Indigenous societies[edit]

Main article: Indigenous peoples in Canada

Further information: Technological and industrial history of Canada § The Stone Age: Fire (14,000 BC

– AD 1600)

The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the last glacial period (about 10,000

years ago), when the Laurentide Ice Sheet receded.

Archeological and Indigenous genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were the last

continents into which humans migrated.[1] During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50,000–17,000 years ago,

falling sea levels allowed people to move gradually across the Bering land bridge (Beringia),

from Siberia into northwest North America.[2] At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide Ice

Sheet that covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska and the Yukon for thousands of

years.[3] The exact dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing

debate.[4][5]

By 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia,

and into Canada.[6] The Haida Gwaii islands, Old Crow Flats, and the Bluefish Caves contain some of

the earliest Paleo-Indian archeological sites in Canada.[7][8][9] Ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period

left lithic flake fluted stone tools and the remains of large butchered mammals.

The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE (10,000 years ago). Climatic conditions were

similar to modern patterns; however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the

land, creating lakes of meltwater.[10] Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still
highly mobile hunter-gatherers.[11] However, individual groups started to focus on resources available

to them locally; thus with the passage of time, there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization

(i.e.: Paleo-Arctic, Plano and Maritime Archaic traditions).[11]

The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and is applied to the Ontario,

Quebec, and Maritime regions.[12] The introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture

from the previous Archaic-stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured

the oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada.[13]

PP

Great Lakes area of the Hopewell Interaction Area

PP=Point Peninsula Complex S=Saugeen Complex L=Laurel Complex

The Hopewell tradition is an Indigenous culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE

to 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to

the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario.[14] Canadian expression of the Hopewellian

peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula, Saugeen, and Laurel complexes.[15]

The eastern woodland areas of what became Canada were home to

the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples. The Algonquian language is believed to have originated in the

western plateau of Idaho or the plains of Montana and moved with migrants eastward,[16] eventually

extending in various manifestations all the way from Hudson Bay to what is today Nova Scotia in the

east and as far south as the Tidewater region of Virginia.[17]

Speakers of eastern Algonquian languages included the Mi'kmaq and Abenaki of the Maritime region

of Canada and likely the extinct Beothuk of Newfoundland.[18][19] The Ojibwa and

other Anishinaabe speakers of the central Algonquian languages retain an oral tradition of having

moved to their lands around the western and central Great Lakes from the sea, likely the Atlantic

coast.[20] According to oral tradition, the Ojibwa formed the Council of Three Fires in 796 CE with

the Odawa and the Potawatomi.[21]

The Five Nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) were centred from at least 1000 CE in northern New

York, but their influence extended into what is now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern

Quebec. They spoke varieties of Iroquoian languages.[22] The Iroquois Confederacy, according to oral

tradition, was formed in 1142 CE.[23][24] In addition, there were other Iroquoian-speaking peoples in

the area, including the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, the Erie, and others.

Pre-Columbian distribution of Algonquian languages in North America.

Pre-Columbian distribution of Na-Dene languages in North America.

On the Great Plains, the Cree or Nēhilawē (who spoke a closely related Central Algonquian language,

the plains Cree language) depended on the vast herds of bison to supply food and many of their other

needs.[25] To the northwest were the peoples of the Na-Dene languages, which include

the Athapaskan-speaking peoples and the Tlingit, who lived on the islands of southern Alaska and

northern British Columbia. The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the Yeniseian

languages of Siberia.[26] The Dene of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration

from Asia to North America.[26]

The Interior of British Columbia was home to the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap

(Secwepemc), Okanagan and southern Athabaskan language groups, primarily the Dakelh (Carrier) and

the Tsilhqot'in.[27] The inlets and valleys of the British Columbia Coast sheltered large, distinctive

populations, such as the Haida, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth, sustained by the region's

abundant salmon and shellfish.[27] These peoples developed complex cultures dependent on

the western red cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and war canoes and elaborately

carved potlatch items and totem poles.[27]

In the Arctic archipelago, the distinctive Paleo-Eskimos known as Dorset peoples, whose culture has

been traced back to around 500 BCE, were replaced by the ancestors of today's Inuit by 1500

CE.[28] This transition is supported by archeological records and Inuit mythology that tells of having

driven off the Tuniit or 'first inhabitants'.[29] Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different

from Western law. Customary law was non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of

the Canadian legal system.[30]

European contact[edit]
Further information: European colonization of the Americas

L'Anse aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland, site of a small Norse settlement built around 1000

CE

The Norse, who had settled Greenland and Iceland, arrived around 1000 CE and built a small settlement

at L'Anse aux Meadows at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland (carbon dating estimate 990 – 1050

