1.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
2.
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
3.
Provinces and territories of Canada
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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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
Eastern Time Zone
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Places that use Eastern Standard Time when observing standard time are 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Eastern Daylight Time, when observing daylight saving time DST is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, in the northern parts of the time zone, on the second Sunday in March, at 2,00 a. m. EST, clocks are advanced to 3,00 a. m. EDT leaving a one-hour gap, on the first Sunday in November, at 2,00 a. m. EDT, clocks are moved back to 1,00 a. m, southern parts of the zone do not observe daylight saving time. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 ruled that daylight saving time would run from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday in October in the United States, the act was amended to make the first Sunday in April the beginning of daylight saving time as of 1987. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time in the United States beginning in 2007. So local times change at 2,00 a. m. EST to 3,00 a. m. EDT on the second Sunday in March, in Canada, the time changes as it does in the United States. However, a handful of communities unofficially observe Eastern Time because they are part of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area – Phenix City, Smiths Station, Lanett, and Valley. Florida, All of Florida is in the Eastern Time zone except for the portion of the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, as the Eastern–Central zone boundary approaches the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the Bay/Gulf county line. Indiana, All of Indiana observes Eastern Time except for six counties in the Chicago metropolitan area. Kentucky, Roughly, the half of the state, including all of metropolitan Louisville, is in the Eastern Time Zone. Historically the entire state observed Central Time, when daylight saving time was first introduced, the Lower Peninsula remained on DST after it formally ended, effectively re-aligning itself into the Eastern Time Zone. The Upper Peninsula continued to observe Central Time until 1972, when all, Tennessee, Most of the eastern third of Tennessee is legally on Eastern Time. Eastern Time is also used somewhat as a de facto official time for all of the United States, since it includes the capital and the largest city. Major professional sports leagues also post all game times in Eastern time, for example, a game time between two teams from Pacific Time Zone will still be posted in Eastern time. Most cable television and national broadcast networks advertise airing times in Eastern time, national broadcast networks generally have two primary feeds, an eastern feed for Eastern and Central time zones, and a tape-delayed western feed for the Pacific Time Zone. The prime time is set on Eastern and Pacific at 8,00 p. m. with the Central time zone stations receiving the eastern feed at 7,00 p. m. local time. Mountain Time Zone stations receive a separate feed at 7,00 p. m. local time, as Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, during the summer months, it has its own feed at 7,00 p. m. local time
7.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
8.
Area codes 613 and 343
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Area code 613 and overlay area code 343 are area codes for Ottawa and surrounding Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the North American Numbering Plan. 613 is one of the 86 original area codes in the NANP assigned in October 1947, the 613 area originally covered all of Ontario with the exception of the Golden Horseshoe, which was in area code 416. The area code has been split twice, in 1953, the Southwestern Ontario portion of 613 was combined with the western portion of 416 to become 519. In 1957 the vast northwestern portion of 613 was combined with the portion of 519 to become area code 705. Since 1957,613 covers only Eastern Ontario, an area extending from Brighton and Deep River eastward to Saint Regis, Ottawa and its twin city in Quebec, Gatineau fall on the boundary between 613 and Quebecs area code 819. However, they share the local calling area. As a result, local calls could be completed between Ottawa and Hull with only seven digits, a similar situation prevailed in the Washington metropolitan area across three jurisdictions--Washington itself and parts of Maryland and Virginia. While there are fewer than two people in the geographic area covered by 613, the bulk of that population lives in the Ottawa area. Technically, it was necessary that no two prefixes within the same local calling area be duplicates, but the code protection as implemented reserved the numbers across an entire area code. Similarly, if a 1-613 number was being used in Ottawa-Carleton, federal government offices in Hull duplicated their entire allocation of multiple exchanges worth of numbers available in 613 as part of a dual dialability scheme. By the turn of the century, both 613 and 819 were close to due to Canadas inefficient number allocation system. Every competitive local exchange carrier received blocks of 10,000 numbers in every rate centre in which it planned to offer local service, a tiny unincorporated village usually received multiple 10,000 number blocks. Larger municipalities have multiple rate centres and multiple competing carriers in each, Ottawa, now one municipality, has 11 rate centres - most with very similar local calling areas - which were never amalgamated. The Ottawa-Hull exchange only covers the area that was the city of Ottawa prior to the 2001 amalgamation, plus the former suburbs of Nepean and Vanier and small sections of other urban communities. Once a number is assigned to a centre and CLEC, it is unavailable for use elsewhere. These factors resulted in thousands of wasted numbers, and the proliferation of cell phones, ten-digit dialling in 613 and 819 became mandatory on October 21,2006. Intraprovincial calls from rate centres with no local calling beyond a small fragment of their own area code were returning intercept messages if dialled as seven digits. Exchange protection in the National Capital Region was ended, except for the dual dialability scheme for government numbers on both sides of the river
9.
Area codes 416, 647, and 437
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Area codes 416,647, and 437 are telephone area codes serving the single rate centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The incumbent local exchange carrier in the 416/647/437 territory is Bell Canada, almost all Toronto Bell Canada landlines are in area code 416, with 647 numbers allocated disproportionately to a growing mobile telephone market and to competitive local exchange providers. Local numbers are portable, with few limited exceptions for specific services such as pocket pagers, the competitive local exchange carriers for 416/647/437 are Rogers, Telus, and some independent companies. Demand for 416 numbers for mobile, foreign exchange and voice over IP service in the 905 suburbs has made the numbers valuable as their calling area is a superset of that of a suburban number. The main area code,416, was one of the 86 original area codes introduced in 1947 and it covered most of the populous Golden Horseshoe region in southern Ontario, from Colborne to Niagara Falls to Kitchener-Waterloo. It was almost completely surrounded by Ontarios other area code,613, Ontario and Quebec were the only provinces to be assigned multiple area codes at the outset. Toronto telephone numbers were six digits with named exchanges and they were lengthened to seven in the 1950s to accommodate direct distance dialling. The 416 area code has been split twice, the western portion of 416 and the northern portion of 613 were assigned area code 519 in 1953, leaving 416 largely coextensive with the area generally reckoned as the core of the Golden Horseshoe. Despite the Greater Toronto Areas rapid growth, this remained for 40 years. By the late 1980s, however,416 was close to due to the GTAs continued growth. Canada does not use number pooling as a relief measure, each competing carrier is assigned 10, 000-number blocks in each rate centre where it plans to offer service, regardless of their actual subscriber count. While most rate centres dont need nearly that many numbers to serve their customers and this resulted in thousands of wasted numbers. The problem wasnt as severe in the Golden Horseshoe as in areas of Canada, then as now. Nonetheless, the GTAs rapid growth and the proliferation of phones, fax machines. In 1993, the 416 territory was cut back to just Metro Toronto, while area code 905 was assigned to most of Torontos suburbs, the split began on October 13,1993, permissive dialing of 416 continued throughout the Golden Horseshoe until January 1,1994. With the amalgamation of Metro Toronto into the megacity of Toronto in 1998,416 became the only Canadian area code to serve just one rate centre, many of Canadas larger cities are split between multiple rate centres that have never been amalgamated. The 1993 split had been intended as a solution for Canadas largest toll-free calling zone. Within five years,416 was once close to exhaustion
10.
