CANADA - a journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific At the mere mention of the 
name Canada, every tourist dreams of wild, snow-covered mountains, enormous empty 
forests and long turbulent rivers, of still lakes, crackling log fires, bountiful 
fishing and the joy of seeing eagles, bears and elks in the flesh. The northern 
part of the American continent offers all this and more. Better connections have 
brought it within easier reach, but it is still a dreamland which has not lost 
any of its fascinating or magic, despite mass tourism. The enormous size and breadth 
of Canada alone are astonishing: 10 million square kilometres divided into ten 
Provinces and two Territories. It is the second largest country in the world, 
inhabited by not much more than 27 million people - a staggering concept for Europeans.
 
Two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, form the eastern and western boundaries. 
To the south, the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the 49th Parallel form 
the boarder with its American neighbour. To the Northwest it is bordered by the 
American State of Alaska, while in the north, the country dissolves into the Arctic 
ocean via a series of ever tinier islands and icebergs. On Canada's Atlantic coast, 
the storm-tossed island of Newfoundland fans out across the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
like a stony warder. The famous Trans-Canada-Highway, nearly 8000 kilometres long, 
begins in the provincial capital of St. John's, on the eastern tip of North America, 
and stretches straight across all of the provinces to Vancouver Island on the 
Pacific.

An overview of Canadian History Around the year 1000 Vikings landed on the eastern coast 
of Canada, nearly five hundred years before the official discovery 
of the New World by Columbus. A reconstruction of a settlement of thatched houses 
in Newfoundland is a reminder of these first European settlers on the North American 
continent. Five years later, in 1497, the Italian Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) 
who was in the employ of the English King Henry VII, travelled round the coast 
of what later became the Atlantic Provinces and claimed them for England. In the 
1630's, Jacques Cartier claimed the area around what was to become Quebec as French 
territory. Another seventy years would go by, however, before the first French 
settlement would be established in Port Royal. From the early 17th century onwards 
French explorers pressed further into the interior of the country, looking for 
new shores, while English marines sailed round the north of America unaware.

The British fur trading company, the Hudson's Bay Company, founded in 1670 under English 
royal patronage, put a stop to the uncontrolled French colonisation of Canada, 
and brought the entire countryside in its catchment area under its control. Battles 
between the two sides over land rights, spheres of influence, and rights to hunting 
and fishing grounds, became the norm over the next one hundred years, until the 
Treaty of Paris in 1736 settled ownership issues in North America once and for 
all. Although the majority of the population was clearly French, Canada fell to 
Britain. The Quebec Act of 1774 merely guaranteed the French cultural autonomy 
under British sovereignty. The English-speaking Canadians were joined by more 
fellow countrymen following the American War of Independence, when many Britons 
loyal to the mother country left the newly-formed United States of America. The 
old French Province of Quebec divided into the Anglophile Upper Canada and the 
Francophile Lower Canada (the modern-day Provinces of Ontario and Quebec). 

In the last war on Canadian soil, the British-American War of 1812 - 1814, a number 
of skirmishes took place on different fronts. The ensuing peace treaty fixed the 
actual border between the two provinces at the 49th Parallel. Towards the end 
of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, explorers like Alexander Mackenzie, 
Simon Fraser and David Thompson, in the employ of fur trading companies, opened 
the gateway to the west, up distant rivers and untrodden paths. By the first half 
of the 19th century the fur trade had reached its apex and was a lucrative business 
for the white, for whom the Indians acted as suppliers and merchants in the wilderness. 

The Dominion of Canada was founded in 1867, with the Provinces of Nova Scotia, 
New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. Politically, the new country enjoyed internal 
self-government, but it was firmly tied to its distant but immensely powerful 
motherland insofar as trade was concerned. Two years later, Canada acquired the 
landholdings of the Hudson's Bay Company, the so-called Rupert's Land. This area 
became the Western provinces of Manitoba (1870), Alberta and Saskatchwan (1905) 
as we know them today. In 1885 the Canadian Pacific Railway achieved the first 
transcontinental railway link between the east and west coasts of this vast country 
and triggered off the rush to settle the Pacific Province of British Columbia. 

