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Geography of Canada

Location: Northern North America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean, north of the conterminous United States.

Canada is the second-largest country in the world in terms of area after Russia, with large portions of its territory being wilderness and sparsely populated. Canada has the longest "undefended" border in the world with the US. Nearly 90% of the population is concentrated within 160 km of the Canada-US border. Canada also has the world's longest coastline.

Geographic coordinates: 60° 00 N, 95° 00 W

Map references: North America

Area:

Area - comparative: Land boundaries: Coastline: 202,080 km

Maritime claims:

Maritime border countries: Climate: varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic in north

Terrain: Canada has a varied terrain. The west of the country is extremely mountainous with the Canadian Rockies being the largest range. The center area of the country is a vast sedimentary plain that makes up most of the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The northern parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec are located on a vast rock base known as the Canadian Shield. The Shield cannot support agriculture, but does have extensive mineral reserves. The plains of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are known as the "breadbasket", due to the massive tracts of (largely flat) arable agricultural land. The southern sections of Ontario and Quebec in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin are home to rich agricultural land hosting produce and dairy farming operations, as well as being the most populated part of the country. The Appalachian Mountains traverse New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, and the island of Newfoundland creating rolling hills indented by river valleys.

Elevation extremes:

Latitude and longitude extremes: Natural resources: iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, molybdenum, potash, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas, hydropower

Land use:

Irrigated land: 7,100 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: continuous permafrost in north is a serious obstacle to development; cyclonic storms form east of the Rocky Mountains, a result of the mixing of air masses from the Arctic, Pacific, and North American interior, and produce most of the country's rain and snow

Environment - current issues: air pollution and resulting acid rain severely affecting lakes and damaging forests; metal smelting, coal-burning utilities, and vehicle emissions impacting on agricultural and forest productivity; ocean waters becoming contaminated due to agricultural, industrial, mining, and forestry activities

Environment - international agreements:

Geography - note: During the Cold War Canada had a strategic location between Russia and US via the north polar route.

See also: Canada