! Canada: The Natural Background

The development, history, economic and social function of a country is closely tied to its geographic features and the transportation systems that evolve and influence all other aspects. In these notes we tend to focus on Canada because this is our home and primary concern. We are also concerned with how the natural background of this and other countries have effected their evolution and there accompanying transport systems (some examples). For this reason we include the following concise description of the nature of Canada.

The following is a copy of Chapter 1 of 'An Outline of History' by J.A. Lower.

"No study of Canadian history is intelligible without some understanding of Canada's geography. Indeed, geography has been (and still is) one of Canada's chief problems and has, therefore" been a vital factor in determining its history.

Canada consists of the whole northern part of North America (except Alaska) and stretches from Cape Spear, Newfoundland (52°37'W) to the St. Elias Mountains, the Yukon Territory (141°W). The most southerly mainland point in Canada is Point Pelee (41°41'N) jutting into Lake Erie, while the most northerly point is Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island (87°07'N) . Thus Canada is very much a northern country. In all, Canadian territory covers 3,560,238 square miles, making it, after Russia, the second largest country in the world.

The name Canada is believed to derive from the Huron - Iroquois word for a village or community, kanata. Although in use as early as 1534, the term was not officially recognized until The Canada Act of 1791, by which the Crown-in-Council was authorized to divide Quebec into Lower and Upper Canada.

Canada's physiography consists of eight natural regions: the Canadian Shield; the Canadian Appalachians; the St. Lawrence Great Lakes Lowlands; the Interior Plains; the Western Cordilleras; the Hudson Bay Lowlands; the Innuitias (Arctic Ranges) ; and the Arctic Coastal Plain.

The Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield, covering approximately forty-six per cent of the country's total area, is a vast, V-shaped expanse of lake, rock, bush and bog, having Hudson Bay at its approximate centre. Tilted at its edges, the shield sinks at its centre below the waters of the Bay. A large part of the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, the Labrador portion of Newfoundland and much of the North-West Territories lie within this region of Precambrian rock (the oldest in the world).

Where once there were many ranges of high mountains, today's Shield, the result of the erosion of great continental ice sheets, is a land of hills, ridges and valleys. The surface of the Shield varies in elevation from 600 feet to 1,200 feet above sea level, although in northern Labrador and on Baffin Island there are mountains rising to 5,500 and 8,500 feet respectively. The most noticeable feature of the Shield is its innumerable lakes and streams. The Shield is Canada's principal source of iron, nickel, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, potash, and many other metals and minerals. It is also extremely valuable because of its vast timber resources and as a mighty source of water power.

The Canadian Appalachians. The Canadian Appalachians are a continuation of a long belt of mountains and ridges in the eastern United States and cover the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and also the Gaspe area of the Province of Quebec. The Appalachian region is characterized by low, rolling mountain ranges, none of which is higher than 4,200 feet. This succession of highlands and lowlands in a moist, maritime climate provides conditions suited to mixed farming and the production of vegetables and fruit. In addition, the Appalachians have considerable timber stands and several ore-bearing formations.

The Western Cordilleras. The Western Cordilleras, lying between the Pacific Ocean and the prairies to an average width of 400 miles, form the greatest sweep of mountain ranges in Canada. These ranges form three main divisions: the Coast Range, with peaks just under 20,000 feet; the Interior Plateau, a rolling, mountainous country with deep, fertile valleys; and, rising towards the east, the Monashee, Selkirk and Rocky Mountains, some of whose peaks soar as high as 12,000 feet. The Cordilleras are second only to the Canadian Shield in wealth of metals and minerals and to this may be added extensive forests and a vast hydro-electric potential. Agriculture is limited, except in the delta of the Fraser River, Southern Vancouver Island, and in some interior valleys.

The Hudson Bay Lowlands. The Hudson Bay Lowlands stretch along the south-west shore of Hudson and James Bays between Churchill and Moosonee. These limestone plains, partially buried under marine deposits, underlie a swampy region, where the climate is severe and the subsoil is permanently frozen. The only vegetation is moss and lichens. These Lowlands are known to contain deposits of low-grade coal, but so far little else of value has been discovered.

The St. Lawrence-Great Lakes Lowlands. Flanking the Canadian Shield to the south and southeast are the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes Lowlands, large expanses of plains and lowlands that occupy a triangular area between Georgian Bay and Lakes Ontario and Erie. Included in this physiographic region is the valley of the St. Lawrence River as far east as Quebec City. Fertile soil and a moderate climate make this area one of the richest and most varied agricultural belts in Canada. These lowlands comprise Canada's smallest physical region, but now support almost two-thirds of the country's population. The Interior Plains. Canada's largest lowland area, the Interior Plains are part of the Great Plains of North America, which sweep north west from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. They are the immense prairies of Western Canada, occupying the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian Shield and consisting of three levels or steps sloping to the east. Although this region has long been considered best suited to the production of wheat, other grains, beef cattle (and some logging and trapping), it also possesses Canada's largest known fuel resources of oil and gas.

The Innuitias and the Arctic Coastal Plain. The Innuitias or Arctic ranges form one of the most inhospitable regions of Canada, supporting little animal and vegetable life. Extending from northernmost Ellesmere Island south and west to Melville Island, this 300-mile wide belt of mountains is 800 miles long, and some peaks rise as high as 12,000 feet. To the south and south-west of the Innuitias are the islands of the Arctic Coastal Plain, which slopes gently westward toward the Arctic Ocean. Numerous finds of coal, salt and gypsum have been made, and geological surveys have indicated the presence of valuable deposits of oil and gas. Canada's Place in Continental Geography.