The Statute of Westminster in 1931 conferred on Canada complete autonomy from 
the motherland of Great Britain. Newfoundland joined the Dominion of Canada in 
1949 as the tenth and last province, whilst the huge area of the northern territories 
(the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories), which are largely inhabited 
by Inuit and Indians, also came under the rule of Ottawa, the federal capital. 
In the 1960's Canada saw a resurgence of conflict between its French- and English-speaking 
people. The Separatist Movement of Quebec was rekindled after a visit to Montreal 
by the French President Charles de Gaulle, who supported a free Quebec. As a result, 
countless businesses moved their headquarters from French-speaking Montreal to 
English-speaking Toronto, which rapidly became the largest Canadian city. The 
election of Pierre Trudeau in 1968 brought bilingualism to Canada and greater 
autonomy to the provinces. Calls for independence for Quebec gradually waned. 

In 1982 the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, signed the Constitution Act, 
thus severing the last legal tie between Canada and Great Britain. Since 1968 
every change to the Constitution had required British consent. Canada, however, 
remains a member of the Commonwealth and Elizabeth II remains the sovereign. The 
1990's have brought enormous political changes to Canada. The US-Canadian Free 
Trade Agreement allows the unimpeded trade of goods and services between the two 
countries. The Inuits and Indians as native Canadians are demanding greater political 
rights. And the Quebec Separatist Movement is again raising its head in strident 
tone. The French province is insisting on constitutional recognition as a distinct 
society with overriding political rights, but it has so far failed to carry it 
through. NEWFOUNDLAND On the Avalon Peninsula, on the eastern tip of Newfoundland, 
a colourful sea of houses in the island's capital of St. John is the nearest town 
to Europe of all the cities and towns of North America. The Trans-Canada-Highway 
arches across the island in a huge curve some 900 kilometres long, starting at 
St. John's, where the distance marker reads "0", and along the craggy coastline 
with its tiny picturesque fishing villages. If the Canadian West was shaped by 
wheat and cattle ranching, fishing has shaped the civilization of Newfoundland. 

Coastal and deep-sea fishing are the commercial backbone of the Province. Hundred 
of tiny fishing villages like Salvage, Harbour Grace and Pouch Cove are dotted 
around the wild fjords and the bays. So for many Newfoundlanders home is a coastal 
village of less than a hundred houses, where fishing is a way of life, and many 
practics have not changed for generations. And life at sea is harsh and often 
brings few rewards. Many young people escape the remote loneliness of these small 
villages for the capital, St. John's, the largest town and most important port 
in Newfoundland. St. John's, the capital city, lies on the Avalon Peninsula, facing 
the Atlantic Ocean in the extreme east of the province. It is a modern, bustling 
seaport that offers good restaurants, interesting night-life and many shopping 
opportunities. The city is built on steep, rocky hills, and close to the harbour 
its narrow streets are filled with brightly-coloured wooden houses. NOVA SCOTIA 
A car ferry crosses the Cabot Strait from Port-aux-Basques to Sydney in a seven-hour 
journey. On the central southern coast of Nova Scotia a 26 kilometres long arm 
juts out to sea from the long peninsula to the provincial capital of Halifax. 

Halifax has retained all the charm of a "small large town", despite, being the 
commercial hub of the Atlantic Provinces. Dinghies, sailing, boats, cargoships, 
yachts and ferries form a splendid backdrop to the glass-walled office towers 
and restored historic buildings which dominate the skyline. The harbour walls, 
the old inner city and the Citadel all date from the early part of the 19th century. 
The mighty Citadel, one of the best examples of Canadian fortress building of 
the 19th century, stand guard over this small city and most important port on 
the transatlantic route. An excursion to Peggy's Cove, not far from Halifax, is 
a must. It is surely the most picturesque fishing village in the Atlantic Provinces. 

This village has a population of barely 100 inhabitants and it has always been 
a magnet for artists. The graceful lighthouse on top of the granite cliffs and 
the cheerful colours of the boats and houses have been captured in countless photographs 
and paintings. Despite its enormous popularity and its short distance from Halifax, 
Peggy's Cove has not lost any of its natural charm or appeal. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
This island is in complete contrast to the bleak, crenellated coast of its neighbours. 
It looks a bit like a lobster on the map, lying at the door of Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick. Although it is the smallest Canadian province, it is nevertheless 
connected to the main thoroughfare, the Trans-Canada-Highway, by a network of 
charming country roads, which criss-cross acres of potato and cornfields. 

