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Location: Northern North America, bordering the North Atlantic
Ocean and North Pacific Ocean, north of the conterminous US
Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N, 95 00 W
Map references: North America
Area:
total: 9,976,140 sq km
land: 9,220,970 sq km
water: 755,170 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than the US
Land boundaries:
total: 8,893 km
border countries: US 8,893 km (includes 2,477 km with Alaska)
Coastline: 243,791 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental
margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: varies from temperate in south to subarctic and
arctic in north
Terrain: mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands
in southeast
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Logan 5,959 m
Natural resources: iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper, gold,
lead, molybdenum, potash, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal,
petroleum, natural gas, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 5%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 3%
forests and woodland: 54%
other: 38% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 7,100 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: continuous permafrost in north is a serious
obstacle to development; cyclonic storms form east of the Rocky
Mountains, a result of the mixing of air masses from the Arctic,
Pacific, and North American interior, and produce most of the country's
rain and snow
Environment - current issues: air pollution and resulting
acid rain severely affecting lakes and damaging forests; metal smelting,
coal-burning utilities, and vehicle emissions impacting on agricultural
and forest productivity; ocean waters becoming contaminated due
to agricultural, industrial, mining, and forestry activities
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85,
Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber
94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Volatile Organic
Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note: second-largest country in world (after
Russia); strategic location between Russia and US via north polar
route; nearly 90% of the population is concentrated within 160 km
of the US/Canada border
Geography
Canada, a federated country in North America, made up of ten provinces
and two (soon to be three) territories. Canada is a vast nation
with a wide variety of geological formations, climates, and ecological
systems. It has rain forest, prairie grassland, deciduous forest,
tundra, and wetlands.
Canada has more lakes and inland waters than any other country.
It is renowned for its scenery, which attracts millions of tourists
each year. On a per-capita basis, its resource endowments are the
second richest in the world after Australia.
Canada is the second largest country in the world but has about
the same population as the state of California, which is one-25th
its size.
Climate
As Canada is so large, the climate varies widely. The southernmost
part of Canada, Point Pelee, is on the same latitude as northern
California, while the Canadian northland extends deep into the Arctic.
Canada's four seasons, each distinctly different, add to this country's
appeal. Basically the summer in Canada is similar to that of the
northern half of the U.S., with warm-hot weather from May to October,
while residents of Vancouver Island can play golf 12 months of the
year.
Ski season runs from December until the end of March in the east
of May in the west (later in some resorts). The spectacular colors
of the fall season are best viewed (in eastern Canada) in late September
or early October.
Spring arrives as early as February on the West Coast.
Background:
Canada is the second largest country in the world. Only Russia has
a greater land area. Canada extends across the continent of North
America, from Newfoundland on the Atlantic coast to British Columbia
on the Pacific coast. More than 27 million people live in Canada.
About 75 per cent of them live within 150 kilometres of Canada's
southern border. Much of the rest of Canada is uninhabited or thinly
populated because the country has rugged terrain and a severe climate.
A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, from 1867 on
Canada has enjoyed de facto independence while retaining, even to
the present day, certain formal ties to the British crown.
Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel
with the US, its neighbor to the south across an unfortified border.
Its paramount political problem continues to be the relationship
of the province of Quebec, with its French-speaking residents and
unique culture, to the remainder of the country
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