Area codes 418 and 581
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North American area codes 418/581 are overlaid telephone area codes serving the Canadian province of Quebec, encompassing the eastern portion of the province. Communities served by the 418/581 area code include Quebec City, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski,418 also serves the tiny hamlet of Estcourt Station, in the U. S. state of Maine. The main area code,418, was one of the area codes created in 1947. Then, as now, its boundaries were depicted as generally the half of Quebec. Nominally, northwestern Quebec—one of the few areas of North America without telephone service—was shifted to 418 from 514 in 1957, from the 1950s to the 1970s,418 was also nominally the area code for the eastern Northwest Territories. However, in the 1970s, as direct distance dialling was introduced to the far northern and western portions of 418, in 2008, area code 581 was implemented as an overlay after 418 came close to exhaustion. Area code 367 will be implemented as 418 and 581 are close to exhaustion, the incumbent local exchange carriers in 418/581 are Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Telus and Vidéotron, plus some independent companies
11.
Area codes 514 and 438
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Area codes 514 and 438 are the telephone area codes for Montreal and most of its on-island suburbs. They cover the Island of Montreal, Île Perrot, and Île Bizard in the province of Quebec, the main area code,514, was one of the 86 original North American Numbering Plan Areas defined in 1947. 438 is an area code covering the same area. The 514 area code has been split twice, in 1957 to create area code 819, the incumbent local exchange carrier for 514/438 is Bell Canada. The competitive local exchange carriers for 514/438 are Vidéotron, Telus, Rogers, Montreals local calls were originally handled manually by operators, a called party was requested by name before the first local numbers were assigned in July 1881. In 1898, exchange names were added before the number, the initial rotary dial exchange, LAncaster, was deployed April 25,1925. Subscribers dialled two letters of a name and four digits, so LAncaster 1234 became LA-1234. The initial area codes were created in 1947 as routing codes for operator-assisted calls, québec and Ontario were the only provinces that received multiple area codes. Quebec was split between area codes 514 and 418,514 originally covered the entire western half of Quebec, from the Canada–US border to the Hudson Strait. This area nominally included several areas in the far northern portion of the province which, at the time. The first Bell System direct distance dial call was made in 1951, from Englewood, New Jersey to Alameda, California, Montreal and Toronto, the largest Canadian cities, were six digits at the time. Between 1951 and 1958, numbers were lengthened by adding a digit in preparation for deployment of direct distance dialling. The 514 area code was split in 1957 to create area code 819 for most of western Quebec, from Estrie to the Ontario border,514 was reduced to the region surrounding Montreal. Despite Montreals rapid growth in the half of the 20th century. In 1998, the suburbs became area code 450, which now completely surrounds 514. This left 514 as the Island of Montreal and a few surrounding smaller islands, the 1998 split was intended as a long-term solution to a shortage of available numbers in Canadas second-largest toll-free calling zone. However within less than a decade 514 was close to exhaustion once again due to Montreals rapid growth, unlike the United States, Canada does not use number pooling as a relief measure. Every competing carrier is given access to blocks of 10,000 numbers—corresponding to a single prefix—in every rate centre and this resulted in thousands of wasted numbers, a problem exacerbated by the proliferation of cell phones
12.
Area codes 450 and 579
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Area codes 450 and 579 are telephone area codes in the Canadian province of Quebec, encompassing the off-island suburbs of Montreal, which is served by area codes 514 and 438. Among the cities served by area code 450 are Longueuil and Laval, the communities of Ormstown, Huntingdon, Boucherville, Varennes, Roussillon, Joliette, Saint-Hyacinthe, Granby, Chambly, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Vaudreuil-Dorion are also part of this area code. 514 had served the entire Montreal area for half a century. However, by the mid-1990s it was on the verge of exhaustion due to Montreals rapid growth, all Canadian competitive local exchange carriers are allocated blocks of 10,000 numbers for every rate centre where they plan to offer service, even in the smallest hamlets. Even though most rate centres dont need nearly that many numbers and this resulted in thousands of wasted numbers. By the latter years of the 20th century, this made an area code necessary in Canadas second-largest toll-free calling zone. It completely surrounds 514, which was confined to the Island of Montreal, for this reason, Montrealers sometimes refer to the off-island suburbs as les 450, much like the suburbs of Toronto are called the 905. On May 7,2009, the CRTC ruled that area code 438, however, a later decision revised it and ruled that 579 would overlay 450 on its own, effective August 21,2010. The main incumbent local exchange carrier for 450/579 is Bell Canada, the main competitive local exchange carriers for 450/579 are Vidéotron and Telus. There are independent companies as well
13.
Area codes 819 and 873
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Major cities in the 819 territory include Gatineau, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières. The incumbent local exchange carriers in 819/873 are Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Telus, as well as Télébec, from 1992 to 1997, Northwestel was also an incumbent carrier in 819 as it included former Bell Canada points in the Northwest Territories. Originally, Quebec was divided between two area codes,514 originally covered the entire western half of Quebec from the US border to Hudson Strait, while 418 served the eastern half. In a 1957 flash cut, the 514 area was split into three segments - the southernmost remained 514, the middle became 819, and the northern part, which had no telephone services, was added to 418. 819 thus bordered 613 and the new 705 codes in Ontario and 418 on the east and north, when telephone service was introduced in the eastern Northwest Territories, at Frobisher Bay in 1958, Bell Canada nominally made it part of Area code 418. These non-diallable locations also became part of 418, thus 819 now also bordered Area code 709 of Newfoundland in the Torngat Mountain area, and Area code 403 where Bell Canada and Northwestel service areas met, as well as 204 and 807. Northwestel used Albertas area code 403 for its services in Yukon,819 was cut back to western Quebec, while 403 was reduced to serve only Alberta. Thus, borders on 403,204 and 807 were replaced with the border on 867. Area code 514 was split shortly afterward, changing 819s boundary on 514 to a boundary with Area code 450, until 2006, it was possible to make calls between Ottawa and Hull with only seven digits, since Ottawa and Hull are a single local calling area. An exchange protection scheme prevented the same seven-digit local number from being assigned in both Ottawa and Hull. This code protection was implemented in such a manner that, if an exchange in +1-819-77x was in use in Hull, the problem was exacerbated by Canadas inefficient system of number allocation. Every tiny hamlet is a centre, with multiple CLECs issued 10. Larger cities had multiple rate centres, most of which were not amalgamated during the creation of megacities in Quebec in 2002, for instance, in 2002 Hull was merged into the megacity of Gatineau. However, the megacity comprises five separate rate centres which have never been amalgamated, the city centre exchange is still named Ottawa-Hull, while the Gatineau exchange only serves the pre-merger city of Gatineau. The Gatineau and Aylmer exchanges remained long-distance calls to each other until a 16 August 2007 expansion of their calling area. While many smaller rate centres dont need nearly that many numbers in order to serve their customers. This resulted in thousands of wasted numbers, and the proliferation of cell phones, the situation could have been avoided had some +1-819 versions of the seven-digit Ottawa-Hull numbers been assigned to areas a safe distance from the National Capital Region years earlier. Ten-digit dialling was made mandatory in both 819 and 613 on October 21,2006, and exchange protection was largely ended, seven-digit local calls in centres far from the area code boundary were failing with intercept messages demanding that customers dial the area code
14.
