Canada

Schedule
1) Basic facts and Geography
2) History
3) National symbols
4) Places of interest (provinces), famous people

1)
Canada is situated on the north hemisphere, between the 49th and the 80th parallel. Canada is the second largest country in the world with her 9,970,610 square kilometres and 27 million inhabitants. The first is the Russian Federation. Canada is lying between 3 oceans. They’ re the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west, and the Arctic Ocean in the north. The capital of Canada is Ottawa in the province of Ontario, but the largest city is Toronto. The landmass is divided to 10 provinces and 3 territories. Each territory has its own capital. Canada is divided into seven regions.
1) The Pacific coast is influenced by Pacific. It has the most moderate climate of Canada’s regions.
2) The Cordillera region is made up of the Rocky Mountains, the Coast Mountains and the other ranges running north to south. The highest point of Canada is situated in the southwest corner of the Yukon. The highest point of Canada is Mt. Logan – 5951 m .
3) The Prairies – the plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are among the richest grain-producing regions in the world. Alberta is very important producer of petroleum. The sedimentary rocks underlying the Prairies have important deposits of oil, natural gas and potash.
4) The Canadian Shield includes huge Hudson Bay. The Shield is the largest geographical feature. It is the nucleus of the North American continent. The region is a storehouse of minerals (gold, silver, zinc, copper, uranium)
5) The Great Lakes - Canada is known as country where are approximately 2 million lakes. The main lakes are the Great Bear, the Great Slave, the Athabaska, the Winnipeg, the Superior, the Huron, the Erie and the Ontario. The largest lake is the Great Bear Lake.
6) The Atlantic Provinces – Appalachian Region. Europeans first settled New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Land and Newfoundland. It is the richest fishing area in the world.
7) The Arctic – short summer, long winter, inaccessible only by air

Population
    Population of Canada was 28,846,761 at the time of the last census in 1996. Estimated population in 2001 was 31,592,805. Most Canadians live in the cities and most of the urban cities are closed to the southern border. The largest centres are in Quebec and Ontario provinces. The most of people are ethically English and French. The French and the English are official spoken languages.

Canada is an independent country with its own prime minister, but the head of state is the British Queen. Canadian currency is the Canadian Dollar
2)
    The first contact between natives and European people was about 1,000 ago. English and French were seeking for the new way to Asia, but they didn’t find it. Instead of the way they find the land rich on the fish and wild animals. They built post there. French – the St. Lawrence River, the Mississippi river and the Great Lakes and English – Hudson Bay. Trade led to quarrels and to fights. Treaty of Paris 1763 – gave to British all French territories east of the Mississippi except St. Pierre et Miquelon and Newfoundland. In 1774 – Quebec Act – civil laws, guaranteed religious and linguistic freedom.
Loyalist – English speaking people whishing to remain faithful (věrný) to the British crown came to Canada after 1776 in the USA
In 1791 Upper and Lower Canada were created and after rebellions in 1830 the united Province of Canada was created by British government. Dominion of Canada – July 1867 
3)
Flag – Maple leaf
Anthem - “O Canada”. Music attributed to Calixa Lavallée. Words were written by Justice Robert Stanley Weir. The anthem was adopted in 1980
Emblem – Maple tree 
4)
Provinces and territories, national parks
    Canada maintains 38 national parks, which cover about 2% of the landmass. The oldest one is Banff, located in Alberta. It was established in 1885. Canada is known as the country of two million lakes, which cover about 7,6% of landmass. The biggest lake The Great Bear Lake is situated in the Northwest Territories.
    Ottawa is the bilingual and bicultural national capital, but the largest city is Toronto with population about four million people is. It is leading producer of manufactured goods and it’s also a headquarters of many Canadian companies.
    The most popular tourist attraction in Canada are The Niagara falls situated on the Niagara river between two lakes. The highest point is about 57 m. The falls are consisting of two cataracts. The Horseshoe on the Canadian side and American falls on the side of America.
The tourist centre consists of the four parts: Sky Lon Tower, Panasonic Tower, George Tower and Niagara Tower.
Canada is the cradle of NHL, which is the most famous ice hockey federation around the world. It is connected with names of Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux. NHL is divided into Eastern conference (Atlantic Division – Panthers, Rangers, Tampa Bay…;  Northeast Division – Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Ottawa….) and Western Conference (Central Division – Red Wings, Blackhawk’s, Jets….; Pacific Division – Calgary Flames, Mighty Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, Sharks…)

Here are some famous Canadians – Wayne Gretzky already mentioned, Alexander Graham Bell, the inviter of the telephone and at least Roberta Bondar, one of the crew of the space shuttle Discovery.