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The Northwest Territories (NWT) entered Confederation in 1870 after Canada acquired Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The smaller territory now known as the NWT is what remains after the creation of several other provinces and territories out of the original 1870 lands.

The colony of British Columbia was founded in 1858 in response to the Fraser River Gold Rush. (See also The Fraser River Gold Rush and the Founding of British Columbia.) The colony established representative government in 1864 and merged with the colony of Vancouver Island in 1866. In May 1868, Amor De Cosmos formed the Confederation League to bring responsible government to BC and to join Confederation. In September 1868, the Confederation League passed 37 resolutions outlining the terms for a union with the Dominion of Canada. The terms were passed by both the BC assembly and the federal Parliament in 1871. The colony joined Canada as the country’s sixth province on 20 July 1871. The threat of American annexation, embodied by the Alaska purchase of 1867, and the promise of a railway linking BC to the rest of Canada, were decisive factors.

New Brunswick became one of the founding members of the Dominion of Canada on 1 July 1867 when it joined Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec in Confederation. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, helped organize the Charlottetown Conference (1–9 September 1864), where a federal union of British North American colonies was first discussed. By 1865, however, a majority in the New Brunswick legislature had swung against it. Albert Smith defeated pro-Confederation premier Samuel Tilley in a snap election that year. But the Fenian Raids in 1866 fueled New Brunswick’s sense of insecurity and increased support for Confederation. After Tilley’s party won another election in 1866, the legislature voted 38–1 in favour of Confederation.

There are 138 reserves in Alberta, held primarily by the province’s 46 First Nations ( see also First Nations in Alberta). A handful of these reserves are held by First Nations based outside the province, namely Salt River First Nation and Smith’s Landing First Nation, whose administrative headquarters are in the Northwest Territories. Onion Lake Cree Nation, based in Saskatchewan, holds a reserve that straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. In 2020, there were 133,051 Registered Indians living in Alberta, 60 per cent of whom lived on reserves. First Nations in Alberta are typically grouped into three areas based on Treaties 6, 7 and 8 (see also Numbered Treaties). While historically the Canadian government assigned reserves to First Nations people and not Métis or Inuit, Alberta is the only province in which Métis people were given a collective land base (see Métis Settlements).

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, incorporated as a city in 1903, population 33,665 (2021 census), 33,910 (2016 census). The city of Moose Jaw is located 160 km north of the US border and 65 km west of Regina in a sheltered valley at the confluence of the Moose Jaw River and Thunder Creek. It is governed by a mayor and six councillors who are elected to represent the city as a whole. The city’s evocative name is likely based on Indigenous sources and was perhaps first applied to a local creek that supposedly resembled the outline of a moose’s jawbone; another explanation is that it comes from a Cree word for “warm breezes.”

Lying north of mainland Canada, the Arctic Archipelago consists of 94 major islands (greater than 130 km²) and 36,469 minor islands covering a total of 1.4 million km². Apart from Greenland, which is almost entirely ice covered, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago forms the world's largest High Arctic land area.

The Rooms is a cultural centre located in St. John’s, Newfoundland, that showcases the history, heritage and art of Newfoundland and Labrador.

New Brunswick is one of three provinces collectively known as the "Maritimes." Joined to Nova Scotia by the narrow Chignecto Isthmus and separated from Prince Edward Island by the Northumberland Strait, New Brunswick forms the land bridge linking this region to continental North America. It is bounded in the north by Quebec and in the west by the US (Maine). In 1784, the British divided Nova Scotia at the Chignecto Isthmus, naming the west and north portion New Brunswick after the German duchy of Brunswick-Lunenburg. New Brunswick is now the only officially bilingual province in Canada.

Nova Scotia is Canada’s second-smallest province (following Prince Edward Island) and is located on the southeastern coast of the country. The province includes Cape Breton, a large island northeast of the mainland. The name Nova Scotia is Latin for “New Scotland,” reflecting the origins of some of the early settlers. Given its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Nova Scotia’s economy is largely influenced by the sea, and its harbours have served as military bases during many wars.

Newfoundland and Labrador is divided by three of Canada’s seven physiographic regions. These three regions are the Canadian Shield in Labrador, and the Appalachian and Eastern St. Lawrence Lowlands on the island of Newfoundland.

Labrador’s northern coastal region is mountainous, deeply fjorded, and grows only ground-level, subarctic vegetation. Its southern coast has a rugged, barren foreshore and a forested hinterland. The interior of Labrador is a well-forested, dissected plateau. Most of Labrador’s most-populous towns, including Happy-Valley Goose Bay and Labrador City, are located in its interior.

On the island of Newfoundland the west coast is dominated by the table-topped Long Range Mountains. The northeast coast, with its numerous bays, islands and headlands, fronts on the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Northern Peninsula to the Avalon Peninsula. Newfoundland’s southern coast has the deeply embayed characteristics of a submerged shoreline. The inland areas of the island are generally hilly and rugged. Shallow bogs and heath vegetation covers much of the land. Most of Newfoundland’s towns and cities are located in the bays and coves of the island’s west and northeast coasts.