Quebec City
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Quebec City, French, Ville de Québec, officially Québec) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America. The citys landmarks include the Château Frontenac, a hotel which dominates the skyline, and La Citadelle, the National Assembly of Quebec, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and the Musée de la civilisation are found within or near Vieux-Québec. Thus, Québec is officially spelled with an accented é in both Canadian English and French, although the accent is not used in common English usage. Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, while many of the major cities in Latin America date from the sixteenth century, among cities in Canada and the U. S. few were created earlier than Quebec City. Also, Quebecs Old Town is the only North American fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist, French explorer Jacques Cartier built a fort at the site in 1535, where he stayed for the winter before going back to France in spring 1536. He came back in 1541 with the goal of building a permanent settlement, Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and diplomat on 3 July 1608, and at the site of a long abandoned St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement called Stadacona. Champlain, also called The Father of New France, served as its administrator for the rest of his life, the name Canada refers to this settlement. Although called the cradle of the Francophone population in North America, the place seemed favourable to the establishment of a permanent colony. In 1629 there was the surrender of Quebec, without battle, however, Samuel de Champlain argued that the English seizing of the lands was illegal as the war had already ended, he worked to have the lands returned to France. As part of the negotiations of their exit from the Anglo-French War. These terms were signed into law with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the lands in Quebec and Acadia were returned to the French Company of One Hundred Associates. In 1665, there were 550 people in 70 houses living in the city, one-quarter of the people were members of religious orders, secular priests, Jesuits, Ursulines nuns and the order running the local hospital, Hotel-Dieu. Quebec City was the headquarters of many raids against New England during the four French, in the last war, the French and Indian War, Quebec City was captured by the British in 1759 and held until the end of the war in 1763. France ceded New France, including the city, to Britain in 1763, at the end of French rule in 1763, forests, villages, fields and pastures surrounded the town of 8,000 inhabitants. The town distinguished itself by its architecture, fortifications, affluent homes of masonry and shacks in the suburbs of Saint-Jean. Despite its urbanity and its status as capital, Quebec City remained a small city with close ties to its rural surroundings. Nearby inhabitants traded their farm surpluses and firewood for imported goods from France at the two city markets, during the American Revolution revolutionary troops from the southern colonies assaulted the British garrison in an attempt to liberate Quebec City, in a conflict now known as the Battle of Quebec
15.
Windsor, Ontario
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Windsor is a city in Ontario and the southernmost city in Canada. It is located on the shore of the Detroit River, directly across the river from Detroit. Windsor is a contributor to Canadas automotive industry and has a storied history. Prior to European exploration and settlement, the Windsor area was inhabited by the First Nations, a French agricultural settlement was established at the site of Windsor in 1749. It is the oldest continually inhabited European-founded settlement in Canada west of Montreal, the area was first named la Petite Côte. Later it was called La Côte de Misère because of the sandy soils near LaSalle, Windsors French-Canadian heritage is reflected in French street names such as Ouellette, Pelissier, François, Pierre, Langlois, Marentette, and Lauzon. The current street system of Windsor reflects the Canadien method of land division. Today, the street name often indicates the name of the family that at one time farmed the land where the street is now located. The street system of outlying areas is consistent with the British system for granting land concessions, there is a significant French-speaking minority in Windsor and the surrounding area, particularly in the Lakeshore, Tecumseh and LaSalle areas. In 1794, after the American Revolution, the settlement of Sandwich was founded and it was later renamed Windsor, after the town in Berkshire, England. The Sandwich neighbourhood on Windsors west side is home to some of the oldest buildings in the city, including Mackenzie Hall, today, this building functions as a community centre. The oldest building in the city is the Duff-Baby House built in 1792 and it is owned by Ontario Heritage Trust and houses government offices. The François Baby House in downtown Windsor was built in 1812 and houses Windsors Community Museum, Windsor was the site of a battle during the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1838, and also served as a theatre for the Patriot War, later that year. Windsor was established as a village in 1854, then became a town in 1858, the Windsor Police Service was established on July 1,1867. A fire consumed much of Windsors downtown core on October 12,1871, Sandwich, Ford City and Walkerville were separate legal entities in their own right until 1935. They are now historic neighbourhoods of Windsor, Ford City was officially incorporated as a village in 1912, it became a town in 1915, and a city in 1929. Walkerville was incorporated as a town in 1890, Sandwich was established in 1817 as a town with no municipal status. It was incorporated as a town in 1858 and these three towns were annexed by Windsor in 1935
16.
Northeast megalopolis
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On a map, the Northeast megalopolis appears almost as a straight line. America 2050 projections expect the area to grow to 58.1 million people by 2025, french geographer Jean Gottmann popularized the term in his landmark 1961 study of the region, Megalopolis, The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States. It is linked by Interstate 95 and U. S and it is home to over 50 million people, and Metropolitan Statistical Areas are contiguous from Washington to Boston. The region accounts for 20% of the U. S. Gross Domestic Product, the headquarters of 162 of the Fortune 500 are in the region. The region is also the center of the hedge fund industry, with 47. 9% of $2.48 trillion of hedge fund assets being managed in its cities. Academically, the region is home to six of the eight Ivy League universities, over time, the cities and towns founded here had the advantage of age over most other parts of the US. However, it was the Northeast in particular that developed most rapidly, while possessing neither particularly rich soil—one exception being New Englands Connecticut River Valley—nor exceptional mineral wealth, the region does support some agriculture and mining. The climate is temperate and not particularly prone to hurricanes or tropical storms. The coastline to the north is rockier and less sheltered, and to the South is smooth and does not feature as many bays and inlets that function as natural harbors. By 1800, the region included the only four U. S. cities with populations of over 25,000, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, only 38 miles southwest of Baltimore, was made the capital. The transportation and telecommunications infrastructure that the city mandated also spilled over into the rest of the strip. By contrast, the major source of trans-oceanic immigrants was China. West Coast than Europe was from the East, and whose ethnicity made them targets of racial discrimination, by 1950, the region held over one-fifth of the total U. S. population, with a density nearly 15 times that of the national average. Jean Gottmann wrote his most famous work, Megalopolis, around the theory that the cities between Washington, DC and Boston, MA together form a sort of cohesive, integrated supercity. He took the term Megalopolis from a small Greek town that had settled in the Classical Era with the hope it would become the largest of the Greek cities. Though it still today, it is just a sleepy agricultural community. The dream of the founders of the original Megalopolis, Gottmann argued, was being realized in the Northeastern U. S. in the 1960s. Large communities on the outskirts of cities, such as Silver Spring or Bethesda in Maryland outside of Washington
17.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
18.
Via Rail
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Via Rail Canada is an independent Crown corporation, subsidized by the Minister of Transport, mandated to offer intercity passenger rail services in Canada. Via Rail operates 475 trains per week in eight Canadian provinces over a network of 12,500 kilometres of track, 98% of which is owned and maintained by other companies, mostly by CN. Via Rail carried approximately 3.8 million passengers in 2015, yearly passenger levels on Canadas passenger trains peaked at 60 million during World War II. Following the war the growth of air travel and the automobile caused significant loss of mode share for Canadas passenger train operators. By the 1960s it was obvious to both Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway that passenger trains were no longer economically viable, CN, being a Crown corporation at that time, was encouraged by the federal government and political interests to invest in passenger trains. These increases proved temporary, by 1977 total passenger numbers had dropped beneath five million, the decline of passenger rail became a federal election issue in 1974 when the government of Pierre Trudeau promised to implement a nationwide carrier similar to Amtrak in the United States. Starting in 1976, CN began branding its passenger services with the bilingual name Via or Via CN, the Via logo began to appear on CN passenger locomotives and cars, while still carrying CN logos as well. That September, Via published a timetable with information on both CN and CP trains, marking the first time that Canadians could find all major passenger trains in one publication. On January 12,1977, CN spun off its services as a separate Crown corporation. At its inception, Via acquired all CN passenger cars and locomotives, following several months of negotiation, on October 29,1978, Via took over operation of CP passenger train services, and took possession of cars and locomotives. At this time, Via did not own any trackage and had to pay fees to CN and CP. Over 150 scheduled trains per week were in operation, including services, regional trains. If Via were enabled by legislation, the company could be permitted to seek funding on the money markets as other Crown corporations such as CN have done in the past. Greater numbers of passengers would not be Vias saviour, in 1981, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeaus government endorsed Minister of Transport Jean-Luc Pépins plan which cut Vias budget, leading to a 40% reduction in the companys operations. Gone were frequently sold-out trains such as the Super Continental and the popular Atlantic, the LRC locomotives and cars used advanced technology such as active tilt to increase speed, but proved troublesome and took several years to work out problems. Prime Minister Mulroneys government gave Via funding to some of its cars, and purchase new locomotives. It was during this time on February 8,1986, that Vias eastbound Super Continental collided with a CN freight train near Hinton, Alberta, the resulting derailment killed 23 people. Minister of Transport Benoît Bouchard oversaw the reduction in service on January 15,1990, the Canadian was also moved from its home rails on CP to the northerly CN route
19.
