15 lines
5.8 KiB
Plaintext
15 lines
5.8 KiB
Plaintext
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Canada is a rapidly developing country with incredibly beautiful nature. It is the second largest state in the world (after Russia): its huge territory extends from Arctic glaciers to coniferous and mixed forests on the border with the USA. Canada has rich plant world (oak, maple, fir, pine, etc.) and animal world (wolf, lynx, deer, and various species of fish). It is famous for the colossal Great Lakes and national parks.
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The history of Canada is tied with two cultures: English and French. Canada was born in the late 16 th and early 17 th centuries when French colonists settled on the land of the Indian tribes. Later, the British arrived and founded their cities, which led to wars between them, the French, and indigenous people. The French part, with the center in Quebec, and the English part of Canada united in 1840. For a long time, Canada remained the British colony but became sovereign in the 20 th century.
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Nowadays, Canada is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Although its head is British monarch, the Governor-General and the Parliament sitting in the capital (Ottawa) are independent in their decisions. The country consists of 10 provinces and 3 territories; each subject has its own proportion of Francophone and Anglophone population, but Canada is officially bilingual. Many immigrants from France, Ireland, German, Italy, etc. preserve their native cultures and create the situation of multiculturalism supported by the state.
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Due to improved mining industry, agriculture, and trade, Canada has a very high living standard. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver attract tourists, as well as amazing landscapes and numerous ethnic festivals.
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Canada is situated on the north of Northern America, washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west, and the Arctic Ocean in the north and in the northeast by the Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait, which separate it from Greenland, In the south and in the north Canada borders on the USA. It is a land of vast distances and rich natural resources. Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Canada’s territory is the world’s second largest country, surpassed in size only by Russia. It includes many islands, notably the Canadian Arctic Islands, also called Arctic Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbour to the south. The total area is about 10 million sq km. Canada is slightly larger than the US. It is an important manufacturer, and its major cities, such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg are centres of commerce and industry.
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The climate of Canada varies from temperate in the south to subarctic and arctic in the north. The highest Canadian point is Mount Logan 5,959 m. The population of Canada is about 32 million people. There are two state languages: English and French. English is spoken by 60 % of population; French is spoken by 23 % of people.
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Most of Canada’s inhabitants live in the southern part of the country and vast areas of the north are sparsely inhabited. The country is divided into ten provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan) and three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Nunavut Territory). The third territory called Nunavut, to be carved from the present Northwest Territories, was created in 1999.
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The name Canada is derived from an Iroquoian term meaning «village».
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Among the great rivers of Canada there are the Saint Lawrence River, draining the Great Lakes and emptying into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; the Ottawa and the Saguenay rivers, the principal affluents of the Saint Lawrence River; the Saint John River, emptying into the Bay of Fundy.
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The government type is confederation with parliamentary democracy. The capital of Canada is Ottawa.
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Canada became independent from the United Kingdom on July, 1, 1867. Legal system is based on the English common law, except in Quebec, where civil law system based on the French law prevails.
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The racial and ethnic makeup of the Canadian people is diversified. About 35 percent of the population is composed of people of the British origin. People of the French origin total about 25 percent of the population. The vast majority of French-speaking Canadians reside in Quebec, where they make up about three-fourths of the population; large numbers also live in Ontario and New Brunswick.
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French-speaking Canadians maintain their language, culture, and traditions, and the federal government follows the policy of a bilingual and bicultural nation. During the 1970s and 1980s the proportion of Asians among the Canadian population increased, and today those who count their ancestry as wholly Asian make up 8 to 10 percent of the population. More than two-thirds of the Asian immigrants live in Ontario or British Columbia. The remainder of the population is composed of people of various ethnic groups, such as German, Italian, Ukrainian, Netherlands Dutch, Scandinavian, Polish, Hungarian, Greek, and Native American. Blacks have never constituted\a major segment of the Canadian population. Indigenous people make up nearly 2 percent of Canada’s inhabitants.
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The largest religious community in Canada is Roman Catholic. Nearly half of Canadians who are Roman Catholic live in Quebec. Of the Protestant denominations in Canada the largest is the United Church of Canada, followed by the Anglican Church of Canada. Other important Protestant groups are the Baptist, Presbyterian and Lutheran. Nearly 2 percent of the population are Orthodox. Muslim and Jewish adherents each number about 1 percent. A substantial number of Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs have been brought to the country in recent years by immigration. Nearly 13 percent of Canadians claim no religion.
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