Canada
Calgary
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London
Montreal
North Bay
Ottawa
Quebec
Regina
Sherbrooke
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Victoria
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Ontario
British
Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Northwest
Territory
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Ontario
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and Miquelon
Saskatchewan
Yukon
Ontario is the most populous and
second-largest in area of Canada's ten
provinces. It is found in east-central Canada.
Its capital is Toronto. Ottawa, the capital of
Canada, is also located in Ontario. As of July
1, 2005 there are 12,541,410 Ontarians (resident
of Ontario), representing approximately 37.9% of
the total Canadian population and an area of
1,076,395km² (415,598 sq. mi.).
Geography
Further information: List of Ontario counties,
and
Ontario is bounded on the north by Hudson Bay
and James Bay, on the east by Quebec, on the
west by Manitoba, and on the south by the
American states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and New York. Ontario's long
American border is formed almost entirely by
lakes and rivers, starting in Lake of the Woods
and continuing to the Saint Lawrence River near
Cornwall; it passes through the four Great Lakes
on which Ontario has coastline, namely Lakes
Superior, Huron (which includes Georgian Bay),
Erie, and Ontario (for which the province is
named; Ontario itself is an Iroquois word
meaning "beautiful lake" or "beautiful water").
There are approximately 250,000 lakes and over
100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) of rivers in the
province.
The province consists of three main geographical
regions:
the thinly populated Canadian Shield in the
northwestern and central portions, a mainly
infertile area rich in minerals and studded with
lakes and rivers; sub-regions are Northwestern
Ontario and Northeastern Ontario.
the mostly unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in
the extreme north and northeast, mainly swampy
and sparsely forested; and
the temperate, and therefore most populous
region, the fertile Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence
Valley in the south where agriculture and
industry are concentrated. Southern Ontario is
further sub-divided into four regions; Western
Ontario (sometimes called Southwestern Ontario),
Golden Horseshoe, Central Ontario and Eastern
Ontario.
The Carolinian forest zone covers most of the
southwestern section, its northern extent is
parts of the Greater Toronto Area at the western
end of Lake Ontario. The Saint Lawrence Seaway
allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean
as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern
Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies 90 per cent
of the surface area of the province; conversely
Southern Ontario contains 94 per cent of the
population (see article Geography of Canada).
Point Pelee National Park is a peninsula in
southwestern Ontario (near Windsor, Ontario and
Detroit, Michigan) that extends into Lake Erie
and is the part of Canada's mainland furthest
south. Pelee Island in Lake Erie is even further
south. Both are south of 42°N – slighty further
south than the northern border of California.
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Background:
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A
land of vast distances and rich natural resources,
Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867
while retaining ties to the British crown.
Economically and technologically the nation has
developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to
the south across an unfortified border. Its
paramount political problem continues to be the
relationship of the province of Quebec, with its
French-speaking residents and unique culture, to the
remainder of the country. |
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Population:
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32,507,874 (July 2004 est.) |
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Languages:
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English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official),
other 17.5% |
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Currency:
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Canadian dollar (CAD)
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Currency code:
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CAD
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Exchange rates:
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Canadian dollars per US dollar - 1.4 (2003), 1.57
(2002), 1.55 (2001), 1.49 (2000), 1.49 (1999) |
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