CE).[31] L'Anse aux Meadows, the only confirmed Norse site in North America outside of Greenland,

is also notable for its connection with the attempted settlement of Vinland by Leif Erikson around the

same period or, more broadly, with Norse exploration of the Americas.[31][32]

A 1947 commemorative stamp of John Cabot's voyage in 1497

Under letters patent from King Henry VII of England, the Italian John Cabot became the first European

known to have landed in Canada after the Viking Age. Records indicate that on June 24, 1497 he sighted

land at a northern location believed to be somewhere in the Atlantic provinces.[33] Official tradition

deemed the first landing site to be at Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, although other locations are

possible.[34] After 1497 Cabot and his son Sebastian Cabot continued to make other voyages to find

the Northwest Passage, and other explorers continued to sail out of England to the New World, although

the details of these voyages are not well recorded.[35]

Based on the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Spanish Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited

by John Cabot in 1497 and 1498 CE.[36] However, Portuguese explorers like João Fernandes

Lavrador would continue to visit the north Atlantic coast, which accounts for the appearance of

"Labrador" on maps of the period.[37] In 1501 and 1502 the Corte-Real brothers explored

Newfoundland (Terra Nova) and Labrador claiming these lands as part of the Portuguese

Empire.[37][38] In 1506, King Manuel I of Portugal created taxes for the cod fisheries in

Newfoundland waters.[39] João Álvares Fagundes and Pêro de Barcelos established fishing outposts in

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521 CE; however, these were later abandoned, with

the Portuguese colonizers focusing their efforts on South America.[40] The extent and nature of

Portuguese activity on the Canadian mainland during the 16th century remains unclear and

controversial.[41][42]

Canada under French rule[edit]

Main articles: New France and Former colonies and territories in Canada

Jacques Cartier meeting with the St. Lawrence Iroquois at Hochelaga during his second voyage in 1535

French interest in the New World began with Francis I of France, who in 1524 sponsored Giovanni da

Verrazzano's navigation of the region between Florida and Newfoundland in hopes of finding a route

to the Pacific Ocean.[43] Although the English had laid claims to it in 1497 when John Cabot made

landfall somewhere on the North American coast (likely either modern-day Newfoundland or Nova

Scotia) and had claimed the land for England on behalf of Henry VII,[44] these claims were not

exercised and England did not attempt to create a permanent colony. As for the French,

however, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1534 and claimed the land in the
name of Francis I, creating a region called "Canada" the following summer.[45] Cartier had sailed up

the St. Lawrence river as far as the Lachine Rapids, to the spot where Montreal now

stands.[46] Permanent settlement attempts by Cartier at Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541, at Sable Island in

1598 by Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez, and at Tadoussac, Quebec in 1600 by François Gravé Du

Pont all eventually failed.[47] Despite these initial failures, French fishing fleets visited the Atlantic

coast communities and sailed into the St. Lawrence River, trading and making alliances with First

Nations,[48] as well as establishing fishing settlements such as in Percé (1603).[49] As a result of

France's claim and activities in the colony of Canada, the name Canada was found on international maps

showing the existence of this colony within the St. Lawrence river region.[50]

In 1604, a North American fur trade monopoly was granted to Pierre Du Gua, Sieur de Mons.[51] The

fur trade became one of the main economic ventures in North America.[52] Du Gua led his first

colonization expedition to an island located near the mouth of the St. Croix River. Among his

lieutenants was a geographer named Samuel de Champlain, who promptly carried out a major

exploration of the northeastern coastline of what is now the United States.[51] In the spring of 1605,

under Samuel de Champlain, the new St. Croix settlement was moved to Port Royal (today's Annapolis

Royal, Nova Scotia).[53] Samuel de Champlain also landed at Saint John Harbour on June 24, 1604

(the feast of St. John the Baptist) and is where the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, and the Saint

John River gets its name.[54]

Northern Algonquin and French forces besiege an Iroquois fort in 1610. The two sides were embroiled

in a conflict throughout the 1600s.

