Міністерство науки і освіти України
Патентно - комп'ютерний коледж
Реферат
«Англомовні країни»
«English speaking countries»
Canada
Робота студента І-го
факультету розробки ПЗ
Колєсніка Євгенія В.
Науковий керівник-
викладач Василенко Л.М.
Харків, 2010 рік.
План реферату
Вступ. Introduction.
Географічне положення. Geography.
Гографічні області. Giographical Regions.
Клімат в погода. Climate and Weather.
Природа. Nature.
Центральні провінції Квебек. Central Provinces Quebec.
Центральні провінції Онтаріо. Central Provinces Ontario.
Провінція, розташована в преріях Манітоба. Prairie Provinces Manitoba
Провінція, розташована в преріях Саскачеван. Prairie Provinces Saskatchewan.
Провінція, розташована в преріях Альберта. Prairie Provinces Alberta.
Pre - Colonial Canada
It is believed that Aboriginal peoples arrived from Asia thousands of years ago by way of a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Some of them settled in Canada while others chose to continue to the south. When the European explorers arrived, Caanada was populated by a diverse range of Aboriginal peoples who, depending on the environment, lived nomadic or settled lifestyles, were hunters, fishermen or farmers.
First contacts between the native peoples and Europeans probably occurred about 1000 years ago when the Icelandic Norsemen settled for a brief time on the island of Newfoundland. But it would be another 600 years before European exploration began in earnest.
The name “Canada” is believed to have originated with its first inhabitants, since the natives used the world “kanata” to describe a settlement. The term is thought to have been picked up by European discoverers, who changed it to its present spelling.
GEOGRAPHY
From Sea to Sea and Farther to the North
Canadians, of whom there are more tnan 30 million, become accustomed to the disproportional size of the country by the time they have studied its geography at school. Newcomers to Canada - if they know nothing else about it - know that it is capacious. But most cannot help but be impressed with even the most basik statistics on our planet`s second biggest nation, which is exceeded in area only by Russia. Occupying over 9,976,000 square kilometres, Canada extends from the Northwest Territories` Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island - a relative hop and skip from the North Pole - to Pelee Island in Ontario`s portion of Lake Erie - and with the same latitude as central Spain. Canada`s neighbour across the Arctic Ocean is Russia. That is a north-south distance of 2,850 miles. The east to west span is 5,780 miles - from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, to Mount St. Elias, the Yukon Territory - six distinct time zones. Canada`s border with the United States is one of the longest: it extends 8,892 km and is broken by scores of entry-exit points between the two nations. It is near this frontier that some 85 per cent of the Canada`s populace is clustered.
In between these points there are thirteen principal subdivisions - ten provinces and three territiries that embrace most of the vast north, accounting for 38 per cent of Canada`s area and an infinitesimal fraction of its population (about 0,3 per cent).
Water Expanse and Water Ways
Three great oceans - the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic, wash Canada`s shores. It has estimated that Canada has 1/7 of the world fresh water. All but one of the Great Lakes (Michigan) are partially Canadian. Enormous Hudson Bay is exlusively Canadian, as there are rich massive but relatively little known inland seas as the Great Bear Lake (31,326 sq km), the Great Slave Lake - just a bit smaller - and Lake Winni peg, which is bigger than Lake Ontario.
It is through Canada that the St. Lawrence Seaway flows some 3,058 km - making possible big-scale shipping from Atlantic ports all the way to harbours on the Great Lakes, in the heart of the continent.
Canada`s longest river, the Mackenzie, which flows 4,241 kilometres, drains into the Arctic Ocean; the Columbia and the Fraser rivers flow into the Pacific; the Nelson and the Churchill connect with Hudson Bay; The Yukon drains into the Bering Sea; and the Saskatchewan empties into Lake Winni peg.
Geographical Regions
Geographically there are seven principal Canadian regions. The Appalachians, in the east, takes in relatively small Atlantic provinces and a portion of south-eastern Quebek; this is a land of lovely hills and gentle plains, much of it is devoted to farming and forestry.
The St. Lawrence Lowlands, between the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, is a fertile area of dairy farms, fruit orchards, and tobacco plantations, rich in industry, which is made possible by extensive and inexpensive hydroelectric power.
