HISTORY
Canada may have been populated as
early as 10,000 years ago, according to carbon-dating of remains
found by archeologists. It is believed that travel between Asia
and Alaska took place during an ice age when a land bridge formed
through the Bering Strait. Many diverse ethnic and cultural indigenous
groups formed throughout Canada, the most well-known being the
Inuit Indians of the Arctic region. Other indigenous groups include
the Iroquois, the Huron, the Cree, the Bella Coola, and the Kwakiul.
The various cultures also had numerous
languages and are usually grouped into common language families,
from the Salish-speaking peoples of western Canada to the Iroquoian
peoples of the east. Each culture also had unique social systems,
ranging from bands of a few related families of the Inuit to the
Iroquois Confederacy that united five separate tribes.
The American Indian population in
Canada was decimated following the arrival of Europeans; in the
mid-1980s they made up only 1% of the entire population. By the
1990s, however, the indigenous population had risen to 1.5%, and
it is believed that this trend will continue.
Vikings are believed to have landed
in Canada in the 10th century. In 1497, John Cabot reached Newfoundland
and claimed for Britain a large portion of the Atlantic seaboard.
Cabot was followed by French explorer Jacques Cartier, who landed
at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in 1534 and claimed the
Gaspe Peninsula for France. Canada's early history was dominated
by rivalry between France and Britain.
While the British settled along
the coast, the French pushed rapidly into the interior. For more
than a century, Canada was a French colony. The founder and settler
of French Canada was Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec City
in 1608 and established a number of other settlements along the
Bay of Fundy and the St. Lawrence River. Explorers, traders, and
missionaries, including Marquette, Joliet, and La Salle, extended
the French influence in "New France."
Following the early years of settlement, the French and English
pioneers engaged in the highly competitive fur trade. Canada's
political shape began to emerge from the Battle of the Plains
of Abraham at Quebec, where the British defeated the French in
1759 and took over the French colonies in North America. The memory
of that event still resonates for French-Canadians. Although New
France came under British control, it was permitted to retain
its religious and civil code. Canada is still attempting to find
a constitutional formula that will satisfy the aspirations of
French-speaking Quebec.
During the American Revolution,
French and British colonists in Canada rebuffed the overtures
of American leaders and chose British rule over independence in
association with the United States. A colonial raid on Quebec
in 1775 was unsuccessful. In the War of 1812, U.S.-British rivalry
in North America again resulted in the invasion of Canada.
Several events accelerated the union
of the British colonies in Canada into a new nation. First, the
political uprisings of 1837 in both English Upper Canada and French
Lower Canada led to the creation of local governments and to greater
citizen participation in the government. Second, at the end of
the American Civil War, it was feared that the United States might
turn against British North America. Finally, the expansion of
the American west and the slower settlement of the Canadian west
encouraged the development of a Canadian transcontinental railroad
and the perception among eastern Canadian political leaders that
a Canadian federation from the Atlantic to the Pacific had to
be achieved if western Canada was to avoid absorption by the United
States.
The British North America Act of 1867 created the new nation of
Canada, comprising four provinces--Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick,
and Nova Scotia. It provided for a federal union and for a parliamentary
system of government. Six other provinces eventually entered the
confederation; the last was Newfoundland in 1949.
