Canada is the world's second largest country by area, occupying most of the northern portion of North America. Extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, Canada shares land borders with the United States to the south and to the northwest. Inhabited originally by Aboriginal peoples, Canada was founded as a union of British colonies, some of which had earlier been French colonies. Now a federal dominion of ten provinces and three territories, Canada peacefully obtained sovereignty from Britain in a process spanning from 1867 to 1982. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, and defines itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation; both English and French are official languages.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1713: After Queen Anne's War, French residents of Acadia were given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadia)

1887: Banff National Park was created, becoming Canada's first national park. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banff_National_Park)

1894: The International Olympic Committee was founded at the Sorbonne in Paris. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Olympic_Committee)

1941: Lithuanian 1941 independence: Members of Lithuanian Activist Front declared independence from the Soviet Union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_1941_independence)

1985: A bomb destroyed Air India Flight 182 above the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 on board. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"We thought: we're poor, we have nothing, but when we started losing one after the other so each day became remembrance day, we started composing poems about God's great generosity and — our former riches." -- Anna Akhmatova (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anna_Akhmatova)