Qausuittuq National Park encompasses 11,000 km2 on northern Bathurst Island and smaller surrounding islands in Nunavut. It also includes the waters of May Inlet and Young Inlet. Pronounced Kow-soo-ee-took, the name of this park translates to “the place where the sun doesn’t rise” in Inuktitut. It is bordered to the south by Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife Area, and together these two zones protect a large, ecologically intact area in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Qausuittuq was established on 1 September 2015 as Canada’s 45th national park. It represents the Western High Arctic Natural Region, the 38th natural region of the 39 that constitute Canada’s national parks system.

Port Refuge is a small bay on the south coast of Grinnell Peninsula, Devon I, in the high Arctic.

There are 376 reserves in Manitoba, held by the province's 63 First Nations (see also First Nations in Manitoba). In addition, Animakee Wa Zhing, a First Nation based in Ontario, has a reserve that straddles the Ontario-Manitoba border. As of 2020, there were 164,116 registered Indians in Manitoba, 58 per cent of whom lived on-reserve. Manitoba is also a key part of the Métis Nation’s homeland and has a large Métis population. However, for a variety of historical reasons, Métis do not hold reserves (see Métis Scrip in Canada; Manitoba Act of 1870).

Nunavut covers 1,936,113 km² of land and 157,077 km² of water in Northern Canada, representing 21 per cent of the country’s total area. The territory includes part of the mainland, most of the Arctic Archipelago, and all of the islands in Hudson Bay, James Bay and Ungava Bay. Nunavut is divided by three of Canada’s seven physiographic regions. These regions are the Hudson Bay Lowlands, the Canadian Shield and the Canadian Arctic.

Canada may be divided into seven physiographic regions. The Canadian Shield is the largest and oldest of these regions. The other six physiographic regions are younger and form two concentric rings around the Canadian Shield. The outer, older ring contains the Western Cordillera, Canadian Arctic and Appalachian Region. The second, younger ring contains the Interior Plains, Hudson Bay Lowlands and the St. Lawrence Lowlands. These regions may be further sub-divided based on their structure, relief and the presence or absence of permafrost and forest cover (see Natural Regions).

Areas quoted for these regions are the land areas and do not include adjacent continental shelves or bodies of ocean water within Canada's territorial limits. Readers should also note that the abbreviation “masl” stands for “metres above sea level.”

Manitoba is a Canadian province located at the centre of the country, bounded by Saskatchewan to the west, Hudson Bay and Ontario to the east, Nunavut to the north, and North Dakota and Minnesota to the south. The province was founded on parts of the traditional territories of the Cree, Anishinaabe, Oji-Cree, Dakota/Lakota (Sioux) and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. The land is now governed treaties 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10. As of the 2016 census, Manitoba had 1,278,365 residents, making it the fifth most populous province or territory in Canada. Manitoba joined Confederation in 1870, and its capital city, Winnipeg, was incorporated shortly thereafter, in 1873. Heather Stefanson is the province’s current premier, leading a majority Progressive Conservative government.

There are 30 reserves in Quebec, held by 25 of the province's 40 First Nations (see also First Nations in Quebec). In addition, there are 15 Inuit, 9 Cree and 1 Naskapi community whose lands fall under the jurisdiction of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Northeastern Quebec Agreement. Because they are not governed by the Indian Act, these communities are technically not reserves. There are also five First Nations in Quebec that do not have reserve lands (Long Point First Nation, Communauté anicinape de Kitcisakik, Wolf Lake First Nation, Montagnais de Pakua Shipi and Nation MicMac de Gespeg). This is the largest number of First Nations without reserve land of any province. Finally, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has a reserve that is partly in Quebec, Ontario and New York state. As of 2020, there were 92,762 registered Indians in Quebec, 64 per cent of whom live on reserve.

Rossland, BC, incorporated as a city in 1897, population 4,140 (2021 census), 3,729 (2016 census). The City of Rossland is located 10 km southwest of Trail in the eroded crater of a long-extinct volcano of the Monashee Mountains.

Charlottetown, PEI, incorporated as a city in 1855, population 36,094 (2016 c), 34,562 (2011 c). The capital of Prince Edward Island, the City of Charlottetown is also the administrative centre of Queens County and the principal municipality of Canada's smallest province. It is situated on a broad harbour opening into the Northumberland Strait. Three rivers converge there, with the city located on a low-rising point of land between the Hillsborough (East) and North (Yorke) rivers just opposite the harbour's mouth. Suburban development has spread across the Hillsborough to Stratford, and between the North and West (Eliot) rivers at Cornwall. Besides its governmental functions, Charlottetown services a considerable agricultural hinterland and is the focus of Island communications. Its favourable climate, nearby beaches and claim to be the “Birthplace of Confederation” have made it a major tourist centre.