Outline of Canada

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Canada:

Canada (/ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean.^[1] It is the world's second largest country by total area, and shares land borders with the United States to the south and northwest, and marine borders with France and Greenland on the east and northeast, respectively.

The lands have been inhabited for millennia by various groups of aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War.In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces.^[2]^[3]^[4] This began an accretion of additional provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and culminating in the Canada Act in 1982 which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament.

Canada is a federation that is governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with King Charles III as its head of state. It is a bilingual and multicultural country, with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. Technologically advanced and industrialized, Canada maintains a diversified economy that is heavily reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the United States, with which Canada has a long and complex relationship.

General reference

Pronunciation /ˈkænədə/
Common English country name: Canada
Official English country name: Canada
Common endonym: Canada
Official endonym: Canada
Adjectival: Canadian, Canada
Demonym: Canadian (Fr. canadien)
Etymology: Name of Canada
Official languages : English, French
ISO country codes: CA, CAN, 124
ISO region codes: See ISO 3166-2:CA
Internet country code top-level domain: .ca
International rankings of Canada

Geography

BC

AB

SK

MB

ON

QC

NB

PE

NS

NL

YT

NT

NU

Geography of Canada

Canada is...
- a country
  - a nation state
  - a Commonwealth Realm
  - a federation
  - a member state of NATO
Location:
- Northern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere
  - Americas
    - North America
      - Northern America
- Time zones (Time in Canada):
- Extreme points of Canada
  - North: Cape Columbia, Nunavut - (83°08' N, 74°13'W)
  - South: Middle Island, Ontario - (41°41'N, 82°40'W)
  - East: Cape Spear, Newfoundland - (47°31'N, 52°37'W)
  - West: Yukon-Alaska border - (141°00'W)
  - High: Mount Logan, Yukon 5,959 m (19,551 ft)
  - Low: North Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and North Pacific Ocean 0 m
- Land boundaries:

United States 8,893 km (5,526 miles)^[5]

Greenland 1,280 m (4,200 feet) (on Hans Island)

- Coastline: 202,080 km (125,570 miles)^[6]
Population of Canada: 36,991,981 people (2021 Census^[7]) - 37th most populous country
Area of Canada: 9,984,670 km² (3,855,100 square miles) - 2nd most extensive country
Atlas of Canada

Environment

Environment of Canada

Geographic features

Regions

Northern Canada (The North)
Western Canada
- Prairies
Eastern Canada
- Central Canada
- Atlantic Canada
  - Maritimes

Other regions

English Canada, sometimes known as the Rest of Canada (excluding Quebec) when considering topics of language
French Canada
Acadia
Quebec-Windsor Corridor

Ecoregions

Provinces and territories

Provinces and territories of Canada

Provinces

Province, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ ISO code	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2016)^[8]	Area (km²)
Province, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ ISO code	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2016)^[8]	Land	Water	Total
Ontario¹	ON	Ont.	Toronto	July 1, 1867	13,448,494	917,741	158,654	1,076,395
Quebec¹	QC	Que., PQ, P.Q.	Quebec City		8,164,361	1,356,128	185,928	1,542,056
Nova Scotia²	NS	N.S.	Halifax		923,598	53,338	1,946	55,284
New Brunswick²	NB	N.B.	Fredericton		747,101	71,450	1,458	72,908
Manitoba³	MB	Man.	Winnipeg	July 15, 1870	1,278,365	553,556	94,241	647,797
British Columbia²	BC	B.C.	Victoria	July 20, 1871	4,648,055	925,186	19,549	944,735
Prince Edward Island²	PE	PEI, P.E.I., P.E. Island	Charlottetown	July 1, 1873	142,907	5,660	—	5,660
Saskatchewan⁴	SK	Sask., SK, SKWN	Regina	September 1, 1905	1,098,352	591,670	59,366	651,036
Alberta⁴	AB	Alta.	Edmonton	September 1, 1905	4,067,175	642,317	19,531	661,848
Newfoundland and Labrador⁵	NL	Nfld., NF, LB	St. John's	March 31, 1949	519,716	373,872	31,340	405,212

Notes:

Immediately prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were part of the Province of Canada.
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were separate colonies at the time of joining Canada.
Manitoba was established simultaneously with Northwest Territories.
Saskatchewan and Alberta were created out of land that had been part of Northwest Territories.
Prior to its entry in Confederation, Newfoundland had been a Dominion within the British Commonwealth, but due to a financial crisis during the Depression had surrendered its right to self-government and was under direct British governance.

Territories

There are currently three territories in Canada. Unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent jurisdiction and only have those powers delegated to them by the federal government.

Territory, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ ISO code	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2007)^[8]	Area (km²)
Territory, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ ISO code	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2007)^[8]	Land	Water	Total
Northwest Territories	NT	N.W.T., NWT	Yellowknife	July 15, 1870	41,786	1,183,085	163,021	1,346,106
Yukon	YT	Y.T., YK	Whitehorse	June 13, 1898	35,874	474,391	8,052	482,443
Nunavut	NU	NV	Iqaluit	April 1, 1999	35,944	1,936,113	157,077	2,093,190

Note: Canada did not acquire any new land to create Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, or Nunavut. All of these originally formed part of Northwest Territories.