Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0072/00721.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 26KB | 435 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00721}
$Pretitle{408}
$Title{Canada
Chapter 1.    The Land and Environment}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Ivan P. Fellegi}
$Affiliation{Statistics Canada}
$Subject{region
canada
resources
water
environmental
environment
climate
area
plains
shield}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Ste. Luce, Que.*0072105.scf
Northwest Territories*0072115.scf
}
Country:     Canada
Book:        Canada Handbook
Author:      Ivan P. Fellegi
Affiliation: Statistics Canada
Date:        1990

Chapter 1.    The Land and Environment

Geography

     Canada can be divided into six major regions to help comprehend the
similarities and differences from place to place across its vast area. These
regions are: the Atlantic Provinces, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands,
the Canadian Shield, the Interior Plains, the Cordillera and the Northwest
Territories. The criteria for defining these regions differ; some correspond
to landform areas, whereas others are political units. Following are
summaries of the characteristics and definitions of each region.

     The Atlantic Provinces are mainly defined politically and include the
three Maritime provinces-New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward
Island-and the island of Newfoundland. Two of the distinctive characteristics
of this region are a relatively fragmented economy and a dispersed
population.

     The Atlantic provinces region differs from the rest of the country in
several physical characteristics such as its low hills and mountains and its
rugged, indented coastline. With the exception of Prince Edward Island, which
is mainly agricultural land, each of the Atlantic provinces consists of a
largely uninhabited centre with bands of continuous, dispersed settlement
along the coasts and in major valleys. A resource base that is relatively
dominant in sea, forest and mineral resources rather than agricultural
resources has led to a pattern of dispersed settlement with relatively few
large cities. This resource base has also resulted in the existence of a
large number of single-industry towns, dispersed along the coastlines.

     Distribution patterns are not static in any region; they change over
time. The geography of agriculture and fishing in the Atlantic provinces
illustrates these changing patterns. Most of the former part-time and
subsistence farms, located on the poorer soils, on steeper slopes and away
from main roads have been abandoned; the distribution of commercial farms is
now much more closely associated with improved roads and access to the larger
cities.

     There have also been changes in the fishing industry, from dispersal to
concentration. In Newfoundland mainly, and to a lesser extent in Nova Scotia,
the small fishing "outports" or villages were dispersed along the coast in
sheltered bays, near headlands, or on islands. Fishermen are now tending to
concentrate in larger towns near the processing or freezing plants where
there are also more health, educational and social services.

     The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands region is clearly bounded-to the
south by the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and the international
boundary, and to the north by the escarpment of the Canadian Shield. This
northern boundary between the contrasting high intensity agricultural and
urban pattern of the Lowlands, and the higher, forested and sparsely settled
land of the Shield is often highly visible in the landscape.

     The relatively small Lowlands region, which extends across southern
Ontario and southern Quebec, holds more than half of Canada's population and
produces about three-quarters of the value of its manufactured goods. Due to
good soils, a mild climate and a large nearby market, intensive agriculture
is another of its major characteristics. This most densely populated region
of Canada has more large cities (population over 100,000) than any other
part of the nation. Its two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal, each have
a metropolitan area population of more than 3 million. Due to its
concentration of population, industry and agriculture, this region is the
"heartland" of Canada.

     Although strong links of commerce and transportation have been in
existence within this region, the settlement pattern reflects two distinct
cultures. In Quebec, the St. Lawrence Valley was settled more than three
centuries ago by French emigrants; the Ontario section was colonized,
beginning in the 1780s, by mainly English-speaking people. The rural
landscape of southern Quebec, with its long, narrow farms, is distinct within
Canada, and contrasts with the rectangular farms and dispersed farmhouse of
southern Ontario. The rural villages of Ontario, with their small, compact
central business sections and rectangular street patterns contrast with the
linear Quebec villages in which residential and commercial uses are often
interspersed.

     In addition to a prosperous intensive agriculture, a closely-linked
urban system has evolved. The activities in industry, commerce, transport,
service and recreation of more than 13 million people in the Lowlands are all
closely interrelated.

[See Ste. Luce, Que.: Silhouette of a village at sunset, Ste. Luce, Que.]

     The Canadian Shield is another landform region, defined on the basis
of its exposed ancient Precambrian rock base. Its physical environmental
characteristics of bare rocks, forests and lakes are quite distinct from the
Lowlands. Because it is a huge area, there is environmental diversity within
this region, but there are also large areas of similarity. The southern part
of the Canadian Shield is known for its vast natural resources which are
functionally linked to the heartland region. The northwestern part of the
Shield has a different surface environment and different human use and is
included as part of the Northwest Territories. Settlement in the northern
region is generally in communities of aboriginal Canadians.

     The enormous Shield occupies about half of the mainland of Canada. It is
a region of forests, lakes and rocks; it is a region of few people, mainly
living in communities. The southern Shield has a resource-based economy; its
products-minerals, wood and waterpower-are exported outside of the region or
outside of Canada. Many of the raw materials of the Shield move to the
Lowlands for processing or consumption; a reverse flow of people comes into
the Shield for recreation or holidays.

     The Interior Plains are sharply bounded on the west by the high wall of
the Rocky Mountains, but on the east and north the geological and landform
edge of the Shield is often hidden beneath former glacial lakebed deposits or
by coniferous forest. The Plains are the largest area of nearly level land in
Canada; human use of this region is characterized by large grain farms, and
by ranching. Although all of the Prairie provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and Alberta) might be discussed as a political region, corresponding to
provincial boundaries, the environmental, economic and human characteristics
of the Shield sections of northern Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan are
very different from the Plains.

     The words "flat, prairie, wheat and petroleum" might well characterize
the environment and resources of the Interior Plains of Canada. Although
these words accurately describe certain outstanding parts of the Plains'
environment and economy, they do not tell of the variety found within the
region. It is true that large areas of the Plains are very flat, but the
landform regions include hills, escarpments, entrenched river valleys and
even low mountains; although prairie grasslands of varying height once covered
the southern Plains prior to cultivation, now more than half of the region
is forested; although wheat became a staple crop for export after the land
was subdivided for settlement, other grains were also grown and several new
crops now occupy significant acreages; although petroleum was important in
diversifying the Plains' economy after 1947, other fuels and minerals have
become significant in particula