In 1608 Champlain founded what is now Quebec City, one of the earliest permanent settlements, which

would become the capital of New France.[55] He took personal administration over the city and its

affairs, and sent out expeditions to explore the interior.[56] Champlain became the first known

European to encounter Lake Champlain in 1609. By 1615, he had travelled by canoe up the Ottawa

River through Lake Nipissing and Georgian Bay to the centre of Huron country near Lake

Simcoe.[57] During these voyages, Champlain aided the Wendat (aka "Hurons") in their battles against

the Iroquois Confederacy.[58] As a result, the Iroquois would become enemies of the French and be

involved in multiple conflicts (known as the French and Iroquois Wars) until the signing of the Great

Peace of Montreal in 1701.[59]

The English, led by Humphrey Gilbert, had claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1583 as the first North

American English colony by royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I.[60] In the reign of King James I,

the English established additional colonies in Cupids and Ferryland, Newfoundland, and soon after

established the first successful permanent settlements of Virginia to the south.[61] On September 29,

1621, a charter for the foundation of a New World Scottish colony was granted by King James

to William Alexander.[62] In 1622, the first settlers left Scotland. They initially failed and permanent

Nova Scotian settlements were not firmly established until 1629 during the end of the Anglo-French

War.[62] These colonies did not last long except the fisheries in Ferryland under David Kirke.[63] In

1631, under Charles I of England, the Treaty of Suza was signed, ending the war and returning Nova

Scotia to the French.[64] New France was not fully restored to French rule until the 1632 Treaty of

Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[65] This led to new French immigrants and the founding of Trois-Rivières in

1634.[66]
Political map of northeastern North America in 1664

After Champlain's death in 1635, the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit establishment became the

most dominant force in New France and hoped to establish a utopian European and Aboriginal Christian

community.[67] In 1642, the Sulpicians sponsored a group of settlers led by Paul Chomedey de

Maisonneuve, who founded Ville-Marie, precursor to present-day Montreal.[68] In 1663 the French

crown took direct control of the colonies from the Company of New France.[69]

Although immigration rates to New France remained very low under direct French control,[70] most of

the new arrivals were farmers, and the rate of population growth among the settlers themselves had

been very high.[71] The women had about 30 per cent more children than comparable women who

remained in France.[72] Yves Landry says, "Canadians had an exceptional diet for their time."[72] This

was due to the natural abundance of meat, fish, and pure water; the good food conservation conditions

during the winter; and an adequate wheat supply in most years.[72] The 1666 census of New France was

conducted by France's intendant, Jean Talon, in the winter of 1665–1666. The census showed a

population count of 3,215 Acadians and habitants (French-Canadian farmers) in the administrative

districts of Acadia and Canada.[73] The census also revealed a great difference in the number of men

at 2,034 versus 1,181 women.[74]

Wars during the colonial era[edit]

Further information: French and Indian Wars

See also: Military history of Canada

Map of North America in 1702 showing forts, towns and areas occupied by European settlements

By the early 1700s the New France settlers were well established along the shores of the Saint Lawrence

River and parts of Nova Scotia, with a population around 16,000.[75] However new arrivals stopped

coming from France in the proceeding decades,[76][77][78] resulting in the English and Scottish

settlers in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the southern Thirteen Colonies to vastly outnumber the

French population approximately ten to one by the 1750s.[70][79]

From 1670, through the Hudson's Bay Company, the English also laid claim to Hudson Bay and its

drainage basin known as Rupert's Land establishing new trading posts and forts, while continuing to

operate fishing settlements in Newfoundland.[80] French expansion along the Canadian canoe routes

challenged the Hudson's Bay Company claims, and in 1686, Pierre Troyes led an overland expedition

from Montreal to the shore of the bay, where they managed to capture a handful of outposts.[81] La

Salle's explorations gave France a claim to the Mississippi River Valley, where fur trappers and a few

settlers set up scattered forts and settlements.[82]

There were four French and Indian Wars and two additional wars in Acadia and Nova Scotia between

the Thirteen American Colonies and New France from 1688 to 1763. During King William's War (1688

to 1697), military conflicts in Acadia included: Battle of Port Royal (1690); a naval battle in the Bay of

Fundy (Action of July 14, 1696); and the Raid on Chignecto (1696) .[83] The Treaty of Ryswick in

1697 ended the war between the two colonial powers of England and France for a brief
time.[84] During Queen Anne's War (1702 to 1713), the British Conquest of Acadia occurred in

1710,[85] resulting in Nova Scotia, other than Cape Breton, being officially ceded to the British by

the Treaty of Utrecht including Rupert's Land, which France had conquered in the late 17th century

(Battle of Hudson's Bay).[86] As an immediate result of this setback, France founded the

powerful Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.[87]

A View of the Plundering and Burning of the City of Grimross by Thomas Davies, 1758. It is the only

contemporaneous image of the St. John River Campaign, and the expulsion of the Acadians.

