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Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake is located in the Northwest Territories. With a surface area of 31,328 km2, Great Bear Lake is the largest lake located entirely inside Canadian borders. It is also the fourth largest in North America and the eighth largest in the world. Water flows out of the lake into the Great Bear River, then into the Mackenzie River. Other rivers connected to the lake include the Dease, Camsell and Johnny Hoe. Great Bear Lake is made up of five separate arms, each with their own names: Dease, McTavish, McVicar, Keith and Smith. (See also Largest Lakes in Canada.)

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St. Lawrence River

The St. Lawrence River is a grand river and estuary, which together with the Great Lakes forms a hydrographic system that penetrates 3,058 km into North America. The river proper, about 1,197 km long, issues from Lake Ontario, flows northeast past Montreal and Quebec City to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The route of early explorers and the main axis of New France, the St. Lawrence River figured prominently in Canada's early history, and it remains the focus of settlement for much of the province of Quebec. It is still the most important commercial waterway in Canada, as well as a source of electric power and natural beauty. (See also St Lawrence Lowland.)

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Lake Athabasca

Lake Athabasca is located in northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan, at the edge of the Precambrian Shield. With an area of 7,935 km2 and a 2,140 km shoreline, it is the eighth-largest lake in Canada.

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Lake St. Clair

Lake St. Clair, 1,114 km, elevation 175 m, average depth 3.7 m, is bordered by the province of Ontario to the east and the state of Michigan to the west. Almost circular in shape, it has a length of 42 km and a maximum width of 39 km. It is connected to Lake Huron to the north by the St. Clair River and drains into Lake Erie to the south via the Detroit River. Lake St. Clair is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a significant transportation route stretching from Lake Superior through the Great Lakes to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The cities of Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, are located at the southwest end of the lake, making it a popular site for recreational fishing and boating.

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Lake Superior

Lake Superior is one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world, containing more water than all the other Great Lakes combined. With an area of 82,100 km2 (of which 28,750 km2 lies in Canada), when including the American portion, Lake Superior is Canada’s largest lake. It has a shoreline of 2,938 km, with the north shore bordering on Ontario and the south shore on the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lake is 563 km long, 257 km wide, with a mean depth of 147 m and a maximum depth of 406 m. It has an elevation of 183 m.

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Partridge Island

Partridge Island is located in the Bay of Fundy, about 1 km from the shoreline and the city of Saint John, New Brunswick. The island was set aside as a quarantine station in 1785 and operated as such between 1830 and 1941. Many immigrants arriving to Canada by ship, including thousands of  Irish in 1847, were isolated on the island before being allowed to enter the country. This was done in an effort to prevent the spread of infectious diseases common on overcrowded vessels. In 1974, the Partridge Island quarantine station was designated a national historic site. Other important events are associated with the island, including the installation of the world’s first steam-operated fog alarm in 1859 (see also Robert Foulis).

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Okanagan Lake

Okanagan Lake is located in the southern interior of British Columbia and is the largest lake in the Okanagan Valley. Approximately 6,188 km2 of land drain into the lake, which has a total surface area of 351 km2. The lake is long and thin, measuring 120 km in length and ranging between 3 and 5 km in width. The depth of the lake is highly variable, with a mean depth of 76 m and a maximum depth of 230 m. Okanagan Lake is heavily used for recreation and is believed by some to be the home of the mythical Ogopogo creature.

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Forest

Main Forest TypesWorldwide there are 3 main forest types related directly to climatic zones: equatorial- and tropical-region forests, temperate-zone forests, and forests associated with colder climates.

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Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea corridor through Canada's Arctic archipelago and along the northern coast of North America. European explorers searched in vain for the passage for 300 years, intent on finding a commercially viable western sea route between Europe and Asia.

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Ellesmere Island

Ellesmere Island, at 196,236 km2, is the third-largest island in Canada, the 10th-largest island in the world and the most northerly island in the Arctic Archipelago. It is located in Nunavut and is separated from Greenland by Kane Basin and Kennedy Channel, and from Devon Island to the south by Jones Sound. Cape Columbia (83°06´ 41" N lat) is Canada's most northerly point of land.

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Rupert's Land

Rupert’s Land was a vast territory of northern wilderness. It represented a third of what is now Canada. From 1670 to 1870, it was the exclusive commercial domain of the Hudson’s Bay Company(HBC) and the primary trapping grounds of the fur trade. The territory was named after Prince Rupert, the HBC’s first governor. Three years after Confederation, the Government of Canada acquired Rupert’s Land from the HBC for CAD$1.5-million (£300,000). It is the largest real estate transaction (by land area) in the country’s history. The purchase of Rupert’s Land transformed Canada geographically. It changed from a modest country in the northeast of the continent into an expansive one that reached across North America. Rupert’s Land was eventually divided among Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

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North Saskatchewan River

The North Saskatchewan River (1,287 km long, the first 48.5 km of which is designated as a Canadian Heritage River) is a major tributary to the Saskatchewan River, which ultimately flows into Hudson Bay. The mean annual flow is 241 m3/s; however, flow varies between the peak in July and minimum in February. It served as a major transportation route from the end of the last Ice Age through the mid-20th century.

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Hudson Bay

It is virtually landlocked but is joined to the Arctic Ocean to the north by Foxe Channel and Fury and Hecla Strait, and to the Atlantic Ocean on the east by Hudson Strait. Baffin Island lies athwart the entrance to the bay, and Southampton, Coats and Mansel islands are lodged across the northern gap.

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Badlands

Badlands are dramatic landforms characterized by a network of deep, narrow and winding gullies, along with occasional hoodoo rocks. Their steep, barren slopes provide striking evidence of the force of erosion by wind and water — a source of continual change in their terrain.