Saskatchewan
bordered by Manitoba, Alberta, the Northwest Territories
and the United States.
The province is rectangular in shape and is 651 900 km2 in area.
Half of it consists of forests, one-third of cultivated lands,
and one-eighth is covered with water.
The northern zone rests on a formation of Precambrian rock
characteristic of the Canadian Shield.
As a result, there are numerous (over 100 000) lakes,
rivers, bogs and rocky outcroppings.
The southern part of the province is relatively flat,
with occasional valleys created by erosion from the glacial era.
This prairie zone is where most of the people live.
Camel caravans might not seem out of place in certain parts
of Saskatchewan. Athabasca Provincial Park has
sand dunes 30 m high and semi-arid vegetation.
Nowhere else in the world are dunes found this far north.
The name Saskatchewan comes from the Cree word
"kisiskatchewanisipi," which means "swift-flowing river."
The province has three major rivers: the Assiniboine,
the South Saskatchewan and the Churchill.
The whole province enjoys a hot, dry summer but the
town of Estevan is the undisputed "sunshine capital" of Canada,
getting 2540 hours of sunshine per year.
found established settlements of Aboriginal people.
The Chipewyan Indians lived in the north; the nomadic Blackfoot
roamed the eastern plains, while the Assiniboine inhabited the west.
The territory of the Cree, who were long-time residents
of the north, also extended southward to the plains.
The earliest explorer was Henry Kelsey, a Hudson's Bay Company agent,
who in about 1690 followed the Saskatchewan River to the southern
plains of Saskatchewan.
On the heels of the trappers came fur-trading companies and
trading posts, which became the foundation of many present-day
settlements.
For 200 years, the Hudson's Bay Company owned and administered
the vast Northwest Territories.
Realizing their agricultural potential and the opportunities
for colonization,
the Government of Canada purchased the Territories in 1870.
After the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, which encouraged homesteaders,
and another Act to stimulate immigration,
the new railway began bringing settlers in to farm these rich lands.
When Saskatchewan separated from the Northwest Territories
and entered Confederation in 1905,Regina became the
provincial capital.
The years following were years of prosperity, until the 1929
economic crash, combined with a decade of drought and bad harvests,
brought the lean years of the Great Depression to the province.
In 1945, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)
became the first socialist government elected in North America.
Its leader, Tommy Douglas, led the fight for public
hospitalization and medicare, earning Saskatchewan the
reputation as the "social laboratory of North America."
The recovery of the 1940s and 1950s saw the economy,
once dependent solely on agriculture, become more diversified
with the development of oil, uranium, potash, coal
and other minerals.
were among the first settlers, many of them having migrated
from Manitoba.
With land available at token prices,
agriculture gradually replaced the fur trade.
A major wave of immigration began in 1899 and continued until 1929.
Today, Saskatchewan's population stands at approximately
1 019 478. Saskatchewan is Canada's only province where the
majority of the population is of neither British
nor French background.
The population has a variety of ethnic inheritances -
German, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, Amerindian, Dutch,
Polish and Russian - as well as British, French and many
other non-European origins.
Regina and Saskatoon are the two main cities and together
have about one-third of the total population.
Named in recognition of Queen Victoria (Victoria Regina),
the capital is the site of Wascana Centre, one of the world's
largest urban parks. Saskatoon, which has a larger population,
is bisected by the South Saskatchewan River.
Confederation in 1905.
Back then, agriculture was the only industry, and it centred
on wheat farming.
Today, Saskatchewan supplies 28 percent of Canada's
grain production, and crops include canola, rye, oats,
barley and flaxseeds, as well as wheat.
Saskatchewan is also a major producer of cattle and hogs.
The average Saskatchewan farm is about 420 hectares in size.
Northern Saskatchewan's 350 000 km2 of forests are the
province's most important renewable natural resource.
Softwoods (coniferous trees) are the focal point of
forestry development.
Saskatchewan is also a province rich in minerals.
Potash, uranium, coal, oil and natural gas are the
leading mineral resources.
Saskatchewan's 14 000 oil wells produce about 12 percent
of Canada's total oil output.
In addition, with an estimated two-thirds of the world's
reserves,
Saskatchewan is the leading exporter of potash.
Research and development is a growing business in Saskatchewan,
as attested to by the inauguration of Saskatoon's Innovation Centre.
The province's technological potential in agriculture,
space technology and biotechnology is now recognized internationally.
Canada
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Yukon
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Northwest Territories
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Nunavut
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British Columbia
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Alberta
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Saskatchwan
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Manitoba
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Ontario
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Quebec
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Newfoundland
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New Brunswick
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Prince Edward Island
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Nova Scotia
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