Louisbourg was intended to serve as a year-round military and naval base for France's remaining North

American empire and to protect the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. Father Rale's War resulted in

both the fall of New France influence in present-day Maine and the British recognition of having to

negotiate with the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. During King George's War (1744 to 1748), an army of New

Englanders led by William Pepperrell mounted an expedition of 90 vessels and 4,000 men against

Louisbourg in 1745.[88] Within three months the fortress surrendered. The return of Louisbourg to

French control by the peace treaty prompted the British to found Halifax in 1749 under Edward

Cornwallis.[89] Despite the official cessation of war between the British and French empires with

the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; the conflict in Acadia and Nova Scotia continued on as the Father Le

Loutre's War.[90]

The British ordered the Acadians expelled from their lands in 1755 during the French and Indian War,

an event called the Expulsion of the Acadians or le Grand Dérangement.[91] The "expulsion" resulted

in approximately 12,000 Acadians being shipped to destinations throughout Britain's North America

and to France, Quebec and the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue.[92] The first wave of the
expulsion of the Acadians began with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755) and the second wave began

after the final Siege of Louisbourg (1758). Many of the Acadians settled in southern Louisiana, creating

the Cajun culture there.[93] Some Acadians managed to hide and others eventually returned to Nova

Scotia, but they were far outnumbered by a new migration of New England Planters who were settled

on the former lands of the Acadians and transformed Nova Scotia from a colony of occupation for the

British to a settled colony with stronger ties to New England.[93] Britain eventually gained control of

Quebec City after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Fort Niagara in 1759, and

finally captured Montreal in 1760.[94]

Canada under British rule[edit]

Main article: Canada under British rule

Map showing British territorial gains following the "Seven Years' War". Treaty of Paris gains in pink,

and Spanish territorial gains after the Treaty of Fontainebleau in yellow.

As part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), signed after the defeat of New France in the Seven

Years' War, France renounced its claims to territory in mainland North America, except for fishing

rights off Newfoundland and the two small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon where its fishermen

could dry their fish. France had already secretly transferred its vast Louisiana territory to Spain under

the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) in which King Louis XV of France had given his cousin

King Charles III of Spain the entire area of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River from the Great

Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains. France and
Spain kept the Treaty of Fontainebleau secret from other countries until 1764.[95] Britain returned to

France its most important sugar-producing colony, Guadeloupe, which the French considered more

valuable than Canada. (Guadeloupe produced more sugar than all the British islands combined,

and Voltaire had notoriously dismissed Canada as "Quelques arpents de neige", "A few acres of

snow").[96]

Following the Treaty of Paris, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763.[97] The

proclamation organized Great Britain's new North American empire and stabilized relations

between the British Crown and Aboriginal peoples, formally recognizing aboriginal title, regulated

trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier.[97] In the former French territory, the new

British rulers of Canada first abolished and then later reinstated most of the property, religious, political,

and social culture of the French-speaking habitants, guaranteeing the right of the Canadiens to practice

the Catholic faith and to the use of French civil law (now Quebec Civil Code) through the Quebec

Act of 1774.[98]

American Revolution and the Loyalists[edit]

Further information: Invasion of Quebec (1775) and Nova Scotia in the American Revolution

British soldiers and the Canadian militia repel an American column during the Battle of Quebec

During the American Revolution, there was some sympathy for the American cause among

the Acadians and the New Englanders in Nova Scotia.[99] Neither party joined the rebels, although

several hundred individuals joined the revolutionary cause.[99][100] An invasion of Quebec by

the Continental Army in 1775, with a goal to take Quebec from British control, was halted at the Battle
of Quebec by Guy Carleton, with the assistance of local militias. The defeat of the British army during

the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 signalled the end of Britain's struggle to suppress the American

Revolution.[101]

A Black Loyalist wood cutter in Shelburne, Nova Scotia in 1788. After the American Revolutionary

War, the remaining colonies of British North America saw an influx of loyalist migrants.

When the British evacuated New York City in 1783, they took many Loyalist refugees to Nova Scotia,

while other Loyalists went to southwestern Quebec. So many Loyalists arrived on the shores of the St.

John River that a separate colony—New Brunswick—was created in 1784;[102] followed in 1791 by

the division of Quebec into the largely French-speaking Lower Canada (French Canada) along the St.

Lawrence River and Gaspé Peninsula and an anglophone Loyalist Upper Canada, with its capital settled

by 1796 in York (present-day Toronto).[103] After 1790 most of the new settlers were American

farmers searching for new lands; although generally favourable to republicanism, they were relatively

non-political and stayed neutral in the War of 1812.[104] In 1785, Saint John, New Brunswick became

the first incorporated city in what would later become Canada.[54]

The signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the war. Britain made several concessions to

the Americans at the expense of the North American colonies.[105] Notably, the borders between

Canada and the United States were officially demarcated;[105] all land south of the Great Lakes, which

was formerly a part of the Province of Quebec and included modern-day Michigan, Illinois and Ohio,

was ceded to the Americans. Fishing rights were also granted to the United States in the Gulf of St.