Corridor (Via Rail)
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The Corridor is a Via Rail passenger train service area in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Corridor is used by Via to refer to all Via inter-city passenger trains which start, the Corridor service area has the heaviest passenger train frequency in Canada, with 36 Via trains traversing the route daily. About 67% of Vias revenue comes from Corridor routes, via runs a mix of local-service and express trains in the Corridor. Prior to Vias formation in 1978, CN Rail operated trains on the same tracks, all trains are identified by number, however, in previous schedules these trains were named as well. During the 1970s and early 1980s, CN and later Via Rail operated the Turbo Train on existing freight rail trackage and this equipment was later replaced by the Bombardier LRC train sets. After a hiatus of ten years, a feasibility study on launching a high-speed rail service in the Corridor will be updated at the joint cost of the government, Ontario. On November 14,2011, the three officially released the final report of a high-speed rail study for this corridor. On December 5,2014, the MTO approved the start of an Environmental Assessment on the best route for a high speed rail connecting Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, in 2009–2010, Via used C$300 million of government stimulus money to upgrade segments of the Corridor. Notable track improvements planned were an additional 70 km of main track in four segments. The improvements were planned to reduce delays along the route and to allow for a reduction in time of up to 30 minutes from end to end. They were intended to allow Via to introduce two new trains from Toronto to both Montreal and Ottawa without requiring the acquisition of new equipment. It is the only scheduled service from the Corridor line at Burlington to Niagara Falls. Two commuter rail agencies, provincially funded and independent of Via, the GO Transit Kitchener line shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from Toronto Union Station to Kitchener Station. The GO Transit Lakeshore West line shares tracks with Via trains from Toronto Union Station to Bayview junction, the Lakeshore West line Niagara Branch shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from Toronto Union Station to Niagara Falls. The GO Transit Lakeshore East line shares tracks with Via trains from Toronto Union Station to Durham Junction, between Pickering and Oshawa, GO trains use a separate parallel line immediately north of the CN/Via tracks. The AMT Mont-St-Hilaire line shares tracks with Via trains for its route from Montreal Central Station to Mont-Saint-Hilaire. The AMT Vaudreuil-Hudson line operates in the corridor as Via trains from Dorion to Lachine. AMT trains operate on the CP tracks, and Via trains operate on the CN tracks, high-speed rail in Canada Maple Leaf Northeast Corridor Quebec City–Windsor Corridor
20.
Saint Lawrence River
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The Saint Lawrence River is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. The Saint Lawrence River flows in a roughly north-easterly direction, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean and forming the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin. It traverses the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is part of the boundary between Ontario, Canada, and the U. S. state of New York. This river also provides the basis of the commercial Saint Lawrence Seaway, the estuary begins at the eastern tip of Île dOrléans, just downstream from Quebec City. The river becomes tidal around Quebec City, the St. Lawrence River runs 3,058 kilometres from the farthest headwater to the mouth and 1,197 km from the outflow of Lake Ontario. The farthest headwater is the North River in the Mesabi Range at Hibbing, the average discharge below the Saguenay River is 16,800 cubic metres per second. At Quebec City, it is 12,101 m3/s, the average discharge at the rivers source, the outflow of Lake Ontario, is 7,410 m3/s. The St. Lawrence River includes Lake Saint-Louis south of Montreal, Lake Saint Francis at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, pierre Archipelago and the smaller Mingan Archipelago. Other islands include Île dOrléans near Quebec City and Anticosti Island north of the Gaspé and it is the second longest river in Canada. Lake Champlain and the Ottawa, Richelieu, Saguenay, and Saint-François rivers drain into the St. Lawrence. The St. Lawrence River is in an active zone where fault reactivation is believed to occur along late Proterozoic to early Paleozoic normal faults related to the opening of Iapetus Ocean. The faults in the area are related and are called the Saint Lawrence rift system. According to the United States Geological Survey, the St. Lawrence Valley is a province of the larger Appalachian division, containing the Champlain. However, in Canada, where most of the valley is, it is considered part of a distinct Saint Lawrence Lowlands physiographic division. Lawrence River itself was Jacques Cartier, at that time, the land along the river was inhabited by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, at the time of Cartiers second voyage in 1535. Because Cartier arrived in the estuary on St. Lawrences feast day, the St. Lawrence River is partly within the U. S. and as such is that countrys sixth oldest surviving European place-name. The earliest regular Europeans in the area were the Basques, who came to the St Lawrence Gulf, the Basque whalers and fishermen traded with indigenous Americans and set up settlements, leaving vestiges all over the coast of eastern Canada and deep into the Saint Lawrence River. Basque commercial and fishing activity reached its peak before the Armada Invencibles disaster, initially, the whaling galleons from Labourd were not affected by the Spanish defeat
21.
Lake Ontario
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Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Ontario, Canadas most populous province, was named for the lake, in the Wyandot language, ontarío means “Lake of Shining Waters”. Its primary inlet is the Niagara River from Lake Erie, the last in the Great Lakes chain, Lake Ontario serves as the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River. Lake Ontario is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and the smallest in surface area and it is the 14th largest lake in the world. When its islands are included, the lake has a shoreline that is 712 miles long. As the last lake in the Great Lakes hydrologic chain, Lake Ontario has the lowest mean elevation of the lakes at 243 feet above sea level,326 feet lower than its neighbor upstream. Its maximum length is 193 statute miles and its width is 53 statute miles. The lakes average depth is 47 fathoms 1 foot, with a depth of 133 fathoms 4 feet. The lakes primary source is the Niagara River, draining Lake Erie, the drainage basin covers 24,720 square miles. As with all the Great Lakes, water levels both within the year and among years. These water level fluctuations are a part of lake ecology. The lake also has an important freshwater fishery, although it has negatively affected by factors including over-fishing, water pollution. Baymouth bars built by prevailing winds and currents have created a significant number of lagoons and sheltered harbors, mostly near Prince Edward County, Ontario, perhaps the best-known example is Toronto Bay, chosen as the site of the Upper Canada capital for its strategic harbour. Other prominent examples include Hamilton Harbour, Irondequoit Bay, Presquile Bay, the bars themselves are the sites of long beaches, such as Sandbanks Provincial Park and Sandy Island Beach State Park. These sand bars are associated with large wetlands, which support large numbers of plant and animal species. Presquile, on the shore of Lake Ontario, is particularly significant in this regard. The lake basin was carved out of soft, weak Silurian-age rocks by the Wisconsin ice sheet during the last ice age, the action of the ice occurred along the pre-glacial Ontarian River valley which had approximately the same orientation as todays basin. As the ice sheet retreated toward the north, it still dammed the St. Lawrence valley outlet and this stage is known as Lake Iroquois
22.
