1.
Ontario
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Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
2.
Quebec
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Quebec is the second-most populous province of Canada and the only one to have a predominantly French-speaking population, with French as the sole provincial official language. Quebec is Canadas largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division and it also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canadas second-most populous province, after Ontario, most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. Approximately half of Quebec residents live in the Greater Montreal Area, the Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited primarily by Aboriginal peoples. Even in central Quebec at comparatively southerly latitudes winters are severe in inland areas, Quebec independence debates have played a large role in the politics of the province. Parti Québécois governments held referendums on sovereignty in 1980 and 1995, in 2006, the House of Commons of Canada passed a symbolic motion recognizing the Québécois as a nation within a united Canada. These many industries have all contributed to helping Quebec become an economically influential province within Canada, early variations in the spelling of the name included Québecq and Kébec. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the seat for the French colony of New France. The province is sometimes referred to as La belle province, the Province of Quebec was founded in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 after the Treaty of Paris formally transferred the French colony of Canada to Britain after the Seven Years War. The proclamation restricted the province to an area along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, the Treaty of Versailles ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to the United States. After the Constitutional Act of 1791, the territory was divided between Lower Canada and Upper Canada, with each being granted an elected legislative assembly, in 1840, these become Canada East and Canada West after the British Parliament unified Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This territory was redivided into the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario at Confederation in 1867, each became one of the first four provinces. In 1898, the Canadian Parliament passed the first Quebec Boundary Extension Act that expanded the provincial boundaries northward to include the lands of the aboriginal peoples. This was followed by the addition of the District of Ungava through the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912 that added the northernmost lands of the Inuit to create the modern Province of Quebec. In 1927, the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador was established by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Located in the part of Canada, and part of Central Canada. Its topography is very different from one region to another due to the composition of the ground, the climate. The Saint Lawrence Lowland and the Canadian Shield are the two main regions, and are radically different
3.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
4.
Nunavut
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Nunavut is the newest, largest, and northernmost territory of Canada. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canadas political map since the incorporation of the province of Newfoundland, Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada, and most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its vast territory makes it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world, the capital Iqaluit, on Baffin Island in the east, was chosen by the 1995 capital plebiscite. Other major communities include the regional centres of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay and it is Canadas only geo-political region that is not connected to the rest of North America by highway. Nunavut is the largest in area and the second least populous of Canadas provinces and territories. One of the worlds most remote, sparsely settled regions, it has a population of 35,944, mostly Inuit, spread over an area of just over 1,750,000 km2, Nunavut is also home to the worlds northernmost permanently inhabited place, Alert. A weather station farther down Ellesmere Island, Eureka, has the lowest average temperature of any Canadian weather station. Nunavut means our land in Inuktitut, Nunavut covers 1,877,787 km2 of land and 160,935 km2 of water in Northern Canada. This makes it the fifth largest subnational entity in the world, if Nunavut were a country, it would rank 15th in area. It also shares borders with Greenland and the provinces of Quebec, Ontario. Nunavuts highest point is Barbeau Peak on Ellesmere Island, the population density is 0.019 persons/km2, one of the lowest in the world. By comparison, Greenland has approximately the area and nearly twice the population. Nunavut experiences a climate in most regions, owing to its high latitude. In more southerly continental areas very cold climates can be found. The region now known as Nunavut has supported an indigenous population for approximately 4,000 years. Most historians identify the coast of Baffin Island with the Helluland described in Norse sagas, the materials were collected in five seasons of excavation at Cape Tanfield. Scholars determined that these provide evidence of European traders and possibly settlers on Baffin Island and they seem to indicate prolonged contact, possibly up to 1450. So you have to consider the possibility that as remote as it may seem, the ore turned out to be worthless, but Frobisher made the first recorded European contact with the Inuit
5.