Lawrence and on the coast of Newfoundland and the Grand Banks.[105] The British ignored part of the

treaty and maintained their military outposts in the Great Lakes areas it had ceded to the U.S., and they
continued to supply their native allies with munitions. The British evacuated the outposts with the Jay

Treaty of 1795, but the continued supply of munitions irritated the Americans in the run-up to the War

of 1812.[106]

Canadian historians have had mixed views on the long-term impact of the American Revolution. Arthur

Lower in the 1950s provided the long-standard historical interpretation that for English Canada the

results were counter-revolutionary:

[English Canada] inherited, not the benefits, but the bitterness of the Revolution…. English Canada

started its life with as powerful a nostalgic shove backward into the past as the Conquest had given to

French Canada: two little peoples officially devoted to counter-revolution, to lost causes, to the tawdry

ideals of a society of men and masters, and not to the self-reliant freedom alongside of them.[107]

Recently Michel Ducharme has agreed that Canada did indeed oppose "republican liberty", as

exemplified by the United States and France. However, he says it did find a different path forward when

it fought against British rulers after 1837 to secure "modern liberty". That form of liberty focused not

on the virtues of citizens but on protecting their rights from infringement by the state.[108][109]

War of 1812[edit]

Main articles: War of 1812 and Origins of the War of 1812

Loyalist Laura Secord warning the British Lieutenant James FitzGibbon and First Nations of an

impending American attack at Beaver Dams, June 1813

The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and the British, with the British North American

colonies being heavily involved.[110] Greatly outgunned by the British Royal Navy, the American war
plans focused on an invasion of Canada (especially what is today eastern and western Ontario). The

American frontier states voted for war to suppress the First Nations raids that frustrated settlement of

the frontier.[110] The war on the border with the United States was characterized by a series of multiple

failed invasions and fiascos on both sides. American forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, driving

the British out of western Ontario, killing the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, and breaking the military

power of his confederacy.[111] The war was overseen by British army officers like Isaac

Brock and Charles de Salaberry with the assistance of First Nations and loyalist informants, most

notably Laura Secord.[112]

The War ended with no boundary changes thanks to the Treaty of Ghent of 1814, and the Rush–Bagot

Treaty of 1817.[110] A demographic result was the shifting of the destination of American migration

from Upper Canada to Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, without fear of Indigenous attacks.[110] After the

war, supporters of Britain tried to repress the republicanism that was common among

American immigrants to Canada.[110] The troubling memory of the war and the American invasions

etched itself into the consciousness of Canadians as a distrust of the intentions of the United States

towards the British presence in North America.[113]pp. 254–255

Rebellions and the Durham Report[edit]

Further information: Rebellions of 1837

Leaders of the Patriote movement and their followers during the Assembly of the Six Counties in 1837.

The rebellions of 1837 against the British colonial government took place in both Upper and Lower

Canada. In Upper Canada, a band of Reformers under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie took

up arms in a disorganized and ultimately unsuccessful series of small-scale skirmishes around

Toronto, London, and Hamilton.[114]

In Lower Canada, a more substantial rebellion occurred against British rule. Both English- and French-

Canadian rebels, sometimes using bases in the neutral United States, fought several skirmishes against

the authorities. The towns of Chambly and Sorel were taken by the rebels, and Quebec City was isolated

from the rest of the colony. Montreal rebel leader Robert Nelson read the "Declaration of Independence
of Lower Canada" to a crowd assembled at the town of Napierville in 1838.[115] The rebellion of

the Patriote movement was defeated after battles across Quebec. Hundreds were arrested, and several

villages were burnt in reprisal.[115]

The burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal in 1849. Painting by Joseph Légaré, c. 1849.

The British government then sent Lord Durham to examine the situation; he stayed in Canada only five

months before returning to Britain and brought with him his Durham Report, which strongly

recommended responsible government.[116] A less well-received recommendation was the

amalgamation of Upper and Lower Canada for the deliberate assimilation of the French-speaking

population. The Canadas were merged into a single colony, the United Province of Canada, by the

1840 Act of Union, and responsible government was achieved in 1848, a few months after it was

accomplished in Nova Scotia.[116] The parliament of United Canada in Montreal was set on fire by a

mob of Tories in 1849 after the passing of an indemnity bill for the people who suffered losses during

the rebellion in Lower Canada.[117]

Between the Napoleonic Wars and 1850, some 800,000 immigrants came to the colonies of British

North America, mainly from the British Isles, as part of the great migration of Canada.[118] These

included Gaelic-speaking Highland Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances to Nova Scotia and

Scottish and English settlers to the Canadas, particularly Upper Canada. The Irish Famine of the 1840s

significantly increased the pace of Irish Catholic immigration to British North America, with over

35,000 distressed Irish landing in Toronto alone in 1847 and 1848.[119]

Pacific colonies[edit]

Further information: History of British Columbia

Map of the Columbia District, also referred to as Oregon Country. The region was disputed

territory between the UK and the US until 1846, with the signing of the Oregon Treaty.

