Ottawa
Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the capital in 1857. It sits on the Ottawa River, which forms the border between Ontario and Quebec. Parliament meets on Parliament Hill, and in winter the Rideau Canal becomes a skating rink.
Places
Cities, rivers and lakes, mountains, national parks and natural wonders.
Cities
The capital and the four biggest cities you are most likely to be asked about.
Capital of Canada, Ontario Capital of Ontario Toronto
Toronto is Canada’s largest city and its main financial centre. About half of its people were born outside Canada. The CN Tower, opened in 1976, rises above the shore of Lake Ontario.
Quebec Montréal
Montréal is built on an island in the St. Lawrence River and is the largest city in Quebec. Most people there speak French. It hosted Expo 67 and the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Capital of Quebec Québec City
Samuel de Champlain founded Québec in 1608, making it one of the oldest cities in North America. Its old town is still surrounded by stone walls and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
British Columbia Vancouver
Vancouver is Canada’s largest port, between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountains. It hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, on Vancouver Island.
Rivers and lakes
Canada holds a large share of the world’s fresh water.
Ontario and Quebec St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence links the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Explorers and fur traders used it to travel inland. Since 1959 the St. Lawrence Seaway has let large ships sail all the way to the Great Lakes.
Northwest Territories Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie is Canada’s longest river. With its tributaries it forms a system over 4,000 km long, flowing north from Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean.
Ontario and the United States The Great Lakes
Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth. Four of them are shared with the United States. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by area.
Northwest Territories Great Bear Lake
Great Bear Lake is the largest lake entirely inside Canada, at about 31,000 square kilometres. It lies across the Arctic Circle and is frozen for much of the year.
Mountains
The Rockies and the ranges of the far north-west.
5,959 m, Yukon Mount Logan
Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada and the second highest in North America. It stands in Kluane National Park and is covered in ice all year.
Alberta and British Columbia The Rocky Mountains
The Rockies run along the border of Alberta and British Columbia. Building the railway through their passes in the 1880s was one of the hardest tasks in creating Canada.
3,954 m, British Columbia Mount Robson
Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. It rises steeply above the Yellowhead Pass, one of the routes through the mountains.
National parks
Canada began protecting wild places in 1885; today there are national parks in every province and territory.
Alberta, since 1885 Banff
Banff is Canada’s first national park. It began around hot springs found by railway workers. Today it is known for Lake Louise, glaciers and wildlife such as elk and bears.
Alberta, since 1907 Jasper
Jasper is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, with glaciers, hot springs and lakes. It is a dark-sky preserve, so the stars and northern lights are easy to see.
Alberta and Northwest Territories, since 1922 Wood Buffalo
At about 44,800 square kilometres, Wood Buffalo is Canada’s largest national park, bigger than Switzerland. It was created to protect wood bison and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Newfoundland and Labrador, since 1973 Gros Morne
In Gros Morne you can walk on rock from deep inside the Earth that was pushed up to the surface. Its fjords and mountains made it a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Natural wonders
Waterfalls, tides, lights in the sky and the bones of dinosaurs.
Ontario and New York Niagara Falls
The Niagara River drops over cliffs between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The largest of the falls, the Horseshoe Falls, is mostly on the Canadian side. The falls also produce a lot of hydroelectric power.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, up to about 16 metres. Twice a day the sea rises and falls so much that boats are left sitting on the sea floor.
Northern Canada The northern lights
The aurora borealis appears as moving bands of green and purple light in the night sky. It is caused by particles from the Sun hitting the air high above the Earth, and is best seen in the North.
Alberta Dinosaur Provincial Park
This dry valley of strange rock shapes is one of the richest places on Earth for dinosaur fossils. Many dinosaur species have been found there, and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.