Hydroelectricity
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Hydroelectricity is electricity produced from hydropower. In 2015 hydropower generated 16. 6% of the total electricity and 70% of all renewable electricity. Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 33 percent of global hydropower in 2013, China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 920 TWh of production in 2013, representing 16.9 percent of domestic electricity use. The cost of hydroelectricity is relatively low, making it a source of renewable electricity. The hydro station consumes no water, unlike coal or gas plants, the average cost of electricity from a hydro station larger than 10 megawatts is 3 to 5 U. S. cents per kilowatt-hour. With a dam and reservoir it is also a source of electricity since the amount produced by the station can be changed up or down very quickly to adapt to changing energy demands. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, Hydropower has been used since ancient times to grind flour and perform other tasks. In the mid-1770s, French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published Architecture Hydraulique which described vertical-, by the late 19th century, the electrical generator was developed and could now be coupled with hydraulics. The growing demand for the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well, in 1878 the worlds first hydroelectric power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland, England by William George Armstrong. It was used to power an arc lamp in his art gallery. The old Schoelkopf Power Station No.1 near Niagara Falls in the U. S. side began to produce electricity in 1881. The first Edison hydroelectric power station, the Vulcan Street Plant, began operating September 30,1882, in Appleton, Wisconsin, by 1886 there were 45 hydroelectric power stations in the U. S. and Canada. By 1889 there were 200 in the U. S. alone, at the beginning of the 20th century, many small hydroelectric power stations were being constructed by commercial companies in mountains near metropolitan areas. Grenoble, France held the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism with over one million visitors, by 1920 as 40% of the power produced in the United States was hydroelectric, the Federal Power Act was enacted into law. The Act created the Federal Power Commission to regulate hydroelectric power stations on federal land, as the power stations became larger, their associated dams developed additional purposes to include flood control, irrigation and navigation. Federal funding became necessary for development and federally owned corporations, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. Hydroelectric power stations continued to become larger throughout the 20th century, Hydropower was referred to as white coal for its power and plenty. Hoover Dams initial 1,345 MW power station was the worlds largest hydroelectric station in 1936
6.
Indigenous peoples in Canada
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Aboriginal peoples in Canada, are the indigenous peoples within the boundaries of present-day Canada. They comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis, although Indian is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors Indian and Eskimo have somewhat fallen into disuse in Canada and are pejorative. Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are some of the earliest known sites of habitation in Canada. The Paleo-Indian Clovis, Plano and Pre-Dorset cultures pre-date current indigenous peoples of the Americas, projectile point tools, spears, pottery, bangles, chisels and scrapers mark archaeological sites, thus distinguishing cultural periods, traditions and lithic reduction styles. The characteristics of Canadian Aboriginal culture included permanent settlements, agriculture, civic and ceremonial architecture, complex societal hierarchies, the Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and Inuit people married Europeans. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during early period. Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada, Aboriginal Right to Self-Government provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within first peoples communities. National Aboriginal Day recognizes the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples to the history of Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of all backgrounds have become prominent figures and have served as role models in the Aboriginal community and help to shape the Canadian cultural identity. The terms First Peoples and First Nations are both used to refer to peoples of Canada. The terms First Peoples or Aboriginal peoples in Canada are normally broader terms than First Nations, as they include Inuit, Métis, First Nations has come into general use for the indigenous peoples of North America in Canada, and their descendants, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. On reserves, First Nations is being supplanted by members of various nations referring to themselves by their group or ethnical identity, in conversation this would be I am Haida, or we are Kwantlens, in recognition of their First Nations ethnicities. In this Act, Aboriginal peoples of Canada includes the Indian, Inuit, Indian remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution. Its usage outside such situations can be considered offensive, Aboriginal peoples is more commonly used to describe all indigenous peoples of Canada. It also refers to self-identification of Aboriginal people who live within Canada claiming rights of sovereignty or Aboriginal title to lands, the term Eskimo has pejorative connotations in Canada and Greenland. Indigenous peoples in those areas have replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit, the Yupik of Alaska and Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit, and ethnographers agree they are a distinct people. They prefer the terminology Yupik, Yupiit, or Eskimo, the Yupik languages are linguistically distinct from the Inuit languages. Linguistic groups of Arctic people have no universal replacement term for Eskimo, inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik people across the area inhabited by the Inuit. Besides these ethnic descriptors, Aboriginal peoples are divided into legal categories based on their relationship with the Crown
7.
Cree
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The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations in North America, with over 200,000 members living in Canada. The major proportion of Cree in Canada live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, in the United States, this Algonquian-speaking people historically lived from Lake Superior westward. Today, they live mostly in Montana, where they share a reservation with the Ojibwe, the documented westward migration over time has been strongly associated with their roles as traders and hunters in the North American fur trade. The Cree are generally divided into eight groups based on dialect and these divisions do not necessarily represent ethnic sub-divisions within the larger ethnic group, Naskapi and Montagnais are inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan. Their territories comprise most of the political jurisdictions of eastern Quebec. Their cultures are differentiated, as the Naskapi are still caribou hunters and more nomadic than the Montagnais, the total population of the two groups in 2003 was about 18,000 people, of which 15,000 lived in Quebec. Their dialects and languages are the most distinct from the Cree spoken by the groups west of Lake Superior, Attikamekw are inhabitants of the area they refer to as Nitaskinan, in the upper St. Maurice River valley of Quebec. James Bay Cree – Grand Council of the Crees, approximately 18,000 Cree of Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik regions of Northern Quebec. Moose Cree – Moose Factory in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Swampy Cree – this group lives in northern Manitoba along the Hudson Bay coast and adjacent inland areas to the south and west, and in Ontario along the coast of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Some also in eastern Saskatchewan around Cumberland House, Woods Cree group in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Plains Cree 34,000 people in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, due to the many dialects of the Cree language, there is no modern collective autonym. The Plains Cree and Attikamekw refer to using modern forms of the historical nêhiraw, namely nêhiyaw and nêhirawisiw. Moose Cree, East Cree, Naskapi, and Montagnais all refer to using modern dialectal forms of the historical iriniw. Moose Cree use the form ililiw, coastal East Cree and Naskapi use iyiyiw, inland East Cree use iyiniw, the Cree use Cree, cri, Naskapi, or montagnais to refer to their people only when speaking the languages of the European colonists, French or English. Bands would usually have strong ties to their neighbours through intermarriage and would assemble together at different parts of the year to hunt and socialize together. Besides these regional gatherings, there was no formal structure. Each band remained independent of each other, however, Cree-speaking bands tended to work together and with their neighbours against outside enemies. When a band went to war, they would nominate a temporary military commander and this office was different from that of the peace chief, a leader who had a role more like that of diplomat
8.