Spanish explorers had taken the lead in the Pacific Northwest coast, with the voyages of Juan José Pérez

Hernández in 1774 and 1775.[120] By the time the Spanish determined to build a fort on Vancouver

Island, the British navigator James Cook had visited Nootka Sound and charted the coast as far as

Alaska, while British and American maritime fur traders had begun a busy era of commerce with the

coastal peoples to satisfy the brisk market for sea otter pelts in China, thereby launching what became

known as the China Trade.[121] In 1789 war threatened between Britain and Spain on their respective

rights; the Nootka Crisis was resolved peacefully largely in favour of Britain, the much stronger naval

power at the time. In 1793 Alexander MacKenzie, a Scotsman working for the North West Company,

crossed the continent and with his Aboriginal guides and French-Canadian crew, reached the mouth of

the Bella Coola River, completing the first continental crossing north of Mexico, missing George

Vancouver's charting expedition to the region by only a few weeks.[122] In 1821, the North West

Company and Hudson's Bay Company merged, with a combined trading territory that was extended by

a licence to the North-Western Territory and the Columbia and New Caledonia fur districts, which

reached the Arctic Ocean on the north and the Pacific Ocean on the west.[123]

The Colony of Vancouver Island was chartered in 1849, with the trading post at Fort Victoria as the

capital. This was followed by the Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1853, and by the creation

of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the Stikine Territory in 1861, with the latter three being
founded expressly to keep those regions from being overrun and annexed by American gold

miners.[124] The Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands and most of the Stikine Territory were merged

into the Colony of British Columbia in 1863 (the remainder, north of the 60th Parallel, became part of

the North-Western Territory).[124]

Confederation[edit]

Main article: Canadian Confederation

1885 photo of Robert Harris' 1884 painting, Conference at Quebec in 1864. The scene is an

amalgamation of the Charlottetown and Quebec City conference sites and attendees, the Fathers of

Confederation.

The Seventy-Two Resolutions from the 1864 Quebec Conference and Charlottetown Conference laid

out the framework for uniting British colonies in North America into a federation.[125] The Resolutions

became the basis for the London Conference of 1866, which led to the formation of the Dominion of

Canada on July 1, 1867.[125] The term dominion was chosen to indicate Canada's status as a self-

governing colony of the British Empire, the first time it was used about a country.[126] With the coming

into force of the British North America Act, 1867 (enacted by the British Parliament), Canada became

a federated country in its own right.[127][128][129] (According to J. McCullough, use of the phrase

"Dominion of Canada ... was gradually phased out" during the "late 1940s, 50s, and early 60s" with the

growth of "post-colonial Canadian nationalism".)[130]

Federation emerged from multiple impulses: the British wanted Canada to defend itself; the Maritimes

needed railroad connections, which were promised in 1867; British-Canadian nationalism sought to

unite the lands into one country, dominated by the English language and British culture; many French-
Canadians saw an opportunity to exert political control within a new largely French-speaking

Quebec[113]pp. 323–324 and fears of possible U.S. expansion northward.[126] On a political level,

there was a desire for the expansion of responsible government and elimination of the legislative

deadlock between Upper and Lower Canada, and their replacement with provincial legislatures in a

federation.[126] This was especially pushed by the liberal Reform movement of Upper Canada and the

French-Canadian Parti rouge in Lower Canada who favoured a decentralized union in comparison to

the Upper Canadian Conservative party and to some degree the French-Canadian Parti bleu, which

favoured a centralized union.[126][131]

Early post-Confederation Canada (1867–1914)[edit]

Main article: Post-Confederation Canada (1867–1914)

Territorial expansion west[edit]

See also: Territorial evolution of Canada

See also: Numbered Treaties

Using the lure of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a transcontinental line that would unite the nation,

Ottawa attracted support in the Maritimes and in British Columbia. In 1866, the Colony of British

Columbia and the Colony of Vancouver Island merged into a single Colony of British Columbia. After

Rupert's Land was transferred to Canada by Britain in 1870, connecting to the eastern provinces, British

