Canada

Area
Canada occupies the whole territory of northern part of North America except Alaska. Its area is almost 10 million km2, which makes it the second largest country in the world after Russia. It borders on the USA in the south and on the Arctic Ocean in the north. Canada is divided into then provinces – Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec (the largest province), Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and two territories – Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory. Canada’s capital is Ottawa, but the largest city is Montreal. Montreal got its name according to words “mont Royal”, which means Royal mountain. It’s the second largest French speaking city in the world (after Paris) and it has about 3 millions inhabitants.

History
Canada was discovered twice, first by the Vikings more than a thousand years ago then by Europeans in the 15th century. The first Europeans came from France in the year 1605 and two years later from England. The enmity between French and English inhabitants culminated in the end of the seventeen century. They damaged their settlements and the trade roads. The situation was solved in the war from 1756 to 1763. The British army occupied Quebec and France had to give up its colonies in Canada. In spite of the British victory, the French language and culture were developed and in the year 1774 they published the law, which acknowledged the civil rights for the French. Throughout the nineteen century the territory was extended and also the population was doubled. Population
Now the population of Canada is more then 26 million people, but the density is one of the lowest. Major part of Canadians is concentrated near the border with USA in the large urban centres. 45% of the Canadians are of British origin, 29% of French origin (who are mainly concentrated in the provinces New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec which is almost all francophone) and 23% have their origins in the other European countries. There also live the original inhabitants – Indians and Eskimos. They probably gave the country its name, because Indians used the word “kanata” which means village. They don’t represent more than 1,3% from the whole population.
The majority of the population is Christian, but they are divided into Protestants 3O% and Roman Catholics 45%.