Transcript regional geography of canada

REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF
CANADA
Social Studies 9/10
Chapter Notes
CANADA: A REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY
What regions are evident?
Five Themes of Canada’s Geography
 Location: relative and absolute
 Place: human and physical
 Human and Environment Interactions: adaptation,
modification, dependence
 Movement: migration and transportation
 Regions: consistent, focused, aligned, linked
Canada: territorial template over
satellite photo composite
Divisions and Places
Placing the Canadian
map
Political divisions:
provinces and territories
Fundamentals of physical geography
 Geology-process,
structure, time
 Topography-relief,
slope
 Soils-texture, pH,
organic matter
 Vegetation-water,
arboreal, ecotone
 Climate-air mass,
current,
precipitation,
temperature,
system
Underlying geology
 Pink: precambrian
granites
 Green: younger
sediments
 Yellow: faulted and
meta-morphized
sediments
 Blue: older sediments
Glacial legacy
 Wisconsin-last ice age,
maximum 18,000 yrs. BP
 Southern limitsWisconsin and Ohio
Valley
 Recedes-15,000-7,000
yrs. BP
 Covers virtually all of
Canada and northern US
 Ice free corridor from
Alaska through Yukon
into northern BC
Remnant glacial landscapes
 Ice margin
 End moraine
 Glacial lakes
 Spillways
 Kettle lakes
 Eskers
 Drumlins
 Till plain
 Erratic
Glacial till and erratic
esker
Drumlin and drumlin field
Glacial lake Louise and Paternoster
Lakes
St. Lawrence Lowlands
 Less than 2% of
landmass; smallest
region
 Windsor to Quebec City
 Sedimentary geology
with glacial deposits
 Moderate climate
 Fertile soils
 Long growing season
 Close to the US
 Canadian HEARTLAND
French Canadian ‘long lot’ farms and
Niagara Falls
The Great Lakes and Ottawa
Toronto climate
Canadian Shield
 50% of Canada’s
landmass; largest region
 Almost entirely contained
in Canada
 Geological core underlies
North America
 Precambrian rocks more
than 3 billion yrs.
 Exposed granite and
shallow soils
 Glaciation evident
 Mixed Boreal forest
 Northern continental
climate
Canadian shield vistas
Ste. Agathe climate
Appalachian Uplands
 Over 2% of landmass
 Northern part of
Appalachians
 Rounded uplands and
plateaux
 Numerous islands along
drowned shoreline
 Narrow river valleys
 Rocky, shallow soils
 Mixed forests
 Cool maritime climate
 Short summer wet, winter
Interior farms and forests, coastal
settlements
Fredericton, NB
Hudson Bay Lowlands
 Over 3.5% landmass
 Muskeg or wet peat lands
 Many lakes
 Low ridges of sand and
gravel
 Poorly drained
 Level
 Northern climate
 Maritime influence
 Short, warm summer
 Long, cold winter
Moosonee climate graph and Hudson
Bay Lowland vista
Interior Plains
 About 20% land mass
 Geologic base of
sedimentary rock
 Shaped by glaciation and
re-directed drainage
 Incised river valleys
 Slopes up from east to
west with rich soils
 Hudson’s Bay watershed
 Oil and gas deposits
 Continental climate
 Moderate to low
precipitation
Plains agriculture and Regina climate
graph
Cordillera
 Region of intra-regional
differences
 About 16% of land mass
 Formed 40-80 million years
ago from collision of North
American and Pacific Plates
 Rockies up thrust sediments
 Coastal mountains volcanic:
‘ring of fire’
 Glaciers remain in Alpine
areas
 Fertile valleys and deltas
 Coniferous
 Multiple micro-climates
Mountains and valleys
Banff and Victoria climate graphs
Arctic lowlands
 About 13% land mass
 Coastal plains and
lowlands
 Islands and drowned
shorelines
 Sedimentary
 Permafrost
 Frost action is the main
geomorphic process
 Polar desert with very low
precipitation
 Extreme arctic climate
conditions
Iqaluit climate graph and Arctic
Lowlands vista
Innuitian Mountains
 About 12% land mass
 Plateaux and mountains
 Extreme glaciation and
extensive weathering of
sedimentary rock
 Extensive coastal
drowning and fjiords
 Islands
 Uplifting and isostatic
rebound
 Extreme cold
 Pack ice and ice flows
 Glacier calving
Arctic mountain scenery and resolute
climate graph
Drainage: Well drained south; poorly
drained north
Climate
 Continental and maritime
influences
 Prevailing winds
 Jet stream
 Mountain effects
 Air masses
 Freezing point
 Seasonal variability
 Precipitation
 Cloud cover
 Evaporation
Where are the people? Population
distribution
 In cities near the USA
 80% in cities over 100,000
 80% within 100km of the US
border
 ‘main street Canada’: Windsor
to Quebec City
 Agricultural western interior
 Coastal and river valley
settlement in Atlantic region
 Resource points in the Shield
and the North
 Western cordillera valleys and
the BC coast
Canada CMAs and Population
Change, 1996-2001
Canada’s Urban and Agricultural
settlement Archipelago
 Pattern set over 100
years ago
 Islands of population and
settlement amid a vast,
inhospitable and often
empty land
 Contrast between
heartland and hinterland
 Regional centers
 Hugging the border
 The empty north
The People, Place, Region
Relationship
Resource
extraction
periphery
Rural sphere
Suburban
area
Urban center
 Canada has always had urban
centers where most people
lived and worked
 Urban centers were
surrounded by a rural sphere
to constitute the heartland
 Beyond the rural lands, towns
and villages, a sparsely
populated resource extraction
periphery or hinterland
extended to the farthest
reaches of the country
 With transportation advances
people moved to the
commuting suburbs of cities
Three Popular Canadian Explanations
and One Not So Popular Bilateral
Explanation
Canada as a storehouse of raw
materials: old and new explanations
Fisheries, then and now: Historic
Grand Banks; Pacific Salmon catch
and prospects
Fur trade legacy
Renewable forestry
Agricultural potential
Agricultural production
Minerals and Mining
Mining potential
Oil
Metropolitan Heartland
 “main street Canada”
 Red area is continuous
urban ribbon
 Green area is adjacent
commuter shed and
integrated use region
 Toronto and Montreal
metropolitan cores linked
to other growth centers
along the spine
BC lower mainland and calgaryedmonton corridor
Financial services
CN and CP railway systems
Airports and airport authorities
Ethnic diversity
Ethnic “minorities” in cities
 Toronto: Canada’s
cosmopolitan leader
 Allophones in Montreal
 Asian populations expand
in most cities
 Black populations in
most Canadian cities but
predominate in east
 Aboriginal populations
growing in all urban
centers
Canada’s regional character: socioeconomic regions shaped by
Shape affected by:
Topography
 Heartland/Hinterlands
relations
Cultural
identity
Historical
patterns
Political
boundaries
 Confluence of political,
cultural and social
dynamics=regional
identity
 Proximity of the US
Language
Meshing physiography and human
geography to comprehend Canada’s
Regions
Canada’s regions map
 North and south
distinguished
 Settlement and
urbanization
acknowledged
 Cultures recognized
 Political divisions
sustained
 Traditional aggregates
Placing Canada into temporal and
geographical context
 1000s of years of
indigenous human
presence
 European contact over
centuries: late 15th to 19th
 European re-settlement by
force, treaty, depopulation
(disease)
 Historical geography
matters socially, politically
and ecologically
 Map shows Canada at
Confederation
Canada in global context
(globalization index)
Global
Relationships
Global
Linkages
Bordering
Canadian
participation
in
globalization
Current “Geographical” Issues
 Native land claims: British
Columbia, the North,
creation of Nunavut
 Environmental crises:
energy, climate change,
forest degradation
 Borders: US, Arctic
 Federal/Provincial: the
national/regional power
balancing act, fiscal
control
 City growth and
expansion: newcomers,
transportation, crime,
planning
Key words and concepts
Physical Geography
Geography Basics

