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Canada Cruises with Carnival
A federated country in North America, made up of ten
provinces and three territories. Canada is a vast nation with a wide
variety of geological formations, climates, and ecological systems. It
has rain forest, prairie grassland, deciduous forest, tundra, and
wetlands. Canada has more lakes and inland waters than any other
country. It is renowned for its scenery, which attracts millions of
tourists each year. On a per-capita basis, its resource endowments are
the second richest in the world after Australia.
Canada is the second largest country in the world but has about the same
population as the state of California, which is one-25th its size. This
is because the north of Canada, with its harsh Arctic and sub-Arctic
climates, is sparsely inhabited. Most Canadians live in the southern
part of the country. More than three-quarters of them live in
metropolitan areas, the largest of which are Toronto, Ontario; Montréal,
Québec; Vancouver, British Columbia; Ottawa, Ontario; Hull, Québec; and
Edmonton, Alberta. French and English are the official languages, and at
one time most Canadians were of French or English descent. However,
diversity increased with a wave of immigration in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries that brought in people from many other European
nations. This trend continues into the 21st century: Canada is one of
the few countries in the world that still has significant immigration
programs. Since the 1970s most immigrants have come from Asia,
increasing still further the diversity of the population.
Canada’s prosperity and diversity have encouraged a variety of artistic
pursuits. Most major cities have symphony orchestras, opera companies,
classical and modern dance groups, and live theater. Canadian popular
musicians have built highly successful careers both in Canada and in the
world at large. Canadian writers have also gained worldwide recognition,
as have painters, sculptors, filmmakers, and architects. To nurture
Canadian arts, the government has imposed quotas on foreign content in
Canadian media.
Canada has impressive reserves of timber, minerals, and fresh water, and
many of its industries are based on these resources. Many of its rivers
have been harnessed for hydroelectric power, and it is self-sufficient
in fossil fuel. Industrialization began in the 19th century and a
significant manufacturing sector emerged, especially after World War II
(1939-1945). Canada’s resource and manufacturing industries export about
one-third of their output. Transportation equipment is the leading
manufacturing industry. While Canada’s prosperity is built on the
resource and manufacturing industries, most Canadians work in service
occupations, including transportation, trade, finance, personal
services, and government.
Canada is a parliamentary democracy, and the federal, provincial, and
territorial legislatures are all elected. However, Canada’s sovereign is
a monarch, the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. The queen is represented in Canada by the governor-general and
ten lieutenant governors. Canada’s constitution guarantees equality
under the law to all of its citizens. Powers of the federal and
provincial governments are spelled out separately under the
constitution, but over the past 50 years they have increasingly
cooperated in programs that provide a wide range of social
services—often called the “welfare state”—to the public.
Canada’s indigenous peoples (original inhabitants) are often called
First Nations or Indians. The name Canada comes from a word meaning
“village” or “community” in one of the indigenous Iroquoian languages.
Indigenous peoples had developed complex societies and intricate
political relations before the first Europeans, the Vikings, arrived in
the 11th century. The Vikings soon left, but more Europeans came in the
16th century and were made welcome because they brought manufactured
goods and traded them for furs and other native products. However, the
Europeans settled down and gradually displaced the indigenous peoples
over the next 250 years. This process of dispossession has left a legacy
of legal and moral issues that Canadians are beginning to face.
European settlers came in a series of waves. First were the French,
followed by the English, and these two groups are considered the
founding nations. France lost its part of the territory to Britain in a
war in 1760, but most of the French-speaking colonists remained. Their
effort to preserve their language and culture has been a continuing
theme of Canadian history and has led in recent years to a movement to
become independent of the rest of Canada.
Modern Canada was formed in an event that Canadians call Confederation,
in 1867, when three colonies of Britain merged to create a partially
independent state of four provinces. Since then, six more provinces and
three territories have been added. Canada achieved full independence in
1931 but continues to belong to the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary
association of countries with ties to the United Kingdom.
The Destinations of Carnival.
There are many
DESTINATIONS making
stops in ports all over the world. See what
you can experiences on one of our Carnival Cruises.
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