1.
Provinces and territories of Canada
–
Canadas geography is divided into administrative divisions known as provinces and territories that are responsible for delivery of sub-national governance. Over its history, Canadas international borders have changed several times, the ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Several of the provinces were former British colonies, Quebec was originally a French colony, the three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, which govern the rest of the area of the former British North America. Together, the provinces and territories make up the worlds second-largest country by area, the powers flowing from the Constitution Act are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign divisions, the territories are not sovereign, but simply part of the federal realm, and have a commissioner who represents the federal government. Notes, There are three territories in Canada, unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, the following table lists the territories in order of precedence. Prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were united as the Province of Canada, over the following years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces. The Hudsons Bay Company controlled large swathes of western Canada referred to as Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory until 1870, subsequently, the area was re-organized into the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. The remaining Arctic islands were transferred by Britain to Canada in 1880,1898 saw the Yukon Territory, later renamed simply as Yukon, carved from the parts of the Northwest Territories surrounding the Klondike gold fields. On September 1,1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward, Manitobas to the 60° parallel, Ontarios to Hudson Bay, in 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada with Newfoundland facing a period of economic crisis. In 2001, it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbias northwestern boundary. This was one of two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. In 1999, Nunavut was created from the portion of the Northwest Territories. Yukon lies in the portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east. All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada, covering 3,921,739 km2 in land area and they are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organisational and economic purposes
2.
Newfoundland and Labrador
–
Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province of Canada. Situated in the countrys Atlantic region, it comprises the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador to the northwest, in 2013, the provinces population was estimated at 526,702. About 92% of the population lives on the island of Newfoundland. The province is Canadas most linguistically homogeneous, with 97. 6% of residents reporting English as their mother tongue in the 2006 census, historically, Newfoundland was also home to unique varieties of French and Irish, as well as the extinct Beothuk language. In Labrador, local dialects of Innu-aimun and Inuktitut are also spoken, Newfoundland and Labradors capital and largest city, St. Johns, is Canadas 20th-largest census metropolitan area and is home to almost 40 percent of the provinces population. St. Johns is the seat of government, home to the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the highest court in the jurisdiction and it became the tenth province to enter the Canadian Confederation on March 31,1949, as Newfoundland. On December 6,2001, an amendment was made to the Constitution of Canada to change the official name to Newfoundland. The name Newfoundland is a translation of the Portuguese Terra Nova, the influence of early Portuguese exploration is also reflected in the name of Labrador, which derives from the surname of the Portuguese navigator João Fernandes Lavrador. Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province in Canada, and is located at the corner of North America. The Strait of Belle Isle separates the province into two divisions, Labrador, which is a large area of mainland Canada, and Newfoundland. The province also includes over 7,000 tiny islands, each side is about 400 km long, and its area is 108,860 km2. Newfoundland and its small islands have a total area of 111,390 km2. Newfoundland extends between latitudes 46°36′N and 51°38′N, Labrador is an irregular shape, the western part of its border with Quebec is the drainage divide of the Labrador Peninsula. Lands drained by rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, most of Labradors southern boundary with Quebec follows the 52nd parallel of latitude. Labradors extreme northern tip, at 60°22′N, shares a border with Nunavut. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador make up 4. 06% of Canadas area, Labrador is the easternmost part of the Canadian Shield, a vast area of ancient metamorphic rock comprising much of northeastern North America. Colliding tectonic plates have shaped much of the geology of Newfoundland, gros Morne National Park has a reputation as an outstanding example of tectonics at work, and as such has been designated a World Heritage Site. The Long Range Mountains on Newfoundlands west coast are the northeasternmost extension of the Appalachian Mountains, the north-south extent of the province, prevalent westerly winds, cold ocean currents and local factors such as mountains and coastline combine to create the various climates of the province
3.