Columbia joined Canada in 1871. In 1873, Prince Edward Island joined. Newfoundland—which had

no use for a transcontinental railway—voted no in 1869, and did not join Canada until 1949.[132]
The Battle of Fish Creek was a Métis victory over the Canadian Militia during the North-West

Rebellion

In 1873, John A. Macdonald (First Prime Minister of Canada) created the North-West Mounted

Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to help police the Northwest

Territories.[133] Specifically the Mounties were to assert Canadian sovereignty to prevent possible

American encroachments into the area.[133] The Mounties' first large-scale mission was to suppress

the second independence movement by Manitoba's Métis, a mixed-blood people of joint First Nations

and European descent, who originated in the mid-17th century.[134] The desire for independence

erupted in the Red River Rebellion in 1869 and the later North-West Rebellion in 1885 led by Louis

Riel.[133][135] Suppressing the Rebellion was Canada's first independent military action and

demonstrated the need to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway. It guaranteed Anglophone control of

the Prairies, and demonstrated the national government was capable of decisive action. However, it lost

the Conservative Party most of their support in Quebec and led to permanent distrust of the Anglophone

community on the part of the Francophones.[136]

As Canada expanded, the Canadian government rather than the British Crown negotiated treaties with

the resident First Nations' peoples, beginning with Treaty 1 in 1871.[137] The treaties

extinguished aboriginal title on traditional territories, created reserves for the indigenous peoples'

exclusive use, and opened up the rest of the territory for settlement. Indigenous people were induced to

move to these new reserves, sometimes forcibly.[138] The government imposed the Indian Act in 1876

to govern the relations between the federal government and the Indigenous peoples and govern the

relations between the new settlers and the Indigenous peoples.[139] Under the Indian Act, the

government started the Residential School System to integrate the Indigenous peoples and "civilize"

them.[140][141][142]
A photochrome postcard showing downtown Montreal, c. 1910. Canada's population became urbanized

during the 20th century.

In the 1890s, legal experts codified a framework of criminal law, culminating in the Criminal Code,

1892.[143] This solidified the liberal ideal of "equality before the law" in a way that made an abstract

principle into a tangible reality for every adult Canadian.[144] Wilfrid Laurier who served 1896–1911

as the Seventh Prime Minister of Canada felt Canada was on the verge of becoming a world power, and

declared that the 20th century would "belong to Canada"[145]

The Alaska boundary dispute, simmering since the Alaska purchase of 1867, became critical when gold

was discovered in the Yukon during the late 1890s, with the U.S. controlling all the possible ports of

entry. Canada argued its boundary included the port of Skagway. The dispute went to arbitration in

1903, but the British delegate sided with the Americans, angering Canadians who felt the British had

betrayed Canadian interests to curry favour with the U.S.[146]

In 1905 Saskatchewan and Alberta were admitted as provinces. They were growing rapidly thanks

to abundant wheat crops that attracted immigration to the plains by Ukrainians and Northern and

Central Europeans and by settlers from the United States, Britain and eastern Canada.[147][148]

Laurier signed a reciprocity treaty with the U.S. that would lower tariffs in both directions.

Conservatives under Robert Borden denounced it, saying it would integrate Canada's economy into that

of the U.S. and loosen ties with Britain. The Conservative party won the 1911 Canadian federal

election.[149]

World Wars and Interwar Years (1914–1945)[edit]

Main article: Canada in the World Wars and Interwar Years

First World War[edit]

Main article: Military history of Canada during World War I

A train filled with soldiers departs from Toronto's Union Station shortly after the First World War began

in 1914

The Canadian Forces and civilian participation in the First World War helped to foster a sense

of British-Canadian nationhood. The highpoints of Canadian military achievement during the First

World War came during the Somme, Vimy, Passchendaele battles and what later became known as

"Canada's Hundred Days".[150] The reputation Canadian troops earned, along with the success of

Canadian flying aces including William George Barker and Billy Bishop, helped to give the nation a

new sense of identity.[151] The War Office in 1922 reported approximately 67,000 killed and 173,000

wounded during the war.[152] This excludes civilian deaths in war-time incidents like the Halifax

Explosion.[152]

Support for Great Britain during the First World War caused a major political crisis over conscription,

with Francophones, mainly from Quebec, rejecting national policies.[153] During the crisis, large

numbers of enemy aliens (especially Ukrainians and Germans) were put under government

controls.[154] The Liberal party was deeply split, with most of its Anglophone leaders joining

the unionist government headed by Prime Minister Robert Borden, the leader of the Conservative

party.[155] The Liberals regained their influence after the war under the leadership of William Lyon

Mackenzie King, who served as prime minister with three separate terms between 1921 and 1949.[156]
Women's suffrage[edit]