Air mass

Alpine

Appalachian

Adaptation

Archipelago

Human and environment
interaction

Arctic Lowlands

Boreal

Location

Canadian Shield

Place

Continental climate

Province

Cordilleran

Region

Drainage system

Territorial template

Drumlin

Territory

Drowned shoreline

End moraine
Physical Geography (cont.)
 Erratic
 Esker
 Fjiord
 Glacial lake
 Glaciation
 Glacier calving
 Hudson Bay Lowlands
 Ice free corridor
 Incised valley
 Innuitian
 Interior Plains
 Isostatic rebound
 Jetstream
 Kettle lake
 Maritime climate
 Micro-climate
 Muskeg
 Pack ice
 Paternoster lakes
 Peatlands
 Permafrost
 Physiographic region
 Plant hardiness zone
 Polar desert
 Precambrian
Physical Geography (cont.)

Relief

‘Ring of Fire’

Sedimentary

Spillway

St. Lawrence Lowlands

Topography

Till plain

Wisconsin glaciation
Human Geography

Aboriginal

Agri-food

Airport authority

Allophone

Borderland relationship

Borders

CMA

CN and CP

Commuter shed

Climate change

Corridor

Confederation

Cultural identity

European contact

Energy crisis

Ethnic diversity

Ethnic minority

Federal/Provincial issues
Human Geography (cont.)

Forest heritage

Fur trade

Global linkages

Physical disunity

Global relationships

Population density

Globalization Index

Resource extraction periphery

Grand Banks

Resource points

Heartland/Hinterland

Rural sphere

Indigenous

Staples development

‘Main Street Canada’

Suburban area

Metropolitan core

Urban center

Mineral lease

Native land claims

Oil pipeline
References

Adams, Michael, Fire and Ice: The United
States, Canada, and the Myth of
Converging Values. Toronto: penguin,
2003.

Bone, Robert M. The Regional Geography
of Canada. Don Mills: Oxford, 2005.

Lemon, James T. Liberal Dreams and
Nature’s Limit: Great Cities of North
America Since 1600. Toronto: Oxford,
1996.

Lipset, Seymour M. Continental Divide:
The Values and Institutions of the United
States and Canada. New York:
Routledge, 1990.

McCann, L. D., ed., A Geography of
Canada: Heartland and Hinterland.
Scarborough: Prentice-Hall, 1982
(several later editions).

Warkentin, John, Canada: A Regional
Geography. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall,
1997.

Many maps and images may be obtained
at the following websites as well as
through search engines:
www.canadainfolink.ca/geog.htm
http://atlas.nrcan.gc/site/english/index.html

Any comprehensive atlas of Canada is an
asset

See also, Historical Atlas of Canada. 3
volumes. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press.