A Short History of Canada

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A Short History of Canada
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Canada has a rich and proud historya history
full of plenty of setbacks and even more
successes.  In the following article we will
discuss the various periods in Canadas history
and provide some pertinent information regarding
the developments that helped shape this great
nation into what it is today.
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Canada Prehistory
According to archaeologists, there is evidence
that the first natives in North America, of which
Canada makes up more than 40 percent, first
arrived some 40,000 years BCE (before the Common
Era) by crossing a land bridge which had formed
between Asia and Alaska during the latest Ice
Age.  In the United States, these people are
often referred to as Indians or Native
Americans, while in Canada they are usually
known as Aboriginal People, Native People or
People of the First Nations.  Because this
period of pre-history literally involves
thousands of years, below we have created a
time-line, beginning 9000 BCE,  that will help
you see some of the major developments at a
glance.
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Canada The First and Fight for Control Settlers

The earliest contact with what is now Canada is
thought to have been made by the Vikings in an
expedition led by Bjarni Herjólfsson, who was
blown off course en route from Iceland to
Greenland around 985 AD. However, there are no
records of this discovery save for Icelandic
sagas vague word-of-mouth accounts handed down
over the generations. The first European
contact noted in Canadian history was made by the
Italian explorer John Cabot sailing under the
patronage of King Henry VII of England.  In 1497,
in a quest to find a trade route to the Orient,
Cabot ended up somewhere on the eastern Canadian
coast and claimed it for the King.  This voyage,
and one subsequent in 1498, gave England a claim
by right of discovery to an indefinite amount of
area of eastern North America in fact, its later
claims to Newfoundland, Cape Breton and
neighboring regions were based partly on Cabot's
exploits.
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Canada  The Early Days of British Rule
After France was forced to give up its claim on
North America, England, which had now added to
their other Atlantic colonies, was faced with two
pressing problems.  There were now over 50,000
new French-speaking subjects in what had formerly
been New France.  Additionally, there were large
tracts of wilderness in the Great Lakes area
where the small garrisons of the British were
gravely outnumbered by the native Indians.
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Canada The 19 Century
During the American War of 1812 the Americans
invaded Canada but the Canadians were able to
turn them back.  However, the successful defense
of their newly formed country had not prevented
the Canadians from seeing the cracks in their own
form of government.  There were many citizens,
particularly the wealthy businessman and
landowners, who believed that the colonists had
sufficient powers of self-government through
their elected assemblies.  Others were upset,
that the real power did not lie in the hands of
the people through their elected representatives,
but with the governor who was responsible only to
the government in Britain.
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Canada The 20 and 21 Century
In the years before World War I, Canada faced one
of its most pressing foreign policy issues as a
naval competition increased between Germany and
Britain.  Great Britain naturally desired to
receive military help from the colonies.  The
Canadian Prime Minister at the time, Wilfrid
Laurier, found a compromise that satisfied
neither the pro-British faction nor the French
partisans. He founded the Canadian Navy in 1910
with the provision that in time of war it be
placed under British command. This quickly led to
accusations that Canadian soldiers would be
drafted into the British Army if war came.  As a
result, Laurier was defeated in the next election
of 1911.
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