Canada’s economy is traditionally based on natural resources and agriculture. It is the world‘s second largest exporter of wheat. Some district are renowned for their forestry. Forests cover 44 % of the land area. Coal, oil, gas, gold, silver, copper, zinc and other ores can we found there. Main industries are mining, chemical, machine building, iron and steel. Canada’s main trading partner is the USA.
Places of interest
- National parks – there are about thirty national parks in Canada, one of them is Jasper National Park in Alberta. You can enjoy walking, climbing, sightseeing, fishing or skiing there.
- Toronto – capital of the province Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, CN Tower
- Vancouver – largest city in British Columbia, named after George Vancouver – winter olympic games took place there
- Victoria – the capital city of British Columbia named after Queen Victoria
