Distinctly Canadian :: essays research papers

Distinctly Canadian     Canada, federated country of North America, bounded on the north by theArctic Ocean on the northeast by Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, which separate itfrom Greenland on the east by the Atlantic Ocean on the south by the UnitedStates and on the west by the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. Canada is the worldssecond largest country, surpassed in size only by Russia. Canada has a heart and soularea of 9,970,610 sq. km (3,849,652 sq. mi), of which 755,180 sq. km (291,575 sq.mi) is covered by bodies of fresh water much(prenominal) as rivers and lakes (CanadianEncyclopaedia, 1988).     Canada contains great reserves of natural resources, notably timber,petroleum, natural gas, argentiferous minerals, and fish. The name Canada is derivedfrom an Iroquoian term meaning "village" or "community."     In Canada we have many images, practices, and items that make us one ofthe best, younger countries in the world. In such a short time for a country toexist, we have many images that make us very culturally rich in everyway.Probably the approximately important images, practices, and items come for our friend,the American Indians (or Native Americans). They were a definite asset toCanadas cultural growth.     The American Indians came into Canada in a series of migrations thatoccurred during the last stages of the Pleistocene deoxyephedrine Age, Mongoloid peoplesfrom Asia entered North America, probably crossing the Bering Strait. Graduallythey spread over the continent and into South America. By 1600, more than250,000 of their aboriginal descendants inhabited what is straight off Canada. Developinga Stone Age economy, they hunted, fished, and gathered food and, in warmer areas,also farmed. The basic social unit was the band, which varied from a fewfamilies to several hundred people. In areas of higher settlement density, bandswere organized into tribes and even larger units.     The largest linguistic group was the Algonquian, which includedmigratory hunting tribes such as the Cree and Naskapi in the eastern subarcticregion and the Abenaki and Micmac in the eastern woodlands on the coast. By the18th century, Algonquians had spread west, where Ottawa, Ojibwa, Blackfoot,Plains Cree, and others roamed the prairies and plains in search of buffalo. TheIroquoian speaking tribes the Huron and the Iroquoislived in perpetual farmsettlements and had a highly developed tribal organization in the St. LawrenceValley and around Lakes Ontario and Erie (Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988).     Tribes of Salishan, Athabascan, and other linguistic groups occupiedfishing villages along the rivers of inner(a) British Columbia. On the Pacificcoast, Salishan tribes, such as the Bellacoola, and related Wakashan-speakingtribesthe Kwakiutl and Nootkadeveloped a rich culture, based on salmon fishing,