Canada occupies a major northern portion of
North America, sharing land borders with the
contiguous United States to the south and the
U.S. state of
Alaska to the northwest, stretching from the
Atlantic Ocean in the east to the
Pacific Ocean in the west; to the north lies the
Arctic Ocean. By total area (including its waters), Canada is the second largest country in the world—after Russia—and largest on the
continent. By land area, it ranks fourth. Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60°W and 141°W
longitude, but this claim is not universally recognized. The northernmost settlement in Canada (and the world) is
Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert on the northern tip of
Ellesmere Island—latitude 82.5°N—just 817 kilometres (450
nautical miles, 508 miles) from the North Pole. Canada has the longest coastline in the world: 243,000 kilometres (151,000 miles).
The
population density, 3.5 inhabitants per
square kilometre (9.1
/sq mi), is among the lowest in the world.
[70] The most densely populated part of the country is the
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, (Southern
Quebec -
Southern Ontario) along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River in the southeast.
To the north of this region is the broad
Canadian Shield, an area of rock scoured clean by the
last ice age—thinly soiled, rich in minerals, and dotted with lakes and rivers. Canada by far has more lakes than any other country and has much of the world's fresh water.
In eastern Canada, most people live in large urban centres on the flat
Saint Lawrence Lowlands. The
Saint Lawrence River widens into the world's largest
estuary before flowing into the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The gulf is bounded by
Newfoundland to the north and the
Maritimes to the south. The Maritimes protrude eastward along the
Appalachian Mountain range, from northern
New England and the
Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are divided by the
Bay of Fundy, which experiences the world's largest tidal variations. Ontario and
Hudson Bay dominate central Canada. West of Ontario, the broad, flat
Canadian Prairies spread toward the
Rocky Mountains, which separate them from British Columbia.
In northwestern Canada, the
Mackenzie River flows from the
Great Slave Lake to the
Arctic Ocean. A tributary of a tributary of the Mackenzie is the
South Nahanni River, which is home to
Virginia Falls, a waterfall about twice as high as
Niagara Falls.
Northern Canadian vegetation tapers from
coniferous forests to
tundra to the Arctic barrens in the far north. The northern Canadian mainland is ringed with a vast
archipelago containing some of the
world's largest islands.
Average winter and summer high temperatures across Canada vary depending on the location. Winters can be harsh in many regions of the country, particularly in the interior and Prairie provinces, which experience a
continental climate, where daily average temperatures are near −15 °
C (5 °
F) but can drop below −40 °C (−40 °F) with severe
wind chills.
[74] In noncoastal regions, snow can cover the ground almost six months of the year (more in the north). Coastal British Columbia is an exception; it enjoys a temperate climate, with a mild and rainy winter.
On the east and west coast, average high temperatures are generally in the low 20s °C (70s °F), while between the coasts, the average summer high temperature ranges from 25 to 30 °C (75 to 85 °F), with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 40 °C (104 °F). Canada is also geologically active, having many
earthquakes and potentially active
volcanoes, notably
Mount Meager,
Mount Garibaldi,
Mount Cayley, and the
Mount Edziza volcanic complex.