Henry Hudson
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Henry Hudson, born circa 1565-1570, dead 1611, was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northwest Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle. Hudson explored the region around modern New York metropolitan area while looking for a route to Asia while in the employment of the Dutch East India Company. He explored the Hudson River, and laid thereby the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region, Hudson discovered the Hudson Strait and the immense Hudson Bay on his final expedition. While searching for the Northwest Passage, Hudson and his son would lose their lives. In 1611, after wintering on the shore of James Bay, Hudson wanted to press on to the west, the mutineers cast Hudson, his son and seven others adrift, the Hudsons, and those cast off at their side, were never seen again. His name also lives on with the Hudsons Bay Company that explored and worked in the vast Hudson Bay watershed and this large company, and one of the longest lasting, was very successful with fur trading all across North America. Canada acquired a portion of land from the purchase of Hudsons Bay Company lands. Details of Hudsons birth and early life are mostly unknown, some sources have identified Hudson as having been born in about 1565, but others date his birth to around 1570. Other historians assert even less certainty, Mancall, for instance, states that was born in the 1560s. Hudson is thought to have spent many years at sea, beginning as a cabin boy, in 1607, the Muscovy Company of England hired Hudson to find a northerly route to the Pacific coast of Asia. The English were battling the Dutch for northwest routes and it was thought at the time that, because the sun shone for three months in the northern latitudes in the summer, the ice would melt and a ship could make it across the top of the world. Hudson sailed on 1 May with a crew of ten men and they reached the east coast of Greenland on 14 June, coasting it northward until the 22nd. Here they named a headland Youngs Cape, a high mount, like a round castle near it Mount of Gods Mercy. After turning east, they sighted Newland on the 27th, near the mouth of the great bay Hudson later simply named the Great Indraught. On 13 July Hudson and his crew thought they had sailed as far north as 80°23 N, the following day they entered what Hudson later in the voyage named Whales Bay, naming its northwestern point Collins Cape after his boatswain, William Collins. They sailed north the following two days, on the 16th they reached as far north as Hakluyts Headland at 79°49 N, thinking they saw the land continue to 82° N when really it trended to the east. Encountering ice packed along the north coast, they were forced to turn back south, Hudson wanted to make his return by the north of Greenland to Davis his Streights, and so for Kingdom of England, but ice conditions would have made this impossible
9.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
10.
History of Canada
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The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first European arrivals and have discovered through archaeological investigations. Starting in the late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, the colony of New France was established in 1534 and was ceded to the United Kingdom in 1763 after the French defeat in the Seven Years War. The now British Province of Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791, in 1867, the Province of Canada was joined with two other British colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia through Confederation, forming a self-governing entity named Canada. The new dominion expanded by incorporating parts of British North America, finishing with Newfoundland. Although responsible government had existed in Canada since 1848, Britain continued to set its foreign, with the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Canada became co-equal with the United Kingdom. After the Constitution was repatriated in 1982, the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament were removed. Canada currently consists of ten provinces and three territories and is a democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Since the conclusion of the Second World War, Canadians have supported multilateralism abroad, archeological and Aboriginal genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were the last continents into which humans migrated. During the Wisconsin glaciation,50, 000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge, from Siberia into northwest North America. At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide ice sheet covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska. The exact dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing debate, by 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia, and into Canada. The Queen Charlotte Islands, Old Crow Flats, and Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-Indian archaeological sites in Canada, ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone tools and the remains of large butchered mammals. The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE, climatic conditions were similar to modern patterns, however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of meltwater. Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, however, individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally, thus with the passage of time, there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization. The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and includes the Ontario, Quebec, the introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous Archaic-stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada, the Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario, Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula, Saugeen, and Laurel complexes
11.