Newfoundland (island)
–
Newfoundland is a large Canadian island off the east coast of the North American mainland, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It has 29 percent of the land area. The island is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and it blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the worlds largest estuary. Newfoundlands nearest neighbour is the French overseas community of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, with an area of 108,860 square kilometres, Newfoundland is the worlds 16th-largest island, Canadas fourth-largest island, and the largest Canadian island outside the North. The provincial capital, St. Johns, is located on the southeastern coast of the island, Cape Spear, just south of the capital, is the easternmost point of North America, excluding Greenland. It is common to consider all directly neighbouring islands such as New World, Twillingate, Fogo, by that classification, Newfoundland and its associated small islands have a total area of 111,390 square kilometres. Additionally 6. 1% claimed at least one parent of French ancestry, the islands total population as of the 2006 census was 479,105. Long settled by peoples of the Dorset culture, the island was visited by the Icelandic Viking Leif Eriksson in the 11th century. The next European visitors to Newfoundland were Portuguese, Basque, Spanish, French, the island was visited by the Genoese navigator John Cabot, working under contract to King Henry VII of England on his expedition from Bristol in 1497. In 1501, Portuguese explorers Gaspar Corte-Real and his brother Miguel Corte-Real charted part of the coast of Newfoundland in a attempt to find the Northwest Passage. Newfoundland is considered Britains oldest colony, at the time of English settlement, the Beothuk inhabited the island. While there is evidence of ancient indigenous peoples on the island. LAnse aux Meadows was a Norse settlement near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, the site is considered the only undisputed evidence of Pre-Columbian contact between the Old and New Worlds, if the Norse-Inuit contact on Greenland is not counted. There is a second suspected Norse site in Point Rosee, the island is a likely location of Vinland, mentioned in the Viking Chronicles, although this has been disputed. The indigenous people on the island at the time of European settlement were the Beothuk, later immigrants developed a variety of dialects associated with settlement on the island, Newfoundland English, Newfoundland French. In the 19th century, it also had a dialect of Irish known as Newfoundland Irish, Scottish Gaelic was spoken on the island during the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the Codroy Valley area, chiefly by settlers from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The Gaelic names reflected the association with fishing, in Scottish Gaelic, it was called Eilean a Trosg, or literally, similarly, the Irish Gaelic name Talamh an Éisc means Land of the Fish. The first inhabitants of Newfoundland were the Paleo-Eskimo, who have no link to other groups in Newfoundland history
4.
Labrador
–
Labrador /ˈlæbrədɔːr/ LAB-rə-dor is the distinct northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in Atlantic Canada, Labrador occupies the eastern part of the Labrador Peninsula. It is bordered to the west and the south by the Canadian province of Quebec, Labrador also shares a small land border with the Canadian territory of Nunavut on Killiniq Island. Though Labrador covers 71 percent of the land area, it has only 8 percent of the provinces population. The aboriginal peoples of Labrador include the Northern Inuit of Nunatsiavut, the Southern Inuit-Métis of Nunatukavut, many of the non-aboriginal population in Labrador did not permanently settle in Labrador until the natural resource developments of the 1940s and 1950s. Before the 1950s, very few people lived in Labrador year-round. The few European immigrants who worked seasonally for foreign merchants and brought their families were known as Settlers, Labrador has a roughly triangular shape that encompasses the easternmost section of the Canadian Shield, a sweeping geographical region of thin soil and abundant mineral resources. Its western border with Quebec is the divide of the Labrador Peninsula. Lands that drain into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, Northern Labradors climate is classified as polar, while Southern Labradors climate is classified as subarctic. Labrador can be divided into four regions, the North Coast, Central Labrador, Western Labrador. Each of those regions is described below, from Cape Chidley to Hamilton Inlet, the long thin northern tip of Labrador holds the Torngat Mountains, named after an Inuit spirit believed to inhabit them. The mountains stretch along the coast from Port Manvers to Cape Chidley, the Torngat Mountain range is also home to Mount Caubvick, the highest point in the province. This area is predominantly Inuit, with the small Innu community of Natuashish being the exception, the north coast is the most isolated region of Labrador, with snowmobiles, boats, and planes being the only modern modes of transportation. The largest community in this region is Nain, Nunatsiavut is an Inuit self-government region in Labrador created on June 23,2000. The Settlement area comprises the majority of Labradors North Coast, while the area also includes land farther to the interior. Nain is the center of Nunatsiavut. The most populous region of Labrador, Central Labrador extends from the shores of Lake Melville into the interior and it contains the Churchill River, the largest river in Labrador and one of the largest in Canada
5.
