Welcome – Your Canada

Welcome to Your Canada

We are here to celebrate Canada – its rich history, diverse culture, and incredible geography! We are building more than just a website, we are building an online community.

Whether you are a proud Canadian, a Canadian living abroad, or just a fan of this great nation, you are welcome to join us here and become part of something very special!

Connect with others on the Your Canada Blog, and on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Vimeo.

A word about “Canada”

Canada got its name from the Huron-Iroquois word “kanata”, meaning “village” or “settlement”.

In 1535, two Aboriginal youths told French explorer Jacques Cartier about kanata. They meant the village of Stadacona, the site of present-day Québec City. Cartier misunderstood. He used “Canada” to describe the village and the entire area controlled by its Chief Donnacona.

Over time, Canada came to refer to a larger area. Maps in 1547 designated all territory north of the St. Lawrence as Canada. Cartier called the St. Lawrence River “rivière du Canada”, a name used until the early 1600s. By 1616, settlers called the region New France. Despite this, the area around the “river of Canada” and the Gulf of St. Lawrence was still called Canada.

In the 1700s, the fur trade further expanded the territory of Canada to the west and to the south. It reached as far west as what is now Midwestern America, and as far south as present-day Louisiana.

The first official use of the name Canada came in 1791. The Constitutional Act of 1791, divided the Province of Quebec in two at the Ottawa River. The western part became Upper Canada and the eastern part became Lower Canada. Upper Canada was under English control and Lower Canada was under French control. In 1841, the two colonies merged into the Province of Canada.