Canada

1. Canada is a country in North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world’s second largest country by total area
2. Etymology
*The name Canada comes from a St. Lawrence Iroquoian word, kanata, meaning “village” or “settlement”
*ERAS
The history of Canada is defined by many different eras or phases of time that represent a defined stage of the development of the country. Each of these eras was a step towards where we are today. We debate, discuss, disagree, and sometimes violently confront one another over the meaning, issues and results of these eras. We rewrite, redefine, rediscover and some times come to accept the portrait created by historians of these eras and through that process gain a greater understanding of how Canada came to the point in history where we now stand at which helps Canadians use this knowledge in making decisions about where they will go next.

PreHistory
The prehistory period of Canada refers to pre-1492 AD. This is a arbitrary date which reflects the impact of European influence, technology, culture, and settlement on the Americas. This period starts with the arrival of people in the America’s and their expansion and development throughout almost every area of Canada. The various different cultures which form the mosaic of cultural development among these different people is represented by the native bands, nations or groups as defined by the navigation bar above.

2 Worlds
The first European explorers encountered established settlements everywhere along the coast of America. This 1st contact between European civilization and native cultures took very different forms in various meetings, but all were previews of a larger and more explosive trend that was to drive the natives back from the shores. The European explorers became settlers, soldiers, farmers, governors, and eventually bureaucrats who placed the natives on reservations and developed an entirely new civilization in the Americas.

England Arrives
England was one of the first European states to support attempts to shed light on the seas to the west. The belief was that a direct route to China might be discovered and the long land sea route through Muslim and other foreign lands could be eliminated. Henry the VII the backed the Italian explorer John Cabot in 1497. Various attempts were made at settlement and exploration for the next 150 years but English colonies were only really established in the 13th colonies. Fishing stations were used in Newfoundland but the French came and settled in Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Quebec. As tensions mounted between France and England in Europe, competition heated up in the Americas. The English opened up fur trading operations in the 1670’s when the Hudson Bay Company was chartered and slowly began to move North into Nova Scotia. Inevitably the friction increased as contact become more and more frequent and the resultant clashes would continue on and off until 1759 resolved the game with an English victory on the plains of Abraham.

Revolution
With the elimination of France’s colonies and hence the danger from French aggression, the English colonies felt a new freedom from dependence on their mother country. The English Parliament was faced with how to evolve it’s relationship with the colonies in the areas of representation, taxation, trade, military support and many other issues.
The taxation issue became a bone of contention between |England and many of the colonists with a resultant rift developing between them. As the situation reached a critical point of confrontation, violence broke out and the continental congress representing the 13 colonies decided to invite and invade the former French colonies who had not responded to their entreaties to join them in opposition to England. This invasion and the retrenchment of British troops and naval force to Halifax, drew the line in the sand and the American revolution ground on to a conclusion which saw the informal setting of the future US/Canadian boarders and territories.