Prince Edward Island is an peaceful, rural, agrarian island and it certainly doesn't 
look like the most densely populated province of Canada. The only large town on 
the island is the capital Charlottetown, where the nation of Canada was founded 
in 1864. Fishing brings the island essential income, and Charlottetown, is a reminder 
of its former importence as a colonial port. In the interior of the island, potato 
fields and green pastures, peaceful villages and gently winding waterways dominate 
the scene. NEW BRUNSWICK In New Brunswick we forsake the Trans-Canada-Highway 
for the coast road from Moncton along the Bay of Fundy. In Fundy National Park 
you can witness the phenomenal 16 metre high tides. Particularly dramatic are 
the Flowerpot Rocks in the north of the Park. The wonderful shapes of the Flowerpot 
Rocks were fashioned by the spectacular tides in the Bay of Fundy, the highest 
in the world. The funnel shape of the elongated bay accounts for the phenomenal 
height of the tides - a natural spectacle which transforms the rocks into isolated 
in just a few hours. The shores of New Brunswick and the St. John River are fairly 
developed, but the interior of the province, criss-crossed by numerous rivers, 
is largely uninhabited. QUEBEC In Quebec we rejoin the Trans-Canada-Highway which 
runs along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. Enormous ocean-going ships 
and tankers pass us in both directions on the river, the arterial life-blood of 
Quebec. The majority of the population of Quebec is still concentrated near the 
river and farming is still a major industry. With the construction of the St. 
Lawrence Seaway between 1951 and 1959 Canada and the United States of America 
achieved an astonishing feat by creating a shipping thoroughfare between the Atlantic 
Ocean and the Great Lakes. The Seaway is one of the major waterways of the world.

The Chateau Frontenac, which opened its doors as a hotel in 1893, greets visitors 
to Quebec like a faithful servant. Its green copper roofs are a familiar and reassuring 
sight to the ships steaming past on the river below the town. Quebec is the only 
city north of Mexico surrounded by a city wall. And no other North American town 
has such a decidedly European air. Every visitor is overcome by his Gallic charm. 
The populace retained their French language and culture, despite French abdiction 
to the British. Livilier, busier and more "Canadian" than Quebec is Montreal, 
which lies at the confluence of the St. Lawrence River and the Ottawa River. Montreal 
is like a small piece of France, combined with its inescapable influences of its 
large neighbour, the USA, and yet still typically Canadian. The most populated 
city in the Province of Quebec and the second largest city in Canada possesses 
one of the most important deep-sea ports in the country, although it is 1,600 
km from the open sea. Within the city boundaries Montreal has some stunning examples 
of French-Canadian ecclesiastical architecture. Not far from the Old Quarter modern 
skyscraper symbolise the harmony of the old and the new, like the successful architecture 
of the inner courtyard of the Banking-House. ONTARIO Ontario spans more than 15 
degrees of latitude from the Great Lakes in the south to Hudson Bay in the north. 

Water dominates the topography - it is said that there are approximately a quarter 
of a million in addition to countless rivers and marshes. We follow the Ottawa 
River on the Trans-Canada-Highway, the water border with Quebec. We soon reach 
the pleasant, stylish and somewhat formal Canadian capital. Its Parliament Buildings 
have been the centre of Canadian politics since the founding of the nation in 
1867. The entire city can best seen from the 90 m high Peace Tower, the city's 
highest structure. The Parliament Hill is the starting point for most tourists' 
trips round the city and the scene for the daily changing of the Guard ceremony. 