Lake Erie
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Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth-largest globally if measured in terms of surface area. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes, at its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet deep. Lake Eries northern shore is bounded by the Canadian province of Ontario, with the U. S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and these jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake by water boundaries. The lake was named by the Erie people, a Native Americans people who lived along its southern shore and that Iroquoian tribe called it Erige because of its unpredictable and sometimes violently dangerous nature. It is a matter of whether the lake was named after the tribe. Situated below Lake Huron, Eries primary inlet is the Detroit River, Lake Erie has a mean elevation of 571 feet above sea level. It has an area of 9,990 square miles with a length of 241 statute miles. The warm summer of 1999 caused lake temperatures to come close to the 85 °F limit necessary to keep the plants cool, also because of its shallowness, and in spite of being the warmest lake in the summer, it is also the first to freeze in the winter. The waves build very quickly, according to other accounts, after being trapped for an hour-and-a-half, Baker was back on dry land, exhausted and battered but alive. This area is known as the thunderstorm capital of Canada with breathtaking lightning displays. Lake Erie is primarily fed by the Detroit River and drains via the Niagara River, navigation downstream is provided by the Welland Canal, part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Other major contributors to Lake Erie include the Grand River, the Huron River, the Maumee River, the Sandusky River, the Buffalo River, the drainage basin covers 30,140 square miles. Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point of the Canadian mainland, is located on a peninsula extending into the lake. Several islands are found in the end of the lake, these belong to Ohio except for Pelee Island and eight neighboring islands. Major cities along Lake Erie include Buffalo, Erie, Pennsylvania, Toledo, Ohio, Islands tend to be located in the western side of the lake and total 31 in number. The island-village of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island attracts young crowds who sometimes wear red hats and are prone to break off cartwheels in the park. Pelee Island is the largest of Eries islands, accessible by ferry from Leamington, Ontario and Sandusky, songbirds migrate to Pelee in spring, and monarch butterflies stop over during the fall. Lake Erie has a retention time of 2.6 years
23.
Arable land
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Arable land is, according to one definition, land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. In Britain, it was contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths which could be used for sheep-rearing. A quite different kind of definition is used by various agencies concerned with agriculture, the abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for ‘Arable land’ are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable, a briefer definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual, rather than potential use, land worked regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations the worlds Arable land amounted to 1,407 M ha, out of a total 4,924 M ha land used for agriculture, as for year 2013. Agricultural land that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes, Permanent crop - land that produces crops from woody vegetation, other non-arable land includes land unsuitable for any agricultural use. Although such limitations may preclude cultivation, and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use, for example, US NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non-federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation, yet such land has value for grazing of livestock. Similar examples can be found in many rangeland areas elsewhere, land incapable of being cultivated for production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land. New arable land makes more food, and can reduce starvation and this outcome also makes a country more self-sufficient and politically independent, because food importation is reduced. This process is extremely expensive. An alternative is the Seawater Greenhouse which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the energy input. This technology is optimized to grow crops on land close to the sea. The people covered the islands with a layer of seaweed. Israel, The construction of desalination plants along Israels coast allowed agriculture in areas that were formerly desert. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from water, have created a new source of water for farming, drinking. Slash and burn agriculture uses nutrients in wood ash, but these expire within a few years, terra preta, fertile tropical soils created by adding charcoal. Some examples of fertile land being turned into infertile land are. Rainforest deforestation, The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land, for example, Madagascars central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren, as a result of slash-and-burn deforestation, an element of shifting cultivation practiced by many natives
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Canadian Shield
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Composed of igneous rock resulting from its long volcanic history, the area is covered by a thin layer of soil. Human population is sparse, and industrial development is minimal, while mining is prevalent, the Canadian Shield is a physiographic division, consisting of five smaller, physiographic provinces, the Laurentian Upland, Kazan Region, Davis, Hudson and James. The shield extends into the United States as the Adirondack Mountains, the Canadian Shield is U-shaped and is a subsection of the Laurentia craton signifying the area of greatest glacial impact creating the thin soils. The Canadian Shield is more than 3.96 billion years old, the Canadian Shield once had jagged peaks, higher than any of todays mountains, but millions of years of erosion have changed these mountains to rolling hills. The Canadian Shield was the first part of North America to be elevated above sea level and has remained almost wholly untouched by successive encroachments of the sea upon the continent. It is the Earths greatest area of exposed Archean rock, the metamorphic base rocks are mostly from the Precambrian Supereon, and have been repeatedly uplifted and eroded. Today it consists largely of an area of low relief 300 to 610 m above sea level with a few monadnocks, during the Pleistocene Epoch, continental ice sheets depressed the land surface, scooped out thousands of lake basins, and carried away much of the regions soil. When the Greenland section is included, the Shield is approximately circular, bounded on the northeast by the northeast edge of Greenland and it covers much of Greenland, Labrador, most of Quebec north of the St. In total, the area of the Shield covers approximately 8,000,000 km2. The underlying rock structure also includes Hudson Bay, the Canadian Shield is among the oldest on earth, with regions dating from 2.5 to 4.2 billion years. The multitude of rivers and lakes in the region is caused by the watersheds of the area being so young. It has some of the oldest volcanoes on the planet and it has over 150 volcanic belts whose bedrock ranges from 600 to 1200 million years old. Each belt probably grew by the coalescence of accumulations erupted from numerous vents, many of Canadas major ore deposits are associated with Precambrian volcanoes. The Sturgeon Lake Caldera in Kenora District, Ontario, is one of the worlds best preserved mineralized Neoarchean caldera complexes, the Canadian Shield also contains the Mackenzie dike swarm, which is the largest dike swarm known on Earth. Mountains have deep roots and float on the denser mantle much like an iceberg at sea, as mountains erode, their roots rise and are eroded in turn. The rocks that now form the surface of the Shield were once far below the Earths surface, the high pressures and temperatures at those depths provided ideal conditions for mineralization. Although these mountains are now eroded, many large mountains still exist in Canadas far north called the Arctic Cordillera. This is a vast deeply dissected mountain range, stretching from northernmost Ellesmere Island to the northernmost tip of Labrador, the ranges highest peak is Nunavuts Barbeau Peak at 2,616 metres above sea level
25.
Appalachian Mountains
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The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period and it once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before naturally occurring erosion. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east-west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines, definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. A common variant definition does not include the Adirondack Mountains, which belong to the Grenville Orogeny and have a different geological history from the rest of the Appalachians. The range covers parts of the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3,000 ft. The highest of the group is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet, the term Appalachian refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range. Most broadly, it refers to the mountain range with its surrounding hills. The Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma were originally part of the Appalachians as well, the name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváezs expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15,1528, now spelled Appalachian, it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US. After the de Soto expedition in 1540, Spanish cartographers began to apply the name of the tribe to the mountains themselves. The first cartographic appearance of Apalchen is on Diego Gutierrezs map of 1562, the name was not commonly used for the whole mountain range until the late 19th century. A competing and often more popular name was the Allegheny Mountains, Alleghenies, in the early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania. In U. S. dialects in the regions of the Appalachians. In northern parts of the range, it is pronounced /ˌæpəˈleɪtʃᵻnz/ or /ˌæpəˈleɪʃᵻnz/, the third syllable is like lay. There is often debate between the residents of the regions as to which pronunciation is the more correct one. Elsewhere, a commonly accepted pronunciation for the adjective Appalachian is /ˌæpəˈlætʃiən/, the whole system may be divided into three great sections, Northern, The northern section runs from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to the Hudson River. The Monteregian Hills, which cross the Green Mountains in Quebec, are also unassociated with the Appalachians, Central, The central section goes from the Hudson Valley to the New River running through Virginia and West Virginia. Southern, The southern section runs from the New River onwards and it consists of the prolongation of the Blue Ridge, which is divided into the Western Blue Ridge Front and the Eastern Blue Ridge Front, the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and the Cumberland Plateau
26.