Further information: History of Canadian women § Feminism and woman suffrage

See also: Canadian women during the world wars

On September 20, 1917, women gained a limited right to vote. The nursing sisters at the Canadian

hospital in France during World War I were among the first women to vote in any general election

When Canada was founded, women could not vote in federal elections. Women did have a local vote

in some provinces, as in Canada West from 1850, where women owning land could vote for school

trustees. By 1900 other provinces adopted similar provisions, and in 1916 Manitoba took the lead in

extending full women's suffrage.[157] Simultaneously suffragists gave strong support to the prohibition

movement, especially in Ontario and the Western provinces.[158][159]

The Military Voters Act of 1917 gave the vote to British women who were war widows or had sons or

husbands serving overseas. Unionists Prime Minister Borden pledged himself during the 1917

campaign to equal suffrage for women. After his landslide victory, he introduced a bill in 1918 for

extending the franchise to women. This passed without division, but did not apply to Quebec provincial

and municipal elections. The women of Quebec gained full suffrage in 1940. The first woman elected

to Parliament was Agnes Macphail of Ontario in 1921.[160]

1920s[edit]

On the world stage[edit]

The German delegate is portrayed signing the peace treaties at the Paris Peace Conference, surrounded

by Allied delegates. The Canadian delegate, George Foster is visible in tha back row (fourth from the

left)

Convinced that Canada had proven itself on the battlefields of Europe, Prime Minister Robert

Borden demanded that it have a separate seat at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. This was initially

opposed not only by Britain but also by the United States, which saw such a delegation as an extra

British vote. Borden responded by pointing out that since Canada had lost nearly 60,000 men, a far

larger proportion of its men, its right to equal status as a nation had been consecrated on the battlefield.

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George eventually relented, and convinced the reluctant Americans

to accept the presence of delegations from Canada, India, Australia, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and

South Africa. These also received their own seats in the League of Nations.[161] Canada asked for

neither reparations nor mandates. It played only a modest role at Paris, but just having a seat was a

matter of pride. It was cautiously optimistic about the new League of Nations, in which it played an

active and independent role.[162]

In 1922 British Prime Minister David Lloyd George appealed repeatedly for Canadian support in

the Chanak crisis, in which a war threatened between Britain and Turkey. Canada refused, leading to

the fall of Lloyd George.[163] The Department of External Affairs, which had been founded in 1909,

was expanded and promoted Canadian autonomy as Canada reduced its reliance on British diplomats

and used its own foreign service.[164] Thus began the careers of such important diplomats as Norman

Robertson and Hume Wrong, and future prime minister Lester Pearson.[165]

In the 1920s, Canada set up a successful wheat marketing "pool" to keep prices high. Canada negotiated

with the United States, Australia, and the Soviet Union to expand the pool, but the effort failed when

the Great Depression caused distrust and low prices.[166]

I'm Alone, a Canadian ship used to smuggle alcohol across the border during the alcohol prohibition

era in the United States

With prohibition underway in the United States, smugglers bought large quantities of Canadian liquor.

Both the Canadian distillers and the U.S. State Department put heavy pressure on the Customs and

Excise Department to loosen or tighten border controls. Liquor interests paid off corrupt Canadian

border officials until the U.S. finally ended prohibition in 1933.[167]

Domestic affairs[edit]

In 1921 to 1926, William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal government pursued a conservative domestic

policy with the object of lowering wartime taxes and, especially, cooling wartime ethnic tensions, as

well as defusing postwar labour conflicts. The Progressives refused to join the government but did help

the Liberals defeat non-confidence motions. King faced a delicate balancing act of reducing tariffs

enough to please the Prairie-based Progressives, but not too much to alienate his vital support in

industrial Ontario and Quebec, which needed tariffs to compete with American imports. King and

Conservative leader Arthur Meighen sparred constantly and bitterly in Commons debates.[168] The

Progressives gradually weakened. Their effective and passionate leader, Thomas Crerar, resigned to

return to his grain business, and was replaced by the more placid Robert Forke. The socialist

reformer J. S. Woodsworth gradually gained influence and power among the Progressives, and he

reached an accommodation with King on policy matters.[169]

In 1926 Prime Minister Mackenzie King advised the Governor General, Lord Byng, to dissolve

Parliament and call another election, but Byng refused, the only time that the Governor General has

exercised such a power. Instead, Byng called upon Meighen, the Conservative Party leader, to form a
government.[170] Meighen attempted to do so, but was unable to obtain a majority in the Commons

and he, too, advised dissolution, which this time was accepted. The episode, the King–Byng Affair,

marks a constitutional crisis that was resolved by a new tradition of complete non-interference in

Canadian political affairs on the part of the British government.[171]