Friday, May 20, 2016

Up with Geography: Canada

Country:
Canada

Capital:
Ottawa

Continent:
North America

Maps:
North American continent. Canada outlined in
dark ink & shaded.

A close-up of Canada & its neighbor.

Neighbors:
United States of America

Water Borders:
Pacific Ocean, Beaufort Sea, Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay, Labrador Sea, Atlantic Ocean

Total Area:
3,854,085 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton

Famous Geographical Point:
Great Bear Lake

Famous Person:
Doug Henning, magician

This was truly an embarrassment of riches - so many people to choose from - but I went with Doug Henning because I loved him when I was a kid (he had a guest spot on The Muppet Show). He's one of the few celebrity deaths to truly sadden me.

Book Set In/About:
White Fang by Jack London

It's a classic tale of one dog's (or, more accurately, one dog/wolf hybrid's) quest for survival in the harsh, unforgiving landscape of northwest Canada.

Movie Set In/About:
"One Week" (2008), directed by Michael McGowan

After being diagnosed with late-stage, low-survivability cancer, a young man gets on a motorcycle and sets out across Canada, from Toronto to British Columbia, to search for answers to life's questions.

Headline of the Day:
"Canada's Marijuana Legalization Plan Flouts 3 UN Drug Conventions" on CBC News.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

Eeek. I did not know that the capital was Ottawa. Thanks for teaching me that.

How many other countries only have a border with one other country? There can't be very many, right?

balyien said...

It's not like you ever hear much about Ottawa, right? You would think Toronto would be the capital.

There aren't many countries that have only one neighbor. Off the top of my head, I can think of Haiti and Dominican Republic, which share an island and are thus each other's only neighbor. Brunei has only one neighbor - it shares an island with Malaysia and Indonesia but only touches Malaysia. Papua New Guinea only has one neighbor, because it shares an island with Indonesia. Then there are the super tiny countries that are surrounded by other countries, like Lesotho (South Africa) and San Marino (Italy).

That Canada is so large and only has one neighbor is, I think, very strange.