Canada: A Regional GeographyDavid Rossiter, Western Washington University

A Northern Silver Mine – F. Carmichael

Five Themes

• Location– relative / absolute

• Place– human / physical

• Human-Environment interactions– adaptation, modification, dependence

• Movement

• Regions

BCALTA

SASK MTBA

ONT QUE

NBNS

PEI

NFLD and LAB

YK

NWT NVT

Victoria

Edmonton

ReginaWinnipeg

Toronto

Quebec

Fredericton

Halifax

Charlottetown

St. John’s

Whitehorse

Yellowknife

Iqaluit

Vancouver

Calgary

Saskatoon

Ottawa Montreal

St. John

The Physical Base

• Geology• Topography• Soils• Vegetation• Climate

• Fundamental to understanding Canada’s Human Geography

The Late Wisconsin Ice Age

• Last ice age in the territory of Canada

• Southern limit: Wisconsin

• Covered vast majority of Canada’s territory

• Reached maximum extent 18,000 years ago

• Started to recede 15,000 years ago

• Last remnants in Rockies 7,000 years ago

Till and erratic – Peggy’s Cove, N.S.

Drumlin - Alberta

Esker - Manitoba

Glacial Lake – Jasper, AB

Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands

- Quebec City to Windsor- Smallest physiographic region: < 2% of Canada’s landmass

Q

W

Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands

• Geology: sedimentary rock (strata) and glacial deposits

• Flat, rolling topography

• Good soil

• Moderate climate, good growing season– humid and hot summer / cold winter

• Proximity to USA

• HEARTLAND

Appalachian Uplands

Appalachian Uplands

• Northern section of Appalachian Mountians

• ~2% of Canada’s land mass

• Rounded uplands and narrow river valleys

• Rocky, shallow soils

• Mixed forest

• Cool, maritime climate– short summer, wet winter

NFLD – North Coast

Canadian Shield

Canadian Shield

• Largest region – ~50% of Canada• Geological core of North America

– Underlies other physiographic regions

• Precambrian rocks > 3 billion yrs old• Widespread evidence of glaciation• Shallow soils, exposed granite• Mixed and Boreal forest• Northern continental climate

– hot, short summer / cold, long winter

Quebec – North Shore

Hudson Bay Lowlands

Hudson Bay Lowlands

• ~3.5% of the area of Canada

• Youngest phyisographic region in Canada

• Made up of muskeg (wet peatland)

• Interrupted by low ridges of sand and gravel

• Poorly drained due to level surface

• Northern climate – maritime influence– short, warm summer / long, cold winter

Muskeg – Hudson Bay Lowlands

Delta – James Bay Coast

Interior Plains

Interior Plains

• ~20% of Canada’s landmass• Geologic base of sedimentary rock• Land shaped by glacial and hydrological

processes – river valleys• Slope east to west – Hudson Bay Wtshd• Rich soils in south• Oil and gas deposits• Continental climate – moderate precip.

– hot summer / cold winter

Wheat field outside Winnipeg

Near Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta

South Saskatchewan River

Arctic Lands

Arctic Lands cont’d…

• ~25% of Canada’s territory• Coastal plains (Lowlands)• Plateaux and mountains (Innuitian)• Mainly sedimentary rock• Ground permanently frozen - permafrost• Glaciers still active – ‘calved’ into icebergs• Main geomorphic process – frost action• Coooold, areas of polar desert

Mountains – Baffin Island

Cordillera

Cordillera

• ~16% of Canada’s territory

• Formed 40-80 million years ago– collision between NA and Pacific plates– Rockies: up-thrust sedimentary rocks– Coast mountains: volcanic activity

• Coast an active fault zone– earthquakes, volcanoes– part of Pacific Rim of Fire

Cordillera cont’d…

• Glaciers remain in high alpine areas

• Fertile river valleys and deltas (particularly SW corner of BC)

• Largely coniferous forest cover

• Multiple micro-climates– warmer, wetter on coast– colder, drier in interior

Sedimentary rocks at Lake Louise

The Barrier – Coast Mountains, BC

Where are all the people?

Short answer:

• In cities, near the USA– ~80% of Canadians live in cities (100,000+)– ~80% of Canadians live within 100km of USA

Pop. Density: 2001

Current Pop: 32mil

Where are all the people?

Longer answer:

• All over– cities draw on resources of hinterland– north dominated by resource towns and

regional service centres

Three Popular Explanations

• Staples Development– Canada developed by resource extraction

• Heartland-hinterland patterns– International, national, regional scales

• Physical disunity (or, unity despite geography)– Human settlement in patches, difference from

USA

Storehouse of Raw Materials

• “Hewers of wood and drawers of water”

• Earliest European interests were more commercial than colonial – fish, fur

• Colonial settlement shaped by staples extraction and export

• Trade with “mother countries” (Britain, France), then USA

• Resources still major economic sector

Forestry Communities: 1996

Mining Communities: 1996

Oil and Gas Communities: 1996

Metropolitan Heartlands

• A urban nation– against stereotype– diverse

• Old(ish)– Quebec City (1608)

• Young– Vancouver (1886)

• Draw on hinterland’s resources– insurance, finance,

manufacturing

Financial Services

Canada’s Regional Character

• Socio-economic regions:– Shaped by:

• topography• political boundaries• language• historical patterns

• Heartland-hinterland relations

• Regional identities powerful– Political considerations

This place wasn’t always Canada

• 1000s of years of Native presence• European contact over centuries

– late-15th C in east, mid-18th C in west

• Resettlement by Europeans through:– force– treaty– depopulation (disease)

• Historical geographies matter: socially, politically, ecologically

Current “Geographical” Issues

• Native land claims– BC particularly, but not exclusively

• Environmental “crises”– forestry, climate, energy

• Federal “balance”– fiscal, other arrangements

• Cities’ growth– planning, opportunity for newcomers

References

• Maps and images were obtained at:– www.canadainfolink.ca/geog.htm– http://atlas.nrcan.gc/site/english/index.html

• Other resources:– A good atlas of Canada– Historical Atlas of Canada, vols. 1-3,

University of Toronto Press– The Fur Trade in Canada, Harold Innis– Heartland and Hinterland, McCann and Gunn