Great Lakes
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Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the worlds surface fresh water by volume. The total surface is 94,250 square miles, and the volume is 5,439 cubic miles. Due to their sea-like characteristics the five Great Lakes have also long been referred to as inland seas, Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world by area, and Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country. The southern half of the Great Lakes is bordered by the Great Lakes Megalopolis, the lakes have been a major highway for transportation, migration and trade, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade, and some threaten the regions biodiversity, though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin. The lakes form a chain connecting the interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southward to Erie, the lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. There are also several smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. The surface area of the five primary lakes combined is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom, while the area of the entire basin is about the size of the UK. Lake Michigan is the one of the Great Lakes that is located entirely within the United States. The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U. S. states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Both Ontario and Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes, Ontario does not border Lake Michigan, New York and Wisconsins jurisdictions extend into two lakes, and the remaining states into one of the lakes. This designation, however, is not universal and those living on the shore of Lake Superior often refer to all the other lakes as the lower lakes, because they are farther south. This corresponds to thinking of Lakes Erie and Ontario as down south, vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered upbound even though they are sailing toward its effluent current. The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System through man-made alterations, the St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron, the St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair. The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, the Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Welland Canal, bypassing the Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the Saint Lawrence River connects Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean
27.
Limestone
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
28.
Granite
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Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be white, pink, or gray in color. The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the structure of such a holocrystalline rock. By definition, granite is a rock with at least 20% quartz. The term granitic means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks, petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids. The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite, Granite is nearly always massive, hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history, and more recently as a construction stone. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa, and its viscosity near STP is 3–6 •1019 Pa·s. The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is 1215–1260 °C, it is reduced in the presence of water. Granite has poor primary permeability, but strong secondary permeability, true granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as alkali feldspar granite, when a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite, pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite, two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. A worldwide average of the composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age, it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin veneer of the continents. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors and rounded massifs, granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite often occurs as small, less than 100 km² stock masses
29.
Lake Huron
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Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south, the name of the lake is derived from early French explorers who named it for the Huron people inhabiting the region. The Huronian glaciation was named due to evidence collected from Lake Huron region, the northern parts of the lake include the North Channel and Georgian Bay. Across the lake to the southwest is Saginaw Bay, the main inlet is the St. Marys River and the main outlet is the St. Clair. By volume however, Lake Huron is only the third largest of the Great Lakes, being surpassed by Lake Michigan, when measured at the low water datum, the lake contains a volume of 850 cubic miles and a shoreline length of 3,827 mi. The surface of Lake Huron is 577 feet above sea level, the lakes average depth is 32 fathoms 3 feet, while the maximum depth is 125 fathoms. It has a length of 206 statute miles and a greatest breadth of 183 statute miles. Cities with over 10,000 people on Lake Huron include Sarnia, the largest city on Lake Huron, and Saugeen Shores in Canada and Bay City, Port Huron, a large bay that protrudes northeast from Lake Huron into Ontario, Canada, is called Georgian Bay. A notable feature of the lake is Manitoulin Island, which separates the North Channel and it is the worlds largest freshwater island. Major centres on Georgian Bay include Owen Sound, Wasaga Beach, Midland, Penetanguishene, Port Severn, a smaller bay that protrudes southwest from Lake Huron into Michigan is called Saginaw Bay. Historic High Water The lake fluctuates from month to month with the highest lake levels in October and November, the normal high-water mark is 2.00 feet above datum. In the summer of 1986, Lakes Michigan and Huron reached their highest level at 5.92 feet above datum, the high-water records began in February 1986 and lasted through the year, ending with January 1987. Water levels ranged from 3.67 to 5.92 feet above Chart Datum, historic Low Water Lake levels tend to be the lowest in winter. The normal low-water mark is 1.00 foot below datum, in the winter of 1964, Lakes Michigan and Huron reached their lowest level at 1.38 feet below datum. As with the records, monthly low-water records were set each month from February 1964 through January 1965. During this twelve-month period, water levels ranged from 1.38 to 0.71 feet below Chart Datum, the Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. Lake Huron has the largest shore line length of any of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron is separated from Lake Michigan, which lies at the same level, by the 5-mile-wide, 20-fathom-deep Straits of Mackinac, making them hydrologically the same body of water. Aggregated, Lake Huron-Michigan, at 45,300 square miles, is technically the worlds largest freshwater lake, when counted separately, Lake Superior is 8,700 square miles larger than Huron and higher
30.
Ottawa River
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The Ottawa River, is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it defines the border between two provinces. It is a tributary of the St. Lawrence River. The river rises from its source in Lake Capimitchigama, in the Laurentian Mountains of central Quebec, from there its route has been used to define the interprovincial border with Ontario. From Lake Timiskaming, the river flows southeast to Ottawa and Gatineau, the Ottawa River drains into the Lake of Two Mountains and the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. The river is 1,271 kilometres long, it drains an area of 146,300 square kilometres,65 percent in Quebec and the rest in Ontario, with a mean discharge of 1,950 cubic metres per second. The average annual mean waterflow measured at Carillon dam, near the Lake of Two Mountains, is 1,939 cubic metres per second, with average annual extremes of 749 to 5,351 cubic metres per second. Record historic levels since 1964 are a low of 529 cubic metres per second in 2005, the river flows through large areas of deciduous and coniferous forest formed over thousands of years as trees recolonized the Ottawa Valley after the ice age. Generally, the coniferous forests occur on old sand plains left by retreating glaciers, the deciduous forests, dominated by maple, beech, oak and ash occur in more mesic areas with better soil. The vast areas of pine were exploited by early loggers, later generations of logging removed hemlock for use in tanning leather, leaving a permanent deficit of hemlock in most forests. Associated with the logging and early settlement were vast wild fires which not only removed the forests, consequently, nearly all the forests show varying degrees of human disturbance. Tracts of older forest are uncommon, and hence they are considered of importance for conservation. The Ottawa River has large areas of wetlands, the Westmeath sand dune/wetland complex is significant for its relatively pristine sand dunes, few of which remain along the Ottawa River, and the many associated rare plants. Shirleys Bay has a biologically diverse shoreline alvar, as well as one of the largest silver maple swamps along the river, like all wetlands, these depend upon the seasonal fluctuations in the water level. High water levels help create and maintain silver maple swamps, while low water periods allow many rare plants to grow on the emerged sand. There are five principal vegetation types. One is swamp, mostly silver maple, there are four herbaceous vegetation types, named for the dominant plant species in them, Scirpus, Eleocharis, Sparganium and Typha. Which type occurs in a location depends upon factors such as substrate type, water depth, ice-scour
31.