It has often been said that the geology of Canada provides north-south alignments that are contrary to the east-west extension of the country. It has also been remarked that Canada's geological structure is directly linked with that of the United States. This is easily observed. The Canadian Shield extends without a break into the northern reaches of the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan; the Canadian Appalachians reach down unbroken into the eastern states; Canada and the United States share the Great Lakes basin; the Canadian prairies become the Great Plains of the American West; the Western Cordilleras continue down most of the Pacific coast of the United States.

Canada's Rivers. The physical shape of Canada has sometimes been regarded as a drawback-if not a barrier-to national development. However, while mountains, plateaus and escarpments can be barriers, they create rivers (and contain passes) by which men can overcome these same barriers. Thus, the westeast and east-west rivers of Canada served the early explorers and settlers as excellent natural highways. The St. John River offers a route from the Atlantic shore through the Appalachians to the St. Lawrence Lowlands; the St. Lawrence River and the five Great Lakes-Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, Superior-combine to form a natural waterway leading through the Shield all the way (via several rivers and lakes) to the edge of the prairies; alternatively, the historic Ottawa River-Mattawa River-Lake Nipissing-French River route led, via Georgian Bay, to Lakes Huron and Superior and thus to the heart of the North American continent; the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers and the Peace River afford water routes across the prairies to the passes of the Rockies; the Thompson and Fraser rivers pierce the west coast mountains and run eventually into the Pacific Ocean.

Thus minor features of Canada's geology-the rivers-have become the major forces in the evolution of the country as a nation. Since rivers are used as routes (or are followed by them), the general east-west alignment of rivers in Canada has led to a large framework of eastward-and-westward-running canals, roads and railways. In addition, the estuaries of the rivers face across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to "pull" Canada eastward to Europe and westward to the Far East. Therefore the rivers of Canada have drawn together regions that are separated by major features of Canada's geology-mountains, high plateaus and escarpments. The natural 'pull to the south" has been more than offset by another natural "pull to the east" by the great river systems and by an historic "drive to the west."

The "pull to the south" is also offset by the east-west alignment of almost all of Canada's climatic, vegetation and soil zones. With the exception of southern British Columbia, these zones make broad arcs across the country.

Canada's Climates. The climates of Canada lie within the Cool Temperate Zone where weather conditions are marked by short summers and long winters, by a high frequency of storms and by late spring and early fall frosts. Generally speaking, the climates of the southern portion of Canada can be compared with those of northwestern Europe and central Asia. The moderate temperatures and heavy rainfall of the British Columbia coastline are conditions similar to those of coastal Norway; the semi-arid climate of the prairies is comparable to that of the central regions of European Russia; the humid weather of south-eastern Canada is similar to that of Manchuria, whilst the humid but cooler weather of the Atlantic provinces is characteristic of the northern Japanese islands.

Dry, cold weather conditions prevail over the rest of the country, the northern reaches. Indeed, their effect is such that the term "arctic", originally an astronomical term, has come to be a climatic one. Arctic conditions are not confined to the Arctic Circle: the straits leading into Hudson Bay from the high north bring down very cold streams of water, which contribute to arctic conditions in northern Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Although waves of warm weather do invade northern Canada and the Canadian Arctic from time to time, these invasions are infrequent and rarely bring high temperatures. Thus, even the July average is below 50°, and, in parts of the Arctic, below 32°.

Canada's Vegetation. The physical face of Canada and the climates of the land are largely responsible for'the distribution of plants, the chief vegetation types being moss, trees and grass.

The Arctic region, almost a third of the land area of Canada, is an immense, flat, treeless wasteland of snow, ice, and stone, with occasional stretches of thin, tundra soil. This soil bears a vegetation of stunted bushes, mosses and lichens (and, in the brief Arctic summer, some grass and certain varieties of wild flowers)

South of the tundra lies a vast, deep belt of forest land stretching from Newfoundland to Alaska and occupying a little more than a third of Canada's land area. These dense stands of timber include the short trees-white and black spruce, white birch, balsam, poplar and tamarack-of sub-Arctic areas, the somewhat larger trees-birch, oak, maple, pine, red spruce, hemlock and cedar-of eastern forests and the large, often giant trees-lodge_pole pine, Englemann spruce, Douglas fir, western hemlock and western red cedar-of western forests.

Surrounded on three sides by forest land are the grasslands or prairies of Canada, too dry for forest growth because they are cut off by mountains (or by sheer distance) from moisture-laden winds. Today, the area under grass is quite small because cultivated crops, wheat in particular, have replaced grass in all but the driest or most hilly areas of the prairies (e.g. southern Alberta and south-west Saskatchewan) .

Canada's Soils. Because of the mountains, hills, uplands, early frosts and the wintry climates of most of Canada, the soils of the land are difficult to work. Agriculture is limited to the more favoured southern fringes of the country - the brown to dark brown soils in the valleys of south-west British Columbia, the fertile black and brown earth of the prairies, the grey-brown land of the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence valley and the greyish (often stony) and sometimes reddish surfaces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

There are, of course, pockets of good soil farther north, e.g. in the Canadian Shield and in the Peace River district of Alberta. However, the soils of Canada have made the farmer heavily dependent on science and technology (and thus have made Canadian farming methods among the most advanced in the world) in order to make the most of the relatively few acres of the country suited to agriculture.

The close relationship between geology, climate, vegetation and soil produces the natural environment fundamental to the geography and history of a nation. In spite of the great expanse of Canada, that environment is rather limited in its variety. It is, on the whole, harsh, wild but challenging, and is one fully reflected in Canada's history.

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End to date: 060104, ams