The Canadian Shield is the country`s largest geographic unit - covering almost half of Canada. This horseshoe shaped area of ancient terrain is a mass of rocks, of many lakes and of endless swamplands. It is sparsely populated but exceedingly rich not only in timber but in nickel, gold, platinum, cobalt, uranium, silver, copper, and iron ore.
Still other riches come from the Interior Plains, which sweep across Prairie provinces north through the Mackenzie River Valley, to the Arctic Coast. The southern part of the Plains is as flat as a pancake, but fertile and constitutes Canada`s magnificent wheat lands. In recent decades they have yielded, besides the golden wheat, liquid gold - oil from beneath the surface, and natural gas as well.They are bordered on the north by thick forest lands.
To the West of the Plains lies the Canadian Cordillera. This is the region of Western Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon, which comprise the glorious Canadian Rockies as well as the Mackenzie and the Stikine Mountains and the peaks of St. Elias and the Coast Ranges. It is in this area that one finds Mount Logan, in the Yukon - Canada`s highest peak climbing some 19,850 feet skywards. Not the entire region is mountainous, though. The interior of British Columbia is a land of plateaus and valleys prosperous with orchards and cattle ranches.
The Pacific Coast bathed by warm, moist Pacific air currents, the British Columbia coast, indented by deep fjords and shielded from Pacific storms by Vancouver Island, has the most moderate climate of Canada`s regions. Vancouver Island`s West Coast receives an exceptional amount of rain, giving it a temperate rain forest climate. Although it does not contain the diversity of species of a tropical rain forest, the island`s west coast does have the oldest and tallest trees in Canada: western red cedars 1.300 years old and Douglas firs 90 metres high.
The Arctic North of the tree-line is a land of harsh beauty. During the short summer, when daylight is nearly continuous and a profusion of flowers blooms in the tundra, the temperature can reach 30 C. Yet the winters are long, bitterly cold and dark. North of the mainland is a maze of islands separated by convoluted straits and sounds, the most famous of which link together to form the fabled Northwest Passage, the route to the Orient sought by so many early explorers.
Climate and Weather
There are many climatic variations in this huge country, ranging from the permanently frozen icecaps north of the 70th parallel to the luxuriant vegetation of the British Columbia`s West Coast. Canada`s most populous regions, which lie in the country`s south along the U.S. border, enjoy four distinct seasons. Here daytime summer temperatures can rise to 35C and higher, while lows of - 25 C are not uncommon in winter. More moderate temperatures are norm in spring and fall.
The seasons dictate the look of the land: according to whether the natural environment is in a state of dormancy or growth, Canadians may go alpine skiing or water skiing. While seasonal change signals fluctuations in temperature and the number of hours of sunshine, the shifting position of air masses also plays a part. The usual air flow from west to east is disrupted in winter when cold, dry air moves down from the Arctic and in summer when warm, tropical air moves up from the south-east. Added to these factors are the effect of mountain ranges, plains and large bodies of water.
Forests
Stretching over nearly half of Canada`s land area are dense forests of spruce and hemlock, pine, cedar, birch, maple, ash, elm and fir. Once an obstacle to settlement, now the forests are a chief source of Canada`s wealth. The industries based on forest products employ hundreds of thousands of men and women. Thousands of sawmills are in use. The production of pulp and its conversion to newsprint is the leading single industry. Forests provide lumber for a growing country`s homes and schools and factories, railway ties, poles and fence posts for its spreading settlement. They supply the furniture factories and publishing houses. A resource both valuable and beautiful, the forests are protected and cherished by people and the state.
Wildlife
In the Arctic zone the polar bear, the musk-ox, the caribou, the Arctic fox, the lemming are still in abundance.
To the South in the area stretching from Alaska to the Gulf of St. Lawrence is the home of the woodland caribou and a few distinctive species of birds.
In the Canadian zone, corresponding in the main with the coniferous-forest belt, are found nearly all the species of mammals and birds that are recognized as distinctively Canadian. These include the moose, the Canada lynx, the beaver and the Canada jay.
In the agricultural areas of the Prairie Provinces and most of the southern Ontario varieties of birds overlap. Typical summer birds are the bluebird, the Baltimore oriole and the catbird, the prairie chicken and the sharp-tailed grouse. Typical mammals are the grey and red squirrels, the mink and the skunk. Certain mammals are peculiar to the prairies: the pronghorn antelope, the jack rabbit and the ground squirrels or gophers. In a small area along the north side of Lake Erie are found the opossum, birds - the mocking-bird and the cardinal.
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