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The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands encompassing present-day Canada have been inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples, with distinct trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization.
Skyline of Toronto. The national capital is Ottawa, Canada’s fourth largest city. It lies some 250 miles (400 km) northeast of Toronto and 125 miles (200 km) west of Montreal, respectively Canada’s first and second cities in terms of population and economic, cultural, and educational importance. The third largest city is Vancouver, a centre ...
- Overview
- Canada’s original inhabitants
- The new Dominion of Canada
Canadian history does not begin with the arrival of European explorers over 500 years ago; people have been living in the country that we now call Canada for thousands of years.
Centuries before Europeans began to settle in North America, explorers who came here found thriving First Nations and Inuit societies with their own beliefs, way of life and rich history.
When the first European explorers came to Canada they found all regions occupied by native peoples they called “Indians,” thinking they had reached the East Indies. The native people lived off the land, some by hunting and gathering, others by raising crops.
The Huron-Wendat of the Great Lakes Region, like the Iroquois, were farmers and hunters. The Cree and Dene of the Northwest were hunter-gatherers. The Sioux were nomadic, following the bison (buffalo) herd. The Inuit lived off Arctic wildlife. West Coast natives preserved fish by drying and smoking. Warfare was common among Aboriginal groups as they competed for land, resources and prestige.
The arrival of European traders, missionaries, soldiers and colonists changed the native way of life forever. Large numbers of Aboriginals died of European diseases to which they lacked immunity. However, Aboriginals and Europeans formed strong economic, religious and military bonds in the first 200 years of coexistence which laid the foundations of Canada.
The Northwest Territories and Manitoba
The year 1870 – three years after Confederation – brought multiple historic changes to land ownership, including: Canada’s purchase of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had been granted a charter to the area by the British government exactly two centuries earlier. Rupert's Land spanned all land drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay – roughly 40 per cent of present-day Canada. The selling price was 300,000 pounds sterling. Britain’s transfer of the North-Western Territory to Canada. Previously, the Hudson’s Bay Company had an exclusive licence to trade in this area, which stretched west to the colony of British Columbia and north to the Arctic Circle. When it was discovered in the mid-1800s that the Prairies had enormous farming potential, the British government refused to renew the company’s licence. With the Hudson's Bay Company out of the area, Britain was free to turn it over to Canada. The combination of Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory to form the Northwest Territories, followed by the creation of the Province of Manitoba from a small part of this area.
British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon
Subsequent years brought more changes to Canada’s territorial boundaries: In 1871, British Columbia joined the union with the promise of a railway to link it to the rest of the country. In 1873, Prince Edward Island, which had previously declined an offer to join Confederation, became Canada's seventh province. Yukon, which had been a district of the Northwest Territories since 1895, became a separate territory in 1898.
Saskatchewan and Alberta
Meanwhile, Canada was opening up its west, just as its neighbour to the south had done before. Migrants from eastern Canada and immigrants from Europe and the United States began to fill the Prairies, which were still part of the Northwest Territories. Then, in 1905, the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were created, completing the map of Western Canada.
The Fathers of Confederation established. the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867, the birth of the country that we know today. [ See larger version ] Dominion of Canada $1 bill, 1923, showing King George V, who assigned Canada’s national colours (white and red) in 1921, the colours of our national flag today.
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The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands encompassing present-day Canada have been inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples, with distinct trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization. Some of these older civilizations had long faded by the time of the first ...
History of Canada Prehistory to early European contact Precontact aboriginal history. North America’s first humans migrated from Asia, presumably over a now-submerged land bridge from Siberia to Alaska sometime about 12,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age; it has also been argued, however, that some people arrived earlier, possibly up to 60,000 years ago.
Act of Union (Plain-Language Summary) The Act of Union was passed by the British Parliament in July 1840. It became law on 10 February 1841. It merged Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada) into the Province of Canada (1841–67). The Act was based on the findings of the Durham Report.
