 Europeans settled along the Atlantic to the banks of the St. Lawrence.  Many of these Europeans were fishers and traders.  Earliest colonists came around 1600, mainly French and English.  Colonists referred to this distant land as “the new world”.

During the last ice age, Beringia was a vast expanse of unglaciated terrain stretching from eastern Siberia to the Yukon. At its heart lay the Bering Land Bridge. When sea levels dropped during the last ice age the shallow sea bed west of Alaska was exposed connecting North America and Asia. Beringia is known as the gateway to North America.

 Aboriginals were present long before the colonists came, and welcomed the newcomers.  Because of disease, war, and other events the aboriginal population declined drastically until about the 1920s.  Today the aboriginal population is growing at a rapid rate.

 The name Canada originated from the aboriginal word “Kanata”,a Huron-Iroquois word meaning settlement.  When Jacques-Cartier came to the St. Lawrence, specifically Stadacona (presently Quebec) the colonists began to use this word to describe the entire land.

 Until 1763, France and England laid claims to the land that is Canada.  New France was located on the valley of the St. Lawrence and at times extended to the Bay of Fundy in Acadia, across the Great Lakes, into the Mississippi and all the way north to the Hudson Bay.

 At the same time English-speaking settlers occupied Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.  Britain and France competed for control of these colonies until the Seven Years War ( ).  The British prevailed and took control of New France.

 However, since the colony was mostly french- speaking the English needed to guarantee that the culture of the French would be preserved.  By 1800 BNA (British North America) was divided into several colonies.  The Atlantic included: NFLD, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI.

 St. Lawrence/Great Lakes region:  Upper Canada (Ontario)  Lower Canada (Quebec)  The vast territory westward was known as Rupert’s Land. It was occupied by different first nations groups and few fur traders.

 The different colonies were different there were similarities in Government and economics.  One of the most shared ideas was to remain separate from the USA.  Americans had twice invaded Canada (1775) during the American War of Independence and again during the War of 1812.

 In the end, the British were victorious of the American invasions.  Confederation: 1867  During this time many of people of BNA wanted to unify because of Free Trade, their economies no longer enjoyed the protection of the Mother Country.

 The colonies thought it would be a better idea to remain separate.  At the same time relations between the French and the English were breaking down.  The push forward with transportation with the first steamboat and the railway in the 1850s, contributed to the feeling that unification was needed.  It didn’t help that the USA had become a growing military threat.  The idea of Manifest Destiny (The USA would rule all of North America).

 Because of the latter, the four colonies decided to join together in 1867 as the Dominion of Canada.  In 1870, the Dominion purchased Rupert’s Land from the HBC, and used in part to create Manitoba.  A year later (1871) British Columbia joined with the promise of the Transcontinental railway.  1873 PEI joined.  1905 we have the emergence on Alberta and Saskatchewan.  1949 NFLD became the 10th province.

 Huge factories replaced small workshops.  Steam powered machinery replaced muscle power.  Consumer goods bought at the store replaced home-made items  An industrial, commercial economy replaced one based primarily on farming and trade.

 These changes attracted vast amounts of immigrants in They were given cheap land and became farmers.

 Over 665, 000 Canadians served in the armed forces.  By the time the fighting stopped 60, 661 Canadians were dead and another 172, 000 were wounded.  WW1 was followed by a recession, returning soldiers were unemployed, rising food prices were not matched with wages.

 Labour unions began to expand and fight for better working conditions and wages.  In 1918 and 1919 were known as “labor revolt”.  The unrest culminated and led to the General Strike of 1919 in Winnipeg.  In May-June 30, 000 workers went on strike and government troops were sent in to restore order.

 By the mid-1920s the recession had lifted, but would be hit hard in 1929 with the collapse if the stock market, leading to the Great Depression.  The depression hit Western Canada the hardest with drought and falling grain prices and did not end until the onset of WW2 ( ).

 The second world war marked a turn around in the economic fortunes of the country.  Incomes rose and opportunities expanded.  Governments had revenue to expand social assistance such as Health and unemployment insurance, family allowance, and workers’ compensation.  The west was reborn with grain prices, the discovery of oil, uranium, potash, and nickel.

 Quebec had its own Quiet Revolution, which was a period of rapid economic and social change.  The French felt a new pride in being Quebeckers and were taking control over the main institutions of Quebec society, long controlled by the British.

 Some Quebeckers began to think of themselves as a distinct nation and a separatist movement arose.  Prosperity began to peter out in the 1980s and Canada entered a period of downturns and cutbacks.  Governments at all levels were saddled with large debts.  Unemployment increased, many industries closed or moved.

 Grain prices began to fall and fisheries collapsed on the east coast.  But today many Canadians live better than any previous generation.  Canada is a nation built upon three “founding peoples”- the First Nations, the French, and the English.