Canada is the world's second-largest country by area and occupies most of northern North America. It extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean and shares land borders with the United States to the south and to the northwest (Alaska).

Canada, first inhabited by aboriginal peoples, was founded as a union of British and former French colonies. Canada gained independence from the United Kingdom in an incremental process that began in 1867 and ended in 1982. It remains a Commonwealth Realm.

Canada is a federal constitutional monarchy with parliamentary democracy with ten provinces and three territories. The country is a bilingual with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. Canada's economy is diversified but is heavily reliant on international trade especially with the United States.

The Canadian economy has benefited from its huge resources of energy and minerals, especially of late because of high world demand. Yet the economy is dependent on merchandise trade for growth and trade with the U.S. is paramount.

Updated December 5, 2007