Colourful spectacles such as the Highland Parade are reminders of the federal 
capital's British origins. From Ottawa the Trans-Canada-Highway leads into the 
heartland of Ontario. The glittering metropolis of Toronto sprawls along the west 
shore of Lake Ontario whilst the Niagara Falls not far away astound the visitor 
with their natural beauty. The city of Toronto rises out of waters of Lake Ontario 
like an island of trees. The 533 metre high CN-Tower, the tallest free-standing 
structure in the world, and the Sky Dome, the new multi-purpose sports stadium, 
dominate the skyline of the largest city in Canada. The Eaton Centre, a modern 
enclosed and one of the world's biggest shopping mall, was built in 1970, bringing 
a new sparkle to the city centre and starting a trend for such schemes in numerous 
other cities in North America. The scale and stylishness of the four floors of 
shops, restaurants, pubs and cinemas astonish every visitor. Not far from Toronto 
are the most famous waterfalls in the world - the Niagara Falls. The Niagara River 
rushes with a thunderous roar and a tireless torrent of water over the 54 m high 
and 670 m wide horseshoe-shaped Canadian Falls. The highway crosses over to Lake 
Superior. We are nearing Thunder Bay, which sits at the end of the St. Lawrence 
Seaway and is the third largest port in Canada. Travelling further west on the 
highway we enter the neighbouring province of Manitoba. MANITOBA Enormous wheatfields 
today cover the area which was once the vast grassy plain of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. 

Via the Trans-Canada-Highway we reach Winnipeg, the provincial capital of Manitoba 
and the undisputed business and cultural centre of the eastern prairies. For 7,000 
years Winnipeg was a meeting place for tribes and Indians. White trappers later 
also came to appreciate the value of this region. The statue of the Golden Bay 
holding a wheatsheaf, which sits on the dome of the government buildings, symbolises 
the economic importance of agriculture. The woods and lakes of Ontario make way 
for broad wheatfields of southern Manitoba. Gigantic harvesters rake grooves across 
the enormous fields in late summer. SASKATCHEWAN In Saskatchewan the dry plains 
of the south reach further north than in Manitoba, where the cities of Regina 
and Saskatoon have grown into major conurbations of equal size. The expanding 
of the provincial capital Regina, commercially well situated on the Trans-Canada-Highway, 
was really due to the railways, as in so many other towns in the west of Canada. 

Regina is inextricably connected with the red uniformed "Mounties", or Royal Canadian 
Mounted Police. This legendary police force, which was once a mounted troupe, 
is synonymous with Canada. ALBERTA In appearance the most westerly of the Prairie 
Provinces, Alberta, is very much like its eastern neighbours Saskatchewan and 
Manitoba. In the south, enormous grassy plains stretch before you, while north 
of Edmonton the monotonous expanses of dense spruce forest cover nearly two-thirds 
of the province. However, in total contrast to the relatively featureless prairies, 
the imposing Rocky Mountains virtually hit you in the eye on the western border 
with British Columbia. The chain of the snow covered Rocky Mountains rises above 
the prairies in southern Alberta, a fantastic panorama which can best be seen 
on a clear day from the 190 metre high Calgary Tower. With the arrival of the 
railways, the city of Calgary sprang up. The modern era arrived in 1914 when oil 
drilling began to the south of the city. A busy, urbane city today sprawls at 
the edge of the prairies. The Olympic Winter Games of 1988 finally brought Calgary 
into the international limelight. Every Year since 1922, the Calgary Stampede 
transforms Alberta for ten days in July and drives it wild with rodeo fever.

At the "greatest open-air show in the world", as it is unashamedly called, wild horses 
and experienced cowboys tangle in the arena and snorting bulls display their awesome 
strength. The highlights of those events are the nightly Chuckwagon Races, when 
horses, riders and carriages career round a course. The Rocky Mountains are just 
an hour's drive from Calgary on the Trans-Canada-Highway. The mountains account 
for only a fraction of the province's total area, but the National Parks of Banff 
and Jasper are the greatest tourist attractions in western Canada. The primitive 
beauty of the Rocky Mountains can best be seen at Crowsnest Pass. Trees grown 
into bizarre shapes stand sentinel on the continental shelf. Massive snow-covered 
mountain peaks and deep blue mountain lakes are dominating the scenery of Banff 
National Park. The Trans-Canada-Highway, the only Road in the oldest Canadian 
national park, nofollows the old railway line built by the Canadian Pacific Railways 
in the end of the 19th century. BRITISH COLUMBIA The westernmost province of Canada 
has an unbeatable variety of scenery and landscape. Travelling along the Trans-Canada-Highway 
is the best way to get to know the spectacular mountain landscape of the National 
Parks of Yoho, Glacier and Revelstoke. "Yoho" is an expression of astonishment 
and wonder in the Kootenay Indian language. The men who worked on the Canadian 
Pacific Railway were taken with the fabulous mountain scenery when they laid their 
tracks in 1884. The Trans-Canada-Highway runs parallel to the railway since 1927. 

