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Canada, independent nation in North America. A country rich in minerals

and agriculture, it was settled by the French and English and became an

independent Commonwealth country with a federal system of government, in

which the provinces enjoy a large measure of autonomy.



Land and Economy. The 2nd-largest country in the world (after the

USSR), Canada occupies the N half of the North American continent,

stretching E and W from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans, N from the 49th

parallel to the North Pole, including all the islands in the Arctic Ocean

from W of Greenland to Alaska. It is divided into 10 provinces, which are

(E-W): Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick,

Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Two

territories--Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory--are in the N and

NW. The outstanding geological feature is the Canadian Shield, a

1,850,000-sq-mi (4,791,500-sq-km) arc of Pre-Cambrian rock from Labrador

around Hudson Bay to the Arctic islands. The Shield, site of once great

mountain chains worn down and covered by the sea, contains valuable

minerals--gold, silver, platinum, copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, and

zinc--making Canada one of the most important mining countries in the

world. The Shield's N portion is a treeless plain with permanently frozen

subsoil; in its S section are forests.



Extending from the Shield's W border to the Canadian Rockies are

prairies more than 800mi (1,288km) wide that yield wheat, the dominant

crop, and are centers of livestock raising. W Canada is a land of mountains

with fishing, agriculture, and lumbering as important industries. With the
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