Hudson's Bay Company
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The Hudsons Bay Company, commonly referred to as The Bay, is a Canadian retail business group. HBCs head office is in the Simpson Tower in Toronto, Ontario, the company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol HBC. It was once the worlds largest landowner, with the area of the Hudson Bay watershed, known as Ruperts Land, having 15% of North American acreage. From its long-time headquarters at York Factory on Hudson Bay, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English, undertaking early exploration, its traders and trappers forged relationships with many groups of aboriginal peoples. Its network of trading posts formed the nucleus for later official authority in areas of Western Canada. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a business selling everything from furs to fine homeware. They quickly introduced a new type of client to the HBC – one that shopped for pleasure and not with skins, in July 2008, HBC was acquired by NRDC Equity Partners, which also owns the upmarket American department store Lord & Taylor. From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a company of NRDC, Hudsons Bay Trading Company. Since 2012, the HBC directly oversees its Canadian subsidiaries Hudsons Bay and Home Outfitters, on 29 July 2013, the HBC announced its takeover of Saks, Inc. operator of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand. The merger was completed on 3 November 2013, in September 2015, HBC acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary from Metro Group for $3.2 billion U. S. In May 2016, HBC announced it would expand to the Netherlands by taking over up to 20 former Vroom & Dreesmann sites by 2017, v&D was an historic Dutch department store chain that went bankrupt and shut down in early 2016. HBC said the expansion would cost CAD $340 million and create 2,500 jobs in the stores, the Dutch stores would operate under the Hudsons Bay and Saks Off Fifth brands. In January 2016, HBC announced it would also expand deeper in the space with its acquisition of online flash sales site. In the 17th century the French had a de facto monopoly on the Canadian fur trade with their colony of New France. Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay, despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later returned with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested for trading without a licence and fined, determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of businessmen in Boston, Massachusetts to help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plans merits but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran into pack ice in Hudson Strait, boston-based English commissioner Colonel George Cartwright learned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing
12.
Canada under British rule
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Canada first came under British rule with the Treaty of Paris which ceded New France, of which Canada was a part, to the British Empire. Gradually, other territories, colonies, and provinces that were part of British North America would be added to Canada. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 enlarged the colony of Canada under the name of the Province of Quebec, with the Act of Union 1840 Upper and Lower Canada were joined to become the United Province of Canada. A number of other British colonies, such as Newfoundland and British Columbia, in North America, the Seven Years War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10,1763. As part of the treaty, France ceded all North American lands to Britain, except Louisiana, the Quebec Act became one of the Intolerable Acts that infuriated the thirteen British colonies in what would become the United States of America. In Acadia, the British had expelled French-speaking populations in 1755 from Acadia to Louisiana, creating the Cajun population, in the former French territory of Acadia, the British were confronted by a relatively large and well-established Catholic Mikmaq and Wabanaki Confederacy. The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710, much earlier than in what would become the rest of modern-day Canada, the Mikmaq never ceded land to either France or England. The first immigration of Protestants happened in the province with the founding of Halifax, the establishment of Halifax sparked Father Le Loutres War, which, in turn, led to the British expelling the Acadians from the region during the French and Indian War. As they later captured Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island, the few Acadians who managed to return to the area have created the contemporary Acadian society. Once the land was emptied, other settlements were formed by New England Planters, in 1775, American revolutionaries attempted to push their insurrection into Quebec. The habitants were divided, in areas, there was significant support. The Patriots laid siege to Fort Saint-Jean, capturing it and Montreal in November 1775 and they then marched on Quebec City, where an attempt to take the city on December 31,1775, failed. Following an ineffectual siege, the arrival of British troops in May 1776 sent the Patriots into retreat back toward Montreal, an attempt against British troops at Trois-Rivières failed, and the Patriots were driven from the province in June. Leaving with the army were about 250 Québécois in two regiments, James Livingstons 1st Canadian Regiment, and Moses Hazens 2nd Canadian Regiment. Quebeckers living in the forts of the Great Lakes region also massively sided with the Patriots and were instrumental in the taking of the fort by the Patriots. The only major event of their resistance was the Battle of Fort Cumberland, when Eddy and a force of Massachusetts Patriots, Acadians. The siege was broken and Eddys forces were scattered when British reinforcements arrived, Eddy and Allan continued to make trouble on the frontier between what are now Maine and New Brunswick from a base in Machias for several years. The Maritime provinces were affected by privateering, and raids on settlements by privateers in violation of their letters of marque
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