Physical Landscapes & Water
This term refers to the massive interconnected freshwater lakes located on the US-Canada border, holding about 20% of the world's surface fresh water.
What are the Great Lakes?
This is nature's boundary line indicating where it is simply too cold for trees to grow, leading to permafrost and tundra vegetation in northern Canada.
What is the Timberline?
Established in 1607 by the Virginia Company for economic gain, this settlement became the first permanent English colony in North America and the birthplace of American capitalism and the House of Burgesses
What is Jamestown?
This is a system of government where elected members take the central role in running the country, where the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons automatically becomes the Prime Minister.
What is a Parliamentary System?
This Canadian policy encourages immigrants to preserve their cultural heritage and traditions while belonging to society, often described metaphorically as a "cultural mosaic" (contrasted with the US "melting pot").
What is Multiculturalism?
This term means a high ridge of land that determines the direction in which waters flow either toward the Pacific Ocean or toward the Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico
What is the Continental Divide?
These warm winter winds blow down the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in Canada, capable of raising temperatures by about 20°C in just one hour and melting severe snow.
What are Chinook Winds (or the Chinook)?
Signed aboard a ship in 1620 by Pilgrims seeking religious freedom, this document established a self-governing body politic based on a civil covenant and social contract.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
In the United States, the President is not elected by a direct national popular vote, but rather through this indirect system where each state is allocated a specific number of electors based on its representation in Congress.
What is the Electoral College?
This traditional US industrial region around the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley was famous for heavy manufacturing, steel, and automotive industries before experiencing a major population and business shift.
What is the Manufacturing Belt?
This massive region of ancient, hard rock covers nearly half of Canada and was carved by Ice Age glaciers, leaving behind thin soil and thousands of lakes rich in minerals.
What is an Aquifer?
This general wind pattern moves from west to east across the central portion of North America, heavily influencing the climate of coastal and inland regions.
What are the Prevailing Westerlies?
Coined by Mark Twain, this 19th-century era (1870s–1900s) refers to a period of rapid industrialization that looked prosperous on the surface but was plagued by political corruption, monopolies, and poverty underneath.
What is the Gilded Age?
Consisting of 435 members whose seats are apportioned among the states based on population, this is the lower chamber of the United States Congress.
What is the House of Representatives?
Characterized by a warm climate and rapid growth in high-tech and service industries, this warm region in the southern and southwestern US has attracted millions of migrants since the 1960s.
What is the Sunbelt?
This massive region of ancient, hard rock covers nearly half of Canada and was carved by Ice Age glaciers, leaving behind thin soil and thousands of lakes rich in minerals.
What is the Canadian Shield?
The Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last Ice Age covered almost all of Canada, scraping away soil and creating millions of lakes. What specific term describes the harsh northern Canadian zone where the ground beneath the surface remains frozen year-round, preventing agriculture?
What is Permafrost?
Operating from the 1880s until 1996 and jointly run by the federal government and churches, this controversial Canadian system forcibly isolated First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children from their families and cultures to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian society.
What are Residential Schools
Because the executive and legislative branches are strictly independent under a separation of powers, this term describes the political deadlock or grid coordination failure that frequently occurs when the President and the congressional majority belong to different political parties.
What is Political Gridlock
Located in Alberta, these massive deposits of sand mixed with heavy crude oil (bitumen) have made Canada a global oil superpower, though they spark fierce debate over economic wealth versus environmental destruction
What are Oil Sands (or Bitumen)?
Known as the mountain backbone of western Canada, this rugged Cordillera range blocks moist air from the Pacific Ocean, creating what dry weather phenomenon on its eastern side?
What is a Rain Shadow (or Rain Shadow Effect)?
Out of Canada's ten provinces, this is the only one officially designated as bilingual, giving equal legal status to both English and French across all public services and administration.
What is New Brunswick?
This traditional belief system, widely practiced by early Native American and First Nations peoples, holds that non-human entities—such as animals, plants, and natural objects or phenomena—possess a spiritual essence or soul.
What is Animism?
Which two of the following were NOT invented or created in Canada?
A) Basketball
B) Wi-Fi
C) The World Wide Web
D) The Telephone
E) The Light Bulb
C and E
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) Canada has over 2 million lakes, which is more than all the rest of the world's countries combined.
B) Inland water bodies like lakes and rivers cover roughly 9% of Canada's total geographic area.
C) The vast majority of Canada's millions of lakes were originally carved out and formed by the retreat of continental ice sheets during the last Ice Age.
D) Because of Canada's northern climate, more than 50% of Canada's land surface is permanently covered by freshwater lakes and rivers year-round.
D