Montreal
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Montreal, officially Montréal, is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or City of Mary, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, the city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694, Montreals metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included. Legally a French-speaking city,60. 5% of Montrealers speak French at home,21. 2% speak English and 19. 8% speak neither, Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris, historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film, Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North Americas leading host city for international events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress. According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in the 2017 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds ranked Montreal as the worlds best city to study abroad. Also, Montreal has 11 universities with 170,000 students enrolled, the Greater Montréal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics, currently, the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival. In 2012, Montreal was ranked as a Beta+ world city, in Kanien’kéha, or Mohawk language, the island is called Tiohtià, ke Tsi or Ka-wé-no-te. In Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe language, the land is called Mooniyaang, though the city was first named by French colonizers Ville Marie, or City of Mary, its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most popular theory is that the name derives from Mont Réal, Cartiers 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, Canadian place names have only one official form. Thus, Montreal is officially spelled with an accent over the e in both English and French. In practice, this is limited to governmental uses. English-speaking Montrealers, including English-language media, regularly omit the accent when writing in English, archaeological evidence demonstrates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD1000, they had started to cultivate maize, within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at locations in the valley since at least the 14th century
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Eastern Townships
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Its northern boundary roughly followed Logans Line —the geologic boundary between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the Appalachian Mountains. The region comprises counties that were divided into townships after the traditional method of land grants of the original New England. Earlier French settlement along the Saint Lawrence River had divided the landscape into parishes and Seigneuries, the tourist region now covers most of the region. The administrative region, officially called Estrie, is slightly smaller, the principal cities are Sherbrooke, Granby, Magog, and Cowansville. The towns of Drummondville, Victoriaville, and Thetford Mines are part of the historical region, the region has summer colonies used by vacationing Montrealers and several ski resorts, including Mount Orford, Ski Bromont, Mount Sutton, and Owls Head. The area contains a population of about 330,000, most of whom are French-speaking and it also contains about 41,000 native English-speaking inhabitants, forming a significant minority in the community. The area has been described as populated by well-heeled cottagers and gentlemen farmers, the first inhabitants of the region were the Abenaki First Nations. The names of towns, lakes and rivers of the area are of Abenaki origin. The Abenakis allied themselves with the French during the Seven Years War to fight the British, the region was part of New France until the 1763 Treaty of Paris which granted the region to the British. Shortly after the American Revolution, a few United Empire Loyalists, the early loyalists settled in and around Missisquoi Bay. A popular misconception is that there was an influx of Loyalists to the Eastern Townships. In fact most of the immigration from New England happened in the nineteenth century. Most were farmers seeking new lands, something the townships had to offer, some Loyalists had moved to the area during the Revolutionary War. When it ended Sir Frederick Haldimand, the governor of Quebec and he cut off the rations the government had been providing. However, they resisted efforts to be moved by force and were permitted to stay by Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton after Haldimands return to England. The status of the Eastern Townships Loyalists was resolved when the agreed to permit them to stay on their land for a nominal fee. The exact number cannot be ascertained, but a petition sent to the governor included 378 names. Allowing for a family of five, this could suggest a population of about 1600 or so
33.
Niagara Escarpment
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The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in the United States and Canada that runs predominantly east/west from New York, through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over which the Niagara River plunges at Niagara Falls, the Niagara Escarpment is the most prominent of several escarpments formed in the bedrock of the Great Lakes Basin. From its easternmost point near Watertown, New York, the escarpment shapes in part the individual basins and landforms of Lakes Ontario, Huron, in Rochester, New York, three waterfalls over the escarpment are where the Genesee River flows through the city. The escarpment thence runs westward to the Niagara River, forming a gorge north of Niagara Falls. Study of rock exposures and drillholes demonstrates that no displacement of the rock layers occurs at the escarpment, the escarpments caprock is dolomitic limestone, which is more resistant and overlies weaker, more easily eroded shale as a weathering-resistant cap. The escarpment thus formed over millions of years through a process of erosion of rocks of different hardnesses. Through time the soft rocks weather away or erode by the action of streams, the gradual removal of the soft rocks undercuts the resistant caprock, leaving a cliff or escarpment. The erosional process is most readily seen at Niagara Falls, where the river has quickened the process and it can also be seen at the three waterfalls of the Genesee River at Rochester. Also, in places thick glacial deposits conceal the Niagara Escarpment, such as north of Georgetown, Ontario. The dolostone cap was laid down as sediment on the floor of a marine environment, in Michigan, behind the escarpment, the cuesta capstone slopes gently to form a wide basin, the floor of an Ordovician-Silurian-age tropical sea. During the Silurian period, some magnesium substituted for some of the calcium in the carbonates, worldwide sea levels were at their all-time maximum in the Ordovician, as the sea retreated, erosion inevitably began. This dolostone basin contains Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, the Welland Canal allows ships to traverse the escarpment between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. In southern Ontario, the Bruce Trail runs the length of the escarpment from Queenston on the Niagara River to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. Highway 401, Canadas busiest, also crosses the Niagara Escarpment, beginning its descent through rolling hills, farmland. Rock exposed on the face of the escarpment can be seen along Highway 26 from Owen Sound eastwards towards Meaford, hamilton, Ontario, is situated on the escarpment in such a way that the north end of the city is below and the south part above. Affectionately referred to as The Mountain by its residents, many roads or mountain accesses join the urban core below with the suburban expansion above. High Cliff State Park in Wisconsin shows how modern and prehistoric humans used the escarpment for not only cultural reasons, a number of different animal and geometric effigy mounds and the remains of an early 20th-century limestone quarry and kiln are within the park. The relief and exposed edge are used by wind farms stretching from Pipe, Wisconsin, to Brownsville
34.
Gulf of Mexico
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The Gulf of Mexico is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The U. S. states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas border the Gulf on the north, Atlantic and Pacific coasts, or sometimes the south coast, in juxtaposition to the Great Lakes region being the north coast. One of the seven main areas is the Gulf of Mexico basin. The Gulf of Mexico formed approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics, the Gulfs basin is roughly oval and is approximately 810 nautical miles wide and floored by sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U. S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba, with the narrow connection to the Atlantic, the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges. The size of the Gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km2, almost half of the basin is shallow continental shelf waters. The basin contains a volume of roughly 2,500 quadrillion liters, the consensus among geologists who have studied the geology of the Gulf of Mexico, is that prior to the Late Triassic, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist. It was created by the collision of plates that formed Pangea. As interpreted by Roy Van Arsdale and Randel T. Cox, geologists and other Earth scientists agree in general that the present Gulf of Mexico basin originated in Late Triassic time as the result of rifting within Pangea. The rifting was associated with zones of weakness within Pangea, including sutures where the Laurentia, South American, first, there was a Late Triassic-Early Jurassic phase of rifting during which rift valleys formed and filled with continental red beds. Second, as rifting progressed through Early and Middle Jurassic time and it was at this time that tectonics first created a connection to the Pacific Ocean across central Mexico and later eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. This flooded the basin created by rifting and crustal thinning to create the Gulf of Mexico. While the Gulf of Mexico was a basin, the subsiding transitional crust was blanketed by the widespread deposition of Louann Salt. Initially, during the Late Jurassic, continued rifting widened the Gulf of Mexico and progressed to the point that sea-floor spreading, at this point, sufficient circulation with the Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased. During the Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous, the occupied by the Gulf of Mexico experienced a period of cooling. The subsidence was the result of a combination of stretching, cooling. Initially, the combination of stretching and cooling caused about 5–7 km of tectonic subsidence of the central thin transitional
35.
Central Canada
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Central Canada is a region consisting of Canadas two largest and most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec. Geographically, they are not at the centre of the country, due to their high populations, Ontario and Quebec have traditionally held a significant amount of political power in Canada, leading to some amount of resentment from other regions of the country. Before Confederation, the term Canada specifically referred to Central Canada, today, the term Central Canada is less often used than the names of the individual provinces. The longitudinal centre of Canada passes just east of Winnipeg, Manitoba, before Confederation, the region known as Canada was what is now called Central Canada. Southern Ontario was once called Upper Canada and later Canada West, both were made part of the United Province of Canada in 1841. Combined, the two provinces have approximately 20 million inhabitants which represents 62% of Canadas population and they are represented in the House of Commons of Canada by 199 Members of Parliament out of a total of 338
36.