94 per cent of the woodland of British Columbia belongs to the Province, which 
gives licences to the forestry industry to fell trees in certain chosen areas. 
Whole mountain-sides fall victim to massive clear-cutting which, although cost 
effective, is ecologically questionable. But pulp and paper factories and sawmills 
are the largest employers in British Columbia. For the last few kilometres before 
the Trans-Canada-Highway reaches Vancouver, it meanders along just to the north 
of the Canadian-American border through the wide, fruit-bearing Fraser Canyon. 

The bustling million-strong city of Vancouver, the largest port and the third-largest 
city in Canada, lies in a uniquely attractive position between the Coast Mountains 
and the delta mouth of the Fraser River. It grew from a tiny gold-mining settlement 
in the middle of the 19th century into the most flourishing and populated commercial 
centre in the Province of British Columbia with the arrival in 1886 of the first 
transcontinental railway in Canada. Many say that Vancouver is the most beautiful 
Canadian city, and it is certainly true that the combination of the Coast Mountains 
and the ocean make a stunning backdrop for the largest city in the western provinces. 

The Lion's Gate Bridge connects Downtown and Stanley Park with West and North 
Vancouver. The bridge is particularly stunning by night, when it is brilliantly 
illuminated. At the heart of Vancouver lies Robson Square in Robson Street, the 
perfect meeting place for young and old, for locals and tourists. The unique Stanley 
Park is Vancouver's "green lung". No other city in North America with over a million 
inhabitants can boast such an extensive park so close to the city, with an 80 
km long network of cycle- and footpaths. Various west coast Indian tribes have 
set their beautiful totem poles as landmarks in Stanley Park. After a short ferry 
trip from Vancouver to Nanaimo, the last few kilometres of the Trans-Canada-Highway 
are leading to the province's capital. Victoria lies at the southern tip of Vancouver 
Island, an area blessed with a wonderful climate of mild winters and moderately 
warm summers. The city was named after Queen Victoria and to this day retains 
a peculiarly English charm not to be found elsewhere outside Great Britain. Life 
in Victoria revolves around the colourful Inner Harbour, where ferries from the 
United States, seaplanes and yachts moor up. The harbour sparkles at night. Pavement 
artists, street musicians and entertainers and their audiences rendezvous here. 

Passengers can also admire the gaily lit provincial government buildings. The 
last rainforests of Canada, with their centuries-old giant redwoods, cover much 
of the extensive remote mountain regions of the west coast of Vancouver Island. 
The influential forestry industry has often cast its eye longingly over them. 
The island's inhabitants are inevitably drawn into the great controversy between 
the ecological importance of protecting the last great nature reserve and the 
economic importance of deforestation. PANORAMIC CANADA facts about Canada: capital: 

Ottawa on the Quebec/Ontario border second largest country in the world 10 million 
square kilometres 10 Provinces 2 Territories inhabitants: not much more than 27 
million people boundaries: two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, form the 
eastern and western boundaries, with 89 degrees longitude between them the St. 
Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the 49th Parallel form the border with its 
American neighbour in the south to the northwest it is bordered by the American 
State of Alaska in the north, the country dissolves into the Arctic Ocean via 
a series of ever tinier islands and icebergs history: around the year 1000 Vikings 
landed on the eastern coast of Canada, nearly five hundred years before the official 
discovery of the New World by Columbus from the early 17th century onward French 
explorers pressed further into the interior of the country 1670: the British fur 
trading company, the Hudson's Bay Company was founded 1736: the Treaty of Paris 
settled ownership issues in North America 1774: the Quebec Act 1867: the Dominion 
of Canada was founded 1885: first transcontinental railway link between the east 
and west coasts 1931: the Statute of Westminster conferred on Canada complete 
autonomy from the motherland of Great Britain 1949: Newfoundland joined the Dominion 
of Canada 1982: the British monarch, Queen Elisabeth II, signed the Constitution 
Act