History of Canada

Canada is a nation of 33 million inhabitants, occupying almost all of the northern half of the North American continent, and being the second largest country in the world. Canada has evolved in four hundred years from a group of European colonies into a federation of ten provinces and three territories, having been granted its sovereignty peacefully from its last colonial possessor, the United Kingdom.

Post-Confederation and the settlement of Western Canada

After 1867, other British North American colonies and territories joined or were incorporated into the Canadian confederation. By 1880, Canada included all of its present area, including the vast Arctic lands acquired from the Hudson's Bay Company, with the exception of Newfoundland and Labrador, which joined in 1949.

Related Topics:
1880 - Arctic - Hudson's Bay Company - Newfoundland and Labrador

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The settlement of western Canada was probably the most important accomplishment of post-confederation Canada, but it was not achieved without conflict. Between 1871 and 1877, seven treaties were signed with indigenous tribes in Northwestern Ontario and the Northwest Territories, including one with Sioux who had fled across the border from the United States cavalry. Louis Riel, a French Canadian Métis, led rebellions in Manitoba 1869-70 and in what was to become Saskatchewan 1885, because of the treatment of native and Métis peoples. These rebellions became known respectively as the Red River Rebellion and the North-West Rebellion. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were created in 1873 to bring law and order in the west.

Related Topics:
Northwestern Ontario - Northwest Territories - Sioux - Louis Riel - Métis - Manitoba - Saskatchewan - Red River Rebellion - North-West Rebellion - Royal Canadian Mounted Police

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By far the most important factor that opened the west to settlement and linked east to west was the construction of the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway which had been promised to the colony of British Columbia in 1871. Once the CPR was opened to Vancouver in 1885, the city quickly grew to become one of Canada's largest cities.

Related Topics:
Transcontinental - Canadian Pacific Railway - British Columbia - Vancouver

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Post-confederation history is largely a story of territorial consolidation and the working out of the relative powers of the federal and provincial governments. By 1931 with the Statute of Westminster, Canada received the status of equality with the United Kingdom within the British Empire. The patriation of the Constitution of Canada in 1982 broke the last legal link of subordination with the Parliament of the United Kingdom, although Canada chose to retain the shared monarchy as its state figure-head. Canada is thus a constitutional monarchy.

Related Topics:
1931 - Statute of Westminster - Constitution of Canada - 1982 - Parliament of the United Kingdom - Figure-head - Constitutional monarchy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~