John Cabot
–
To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabots expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as Cabots first landing site. However, alternative theories have also been proposed, Giovanni Caboto was born in Italy, the son of Giulio Caboto and his wife, he had a brother Piero. He is known today as Giovanni Caboto in Italy, in English as John Cabot, in French as Jean Cabot, the non-Italian forms are derived from how his name was recorded in related 15th-century documents. In Venice he signed his names as Zuan Chabotto, Zuan being a form of John typical to Venice and he continued to use this form in England, at least among Italians. He was referred to by his Italian banker in London as Giovanni Chabbote, Gaeta and Castiglione Chiavarese have both been proposed as birthplaces. The main evidence for Gaeta are records of a Caboto family residing there until the mid-15th century, pedro de Ayala, the Spanish envoy and Cabots contemporary in London, described him in a letter to the Spanish Crown in 1498 as another Genoese like Columbus. John Cabots son, Sebastian, said his father came from Genoa. In 1476 Cabot was made a citizen of the Republic of Venice and he may have been born slightly earlier than 1450, which is the approximate date most commonly given for his birth. In 1471 Caboto was accepted into the confraternity of St John the Evangelist. Since this was one of the citys prestigious confraternities, his acceptance suggests that he was already a member of the community. He presumably entered this trade shortly thereafter, a 1483 document refers to his selling a slave in Crete whom he had acquired while in the territories of the Sultan of Egypt, which then comprised most of what is now Israel, Syria and Lebanon. This is not sufficient to prove Cabots later assertion that he had visited Mecca, in this Mediterranean trade, he may have acquired better knowledge of the origins of the oriental merchandise he would have been dealing in than most Europeans at that time. Zuan Cabotto is mentioned in a variety of Venetian records of the 1480s and these indicate that by 1484 he was married to Mattea and already had at least two sons. Cabots sons are Ludovico, Sebastian, and Sancto, the Venetian sources contain references to Cabots being involved in house building in the city. He may have relied on this experience when seeking work later in Spain as a civil engineer, Cabot appears to have got into financial trouble in the late 1480s and left Venice as an insolvent debtor by 5 November 1488. He moved to Valencia, Spain, where his creditors attempted to have him arrested by sending a lettera di raccomandazione a giustizia to the authorities, while in Valencia, John Cabot Montecalunya proposed plans for improvements to the harbour. Early in 1494 he moved on to Seville, where he proposed, was contracted to build and, for five months and this project was abandoned following a decision of the City Council on 24 December 1494. After this Cabot appears to have support in Seville and Lisbon for an Atlantic expedition, before moving to London to seek funding
6.
Cod
–
Cod is the common name for the genus Gadus of demersal fishes, belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the name for a number of other fish species. Gadus morhua was named by Linnaeus in 1758, Cod is popular as a food with a mild flavour and a dense, flaky, white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, young Atlantic cod or haddock prepared in strips for cooking is called scrod. In the United Kingdom, Atlantic cod is one of the most common ingredients in fish and chips, along with haddock, at various times in the past, taxonomists included many species in the genus Gadus. Most of these are now classified in other genera, or have been recognized as simply forms of one of three species. All these species have a number of names, most of them ending with the word cod, whereas other species. However, many other, unrelated species also have names ending with cod. The usage often changes with different localities and at different times, three species in the Gadus genus are currently called cod, Cod forms part of the common name of many other fish no longer classified in the genus Gadus. The tadpole cod family has now placed in Gadidae. Gadiformes include, Some fish have common names derived from cod, such as codling, Some fish commonly known as cod are unrelated to Gadus. Part of this confusion is market-driven. Severely shrunken Atlantic cod stocks have led to the marketing of cod replacements using culinary names of the form x cod, the common names for the following species have become well established, note that all inhabit the Southern Hemisphere. Most are better known as groupers, and belong to the family Serranidae, Some fish that do not have cod in their names are sometimes sold as cod. Haddock and whiting belong to the family, the Gadidae. Haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus Whiting Merlangius merlangus Cods of the genus Gadus have three rounded dorsal and two anal fins, the pelvic fins are small, with the first ray extended, and are set under the gill cover, in front of the pectoral fins. The upper jaw extends over the jaw, which has a well-developed chin barbel. The eyes are medium-sized, approximately the same as the length of the chin barbel, Cod have a distinct white lateral line running from the gill slit above the pectoral fin, to the base of the caudal or tail fin
7.
Gaspar Corte-Real
–
Gaspar Corte-Real was a Portuguese explorer. He was the youngest of three sons of João Vaz Corte-Real, also a Portuguese explorer, and had accompanied his father on his expeditions to North America and his brothers were also explorers, members of the Corte-Real family. In 1500, King Manuel I of Portugal sent Gaspar to discover lands and he reached Greenland, believing it to be east Asia, but chose not to land. He set out on a voyage to Greenland in 1501, with his brother Miguel Corte-Real. Encountering frozen sea, they changed course to the south and reached land, believed to be Labrador, there they captured 57 native men, who would later be sold as slaves. Gaspar then sent his brother and two back to Portugal before continuing southwards. Nothing more was heard of Gaspar Corte-Real after 1501 and his brother Miguel attempted to find him in 1502, but he too never returned. There is a statue of Gaspar Corte-Real is located in front of the Confederation Building in St. Johns, Newfoundland and it was donated by the Canadian Portuguese Fisheries Organisation in 1965 in recognition of the hospitality of Newfoundlanders towards Portuguese Grand Banks fishermen
