The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Canada:

The National Flag of Canada
An enlargeable map of Canada, showing its ten provinces and three territories.

Canada (/ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean.[1] It is the world's second largest country by total area, and shares land borders with the United States to the south and northwest, and marine borders with France and Greenland on the east and northeast, respectively.

The lands have been inhabited for millennia by various groups of aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces.[2][3][4] This began an accretion of additional provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and culminating in the Canada Act in 1982 which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament.

Canada is a federation that is governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with King Charles III as its head of state. It is a bilingual and multicultural country, with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. Technologically advanced and industrialized, Canada maintains a diversified economy that is heavily reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the United States, with which Canada has a long and complex relationship.

General reference

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An enlargeable map of Canada

Geography

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Geography of Canada

  United States 8,893 km (5,526 miles)[5]
  Greenland 1,280 m (4,200 feet) (on Hans Island)

Environment

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An enlargeable satellite image of Canada

Environment of Canada

Geographic features

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A satellite image of the Great Lakes.

Regions

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Other regions

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Ecoregions

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Provinces and territories

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Provinces and territories of Canada

Provinces

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Province, with flag Postal abbreviation/
ISO code
Other abbreviations Capital Entered Confederation Population
(2016)[8]
Area (km2)
Land Water Total
  Ontario1 ON Ont. Toronto July 1, 1867 13,448,494 917,741 158,654 1,076,395
  Quebec1 QC Que., PQ, P.Q. Quebec City 8,164,361 1,356,128 185,928 1,542,056
  Nova Scotia2 NS N.S. Halifax 923,598 53,338 1,946 55,284
  New Brunswick2 NB N.B. Fredericton 747,101 71,450 1,458 72,908
  Manitoba3 MB Man. Winnipeg July 15, 1870 1,278,365 553,556 94,241 647,797
  British Columbia2 BC B.C. Victoria July 20, 1871 4,648,055 925,186 19,549 944,735
  Prince Edward Island2 PE PEI, P.E.I., P.E. Island Charlottetown July 1, 1873 142,907 5,660 5,660
  Saskatchewan4 SK Sask., SK, SKWN Regina September 1, 1905 1,098,352 591,670 59,366 651,036
  Alberta4 AB Alta. Edmonton 4,067,175 642,317 19,531 661,848
  Newfoundland and Labrador5 NL Nfld., NF, LB St. John's March 31, 1949 519,716 373,872 31,340 405,212

Notes:

  1. Immediately prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were part of the Province of Canada.
  2. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were separate colonies at the time of joining Canada.
  3. Manitoba was established simultaneously with Northwest Territories.
  4. Saskatchewan and Alberta were created out of land that had been part of Northwest Territories.
  5. Prior to its entry in Confederation, Newfoundland had been a Dominion within the British Commonwealth, but due to a financial crisis during the Depression had surrendered its right to self-government and was under direct British governance.

Territories

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There are currently three territories in Canada. Unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent jurisdiction and only have those powers delegated to them by the federal government.

Territory, with flag Postal abbreviation/
ISO code
Other abbreviations Capital Entered Confederation Population
(2007)[8]
Area (km2)
Land Water Total
  Northwest Territories NT N.W.T., NWT Yellowknife July 15, 1870 41,786 1,183,085 163,021 1,346,106
  Yukon YT Y.T., YK Whitehorse June 13, 1898 35,874 474,391 8,052 482,443
  Nunavut NU NV Iqaluit April 1, 1999 35,944 1,936,113 157,077 2,093,190

Note: Canada did not acquire any new land to create Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, or Nunavut. All of these originally formed part of Northwest Territories.

Municipalities
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Municipalities of Canada

Demography

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Demography of Canada

Demographics by political division

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Provinces

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Territories

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Government and politics

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Politics of Canada

Branches of the government

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Politics of Canada

Executive branch of the government

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Government of Canada

Legislative branch of the government

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Judicial branch of the government

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Court system of Canada

  • Supreme Court of Canada
  • Appellate Courts of the provinces and territories
  • Superior-level trial courts of the provinces and territories
  • Foreign relations

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    Foreign relations of Canada

    International organization membership

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    Canada is a member of:[1]

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    Law of Canada

    Military

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    Military of Canada

  • Command structure
  • Canadian Forces
  • Canadian Coast Guard
  • Provincial governments

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    Territory governments

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    Politics by political division

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    Provinces

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    Territories

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    History

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    History of Canada by period

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    History of Canada by political division

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    Provinces

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    Territories

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    Culture

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    Culture of Canada

    Culture by political division

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    Provinces

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    Territories

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    Art in Canada

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    Music

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    Music of Canada

    Music by political division
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    Provinces
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    Territories
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    Religion in Canada

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    Sport in Canada

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    Sport in Canada Official Sports

    Other sports

    Hall of Fame Museums

    Economy and infrastructure

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    Economy of Canada

  • Economic rank, by nominal GDP (2007): 9th (ninth)
  • Agriculture in Canada
  • Banking in Canada
  • Communications in Canada
  • Companies of Canada
  • List of convention and exhibition centres
  • Currency of Canada: Dollar
  • Economic history of Canada
  • Energy in Canada
  • Health care in Canada
  • Mining in Canada
  • Science and technology in Canada
  • Stock exchanges:
  • Economics by political division

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    Provinces

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    Territories

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    Education in Canada

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    Education by political division

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    Provinces

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    Territories

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    Higher Education by political division

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    Provinces

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    Territories

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    Bibliographies

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    See also

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    Canada

    References

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    1. ^ a b "Canada". The World Factbook. United States Central Intelligence Agency. July 8, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
    2. ^ "Territorial evolution". Atlas of Canada. Natural Resources Canada. Archived from the original on 2007-08-09. Retrieved 2007-10-09. In 1867, the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are united in a federal state, the Dominion of Canada....
    3. ^ "Canada: History". Country Profiles. Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2007-10-09. The British North America Act of 1867 brought together four British colonies ... in one federal Dominion under the name of Canada.
    4. ^ Hillmer, Norman; W. David MacIntyre. "Commonwealth". Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Project. Retrieved 2007-10-09. With CONFEDERATION in 1867, Canada became the first federation in the British Empire ...
    5. ^ The total length of the land border between Canada and the United States is the longest between any two countries.
    6. ^ The coastline of Canada is the longest in the world. The total length of the coast of Canada is more than five times as long as the circumference of the Earth.
    7. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (December 15, 2022). "Census Profile, 2021 Census - Canada [Country]". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
    8. ^ a b "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 and 2011 censuses – 100% data". Statistics Canada. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
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    Government
    Crown corporations
    Other