Deciduous
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In a more general sense, deciduous means the dropping of a part that is no longer needed or falling away after its purpose is finished. In plants it is the result of natural processes, in botany and horticulture, deciduous plants, including trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year. In some cases leaf loss coincides with winter—namely in temperate or polar climates, in other parts of the world, including tropical, subtropical, and arid regions, plants lose their leaves during the dry season or other seasons, depending on variations in rainfall. The converse of deciduous is coniferous, where foliage is shed on a different schedule from deciduous trees, plants that are intermediate may be called semi-deciduous, they lose old foliage as new growth begins. Other plants are semi-evergreen and lose their leaves before the growing season. Many deciduous plants flower during the period when they are leafless, the absence of leaves improves wind transmission of pollen for wind-pollinated plants and increases the visibility of the flowers to insects in insect-pollinated plants. This strategy is not without risks, as the flowers can be damaged by frost or, in dry season regions, leaf drop or abscission involves complex physiological signals and changes within plants. The process of photosynthesis steadily degrades the supply of chlorophylls in foliage, the brightest leaf colors are produced when days grow short and nights are cool, but remain above freezing. These other pigments include carotenoids that are yellow, brown, anthocyanin pigments produce red and purple colors, though they are not always present in the leaves. Rather, they are produced in the foliage in late summer, parts of the world that have showy displays of bright autumn colors are limited to locations where days become short and nights are cool. In other parts of the world, the leaves of deciduous trees simply fall off without turning the bright colors produced from the accumulation of anthocyanin pigments, the beginnings of leaf drop starts when an abscission layer is formed between the leaf petiole and the stem. This layer is formed in the spring during active new growth of the leaf, the cells are sensitive to a plant hormone called auxin that is produced by the leaf and other parts of the plant. The elongation of cells break the connection between the different cell layers, allowing the leaf to break away from the plant. It also forms a layer that seals the break, so the plant does not lose sap, in the spring, these proteins are used as a nitrogen source during the growth of new leaves or flowers. Plants with deciduous foliage have advantages and disadvantages compared to plants with evergreen foliage, evergreens suffer greater water loss during the winter and they also can experience greater predation pressure, especially when small. Losing leaves in winter may reduce damage from insects, repairing leaves, removing leaves also reduces cavitation which can damage xylem vessels in plants. This then allows deciduous plants to have xylem vessels with larger diameters, the deciduous characteristic has developed repeatedly among woody plants. Trees include maple, many oaks and nothofagus, elm, aspen, Deciduous shrubs include honeysuckle, viburnum, and many others
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Eastern United States
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It is geographically diverse, spanning the Northeast and Southeast as well as the eastern part of the Central United States. In 2011 the 26 states east of the Mississippi had an population of 179,948,346 or 58. 28% of the total U. S. population of 308,745,358. The Southern United States constitutes a region in the south-eastern. In the last few decades, the Southern US has been attracting internal and international migrants, the American South is among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. In one of the earliest English settlements in the New World, English Pilgrims from Europe first settled in New England in 1620, New England produced the first examples of American literature and philosophy and was home to the beginnings of free public education. In the 19th century, it played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States and it was the first region of the United States to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution. The Midwestern United States is one of the four regions within the United States that are recognized by the United States Census Bureau. The region consists of seven states in the central and inland northeastern US, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, a 2006 Census Bureau estimate put the population at 66,217,736. Both the geographic center of the contiguous U. S. the United States Census Bureau divides this region into the East North Central States and the West North Central States. Chicago is the largest city in the region, followed by Indianapolis, chicago has the largest metropolitan statistical area, followed by Detroit, and Minneapolis – Saint Paul. Marie, Michigan is the oldest city in the region, having been founded by French missionaries, the term Midwest has been in common use for over 100 years. Another term sometimes applied to the general region is the heartland. Other designations for the region have fallen into disuse, such as the Northwest or Old Northwest, since the book Middletown appeared in 1929, sociologists have often used Midwestern cities as typical of the entire nation. The region has a higher ratio than the Northeast, the West. Four of the associated with the Midwestern United States are traditionally referred to as belonging to the Great Plains region. However, in recent years they are included in the Midwestern region. The following is a list of the 24 largest cities in the East by population, East Coast of the United States Eastern Canada Territories of the United States on stamps
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Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
39.
Evergreen
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In botany, an evergreen is a plant that has leaves throughout the year, always green. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage during the winter or dry season. There are many different kinds of plants, both trees and shrubs. Deciduous trees shed their leaves, usually as an adaptation to a cold or dry/wet season, evergreen trees do lose leaves, but each tree loses its leaves gradually and not all at once. Most warm temperate climate plants are also evergreen, in cool temperate climates, fewer plants are evergreen, with a predominance of conifers, as few evergreen broadleaf plants can tolerate severe cold below about −30 °C. In areas where there is a reason for being deciduous, being evergreen is usually an adaptation to low nutrient levels, deciduous trees lose nutrients whenever they lose their leaves. In warmer areas, species such as pines and cypresses grow on poor soils. In Rhododendron, a genus with many broadleaf evergreens, several species grow in forests but are usually found on highly acidic soil where the nutrients are less available to plants. In taiga or boreal forests, it is too cold for the matter in the soil to decay rapidly, so the nutrients in the soil are less easily available to plants. These conditions favour the growth of more evergreens and make it difficult for deciduous plants to persist. In addition, the shelter provided by existing evergreen plants can make it easier for younger evergreen plants to survive cold and/or drought
40.
Boreal forest of Canada
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Canadas boreal forest comprises about one third of the circumpolar boreal forest that rings the Northern Hemisphere, mostly north of the 50th parallel. Other countries with boreal forest, also called taiga, include Russia, which contains the majority, the United States in its northernmost state of Alaska, the boreal region in Canada covers almost 60% of the country’s land area. The Canadian boreal region spans the landscape from the most easterly part of the province of Newfoundland, the area is dominated by coniferous forests, particularly spruce, interspersed with vast wetlands, mostly bogs and fens. The boreal region of Canada includes eight ecozones, while the biodiversity of regions varies, each ecozone has a characteristic native flora and fauna. The boreal forest zone consists of conifer forests with a conspicuous deciduous element. The proportions of the dominant conifers vary greatly in response to interactions among climate, topography, soil, fire, pests, and perhaps other factors. Canadas boreal forest is considered to be the largest intact forest on earth, with around 3 million square kilometres still undisturbed by roads, cities. The boreal region contains about 14% of Canada’s population, hundreds of cities and towns within its territory derive at least 20% of their economic activity from the forest, mainly from industries like forest products, mining, oil and gas and tourism. The boreal forest also plays an role in Canada’s history, economic and social development. The Canadian boreal forest in its current form began to emerge with the end of the last Ice Age, with the retreat of the Wisconsin Ice Sheet 10,000 years ago, spruce and northern pine migrated northward and were followed thousands of years later by fir and birch. About 5000 years ago, the Canadian boreal began to resemble what it is today in terms of species composition and this type of coniferous forest vegetation is spread across the Northern Hemisphere. These forests contain three types, forest tundra in the north, open lichen woodland further south. Large populations of trembling aspen and willow are found in the southernmost parts of the Boreal Plains, since the melting of the great ice sheet, the boreal forest has been through many cycles of natural death through fire, insect outbreaks and disease, followed by regeneration. However, the effects of forest fires and insect outbreaks differ from the effects of logging, logging, for example, requires road networks with their negative impacts, and it removes nutrients from the site, which may deplete nutrients for the next cycle of forest growth. Fire, on the hand, recycles nutrients on location, it removes accumulated organic matter. Canadas boreal region can be divided into eight ecozones and these eight can be divided into two main groups. These three southern zones are the Boreal Shield, at 1,630,000 square kilometres the largest of the eight zones, a typical ecoregion of this southern tier would be the Eastern Canadian Shield taiga that covers northern Quebec and most of Labrador. Within the boreal region, there are about 1,890,000 square kilometres that are between 80% to 100% forested and another 650,000 square kilometres with 60% to 80% forest cover, most trees native to the Canadian boreal are conifers, with needle leaves and cones
Canada
Ontario,
Quebec
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