Saskatchewan
Nickname `Canada's breadbasket´ Cree Kis-is-ska-tche-wan `swift flowing´
Province of western Canada, bordered to the north by the Northwest Territories,
to the east by Manitoba, to the south by the US states of North Dakota
and Montana, and to the west by Alberta
Area:
652,300 sq km/251,788 sq mi
Capital:
Regina
Towns:
Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert
Physical:
Canadian Shield; northern forests, lakes, and subarctic tundra; southern
prairies; Cypress Hills; Saskatchewan River; Athabasca Lake
Features:
Prince Albert National Park; Grasslands National Park; Royal Canadian
Mounted Police Centennial Museum; Fort Walsh National Historic Park;
Wanuskewin Heritage Park
Industries:
Oil, natural gas, uranium, zinc, potash (world's largest reserves),
copper, helium (the only western reserves outside the USA), cement,
chemicals, fertilizer, timber
Agriculture:
Wheat (more than 60% of Canada's production), cattle, dairy produce,
oats, barley, rye, flax
Population:
(1997) 1,023,500; Native Canadian 75,400; British, French, German,
Scandinavian, and Slav cultures
History:
First inhabited by Native Canadian peoples speaking Athabaskan, Algonquin,
and Sioux languages, who depended on caribou and moose in the north
and buffalo in the south. French fur-trading posts established about
1750; owned by Hudson's Bay Company, first permanent settlement (1774);
ceded to Canadian government (1870) as part of Northwest Territories;
became a province (1905).
Geography and Geology:
Saskatchewan can be divided geologically into two parts: the Canadian
Shield to the north, and a region of sedimentary rocks covering two-thirds
of the province to the south. The shield is a vast area of Precambrian
rock, the remains of a highly eroded ancient mountain system which has
been repeatedly scoured by glaciation.
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