| History : Alberta |
 07 Jun 2006 |
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Four districts of the Northwest Territories formed the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905: Athabasca, Assiniboia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. It was proclaimed a Province on September 1, 1905.
Albertans are celebrating their centennial in 2005. Part of the celebrations included a Royal Visit... |
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| History : British Columbia |
07 Jun 2006 |
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The Aboriginal peoples of British Columbia developed a rich and complex culture. Because of the diversity of the Pacific coast - mild to cold climate, seashore to mountains - the tribes that settled in this area developed completely different cultures and languages.
The coastal inhabitants were experts at wood sculpture, as their totem polls attest even today. They were also famous for their skill... |
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| History : Manitoba |
07 Jun 2006 |
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The geographical area now named Manitoba was originally inhabited as soon as the last ice age glaciers retreated in the southwest. The first exposed land was the Turtle Mountain area, where large numbers of petroforms can be found. The first humans in southern Manitoba left behind pottery shards, stone arrow heads, petroforms, fish and animal bones, and signs of agriculture along the Red River near... |
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| History : New Brunswick |
07 Jun 2006 |
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The first, short-lived European settlement was made in 1604 at the mouth of the St. Croix River (on Dochet Island, at the Maine border) by Champlain and the sieur de Monts. France and England made conflicting territorial claims on the region, which, combining the present province of Nova Scotia and the coast of New Brunswick, was called Acadia by the French and Nova Scotia by the British. British... |
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| History : New Scotland |
07 Jun 2006 |
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The Mi'Kmaq Indians inhabited Nova Scotia long before the first explorers arrived from Europe. The first visitors were Norsemen in the early 11th century, and, in 1497, Italian sea captain John Cabot noted the rich fishing grounds in the area. In the 17th century, all of Nova Scotia, as well as parts of Quebec, New Brunswick and Maine were settled by the French. Pierre de Monts established the first... |
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| History : Newfoundland and Labrador |
07 Jun 2006 |
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The central region of the island of Newfoundland was once the home of the now extinct Beothuk Indians. The first Europeans to visit Newfoundland were Norsemen, who arrived in the late 10th century; the Norse settlement at l'Anse aux Meadows was the world's first cultural discovery location to receive recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other early visitors, the Basques, Portuguese, Spanish,... |
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| History : Northwest Territories |
07 Jun 2006 |
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The ancestors of the present day Dene peoples lived along the Mackenzie Valley in the N.W.T. 10 000 years ago. The first Inuit are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait about 5000 years ago, spreading east along the Arctic coast. In 1789, Alexander Mackenzie 'discovered' the Mackenzie River and followed it to its mouth at the Arctic Ocean. Fur traders soon established posts in the Mackenzie River... |
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| History : Nunavut |
07 Jun 2006 |
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The region now known as Nunavut has supported a continuous population for approximately 4000 years. Most historians also identify the coast of Baffin Island with the Helluland described in Norse sagas, so it is possible that the inhabitants of the region had occasional contact with Norse sailors.
For more information on the earliest inhabitants and explorers of Nunavut, see Paleoeskimo, Neoeskimo... |
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| History : Ontario |
08 Jun 2006 |
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It is believed Ontario's first peoples arrived about 10 000 years ago, during the last ice age. It is estimated that approximately four hundred years ago about 60,000 aboriginal people lived in what is today Ontario. They spoke one of two language groups; Algonquian and Iroquoian. The Algonquin speakers included the Ojibways, the Algonquins, and the Cree in the north and the Hurons, Tobaccos and Neutrals... |
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| History : Ottawa |
08 Jun 2006 |
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The Ottawa region was long home to First Nations peoples who were part of the Algonquin. The Algonquin called the river the Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi, meaning "Great River". The first European settlement in the region was that of Philemon Wright who started a community on the Quebec side of the river in 1800. Wright discovered that transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Montreal was... |
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| History : Prince Edward Island |
08 Jun 2006 |
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Abegweit, the aboriginal name for Prince Edward Island has been home to the Mi'kmaq for thousands of years. The name means "lying down flat," but is freely translated as "cradled by the waves." There is evidence that the ancestors of the Mi'Kmaqs lived on the island 10 000 years ago, presumably having migrated across the low plain now covered by Northumberland Strait. They fished along the coasts... |
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| History : Québec |
08 Jun 2006 |
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Amerindians of the Algonquin and Iroquois nations and language groups lived in the woodlands and river valleys of Québec. The northern part of the province was, and still is, inhabited by Inuit. The watershed of the mighty 'Canada River' (the Saint Lawrence) had been a rich homeland to agricultural and foraging peoples who lived in fortified towns along its banks for thousands of years prior to the... |
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| History : Saskatchewan |
08 Jun 2006 |
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Prior to European settlement, Saskatchewan was settled by Athabaskan, Algonquian, and Sioux tribes. The first European to enter Saskatchewan was Henry Kelsey in 1690, who travelled up the Saskatchewan River in hopes of trading fur with the province's indigenous peoples. The first permanent European settlement was a Hudson's Bay Company post at Cumberland House founded by Samuel Hearne in 1774.
In... |
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| History : The Yukon |
08 Jun 2006 |
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The Yukon was the first area in Canada to be settled by people. It is believed ancestors of the Amerindians inhabited the Yukon 10 000 to 25 000 years ago when they migrated from Asia across a Bering Sea land bridge. The first modern European visitors were Russian traders in the 18th century. Sir John Franklin anchored off the Yukon's Arctic coastline in 1825, and the Hudson's Bay Company moved into... |
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