Hi Al,

Both links, CIA - excellent fact sheet (amazingly detailed!) and wikipedia - summary of Canada's history, governance, geography, facts and figures (beautifully organized and summarized - and what a pletora of links!) were highly appreciated, and made me achieve a good general view of your country, nice folks from the north.

Also found interesting the origin of Canada's name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%27s_name

"The name Canada is believed to have originated around 1535 from a Wendat (Huron-Iroquoian) word, kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement", referring to Stadacona, a settlement on the site of present-day Quebec City; another contemporary translation was "land". In 1545, Jacques Cartier was first to use the word "canada" to refer to the village of Stadacona and the region neighbouring it. By 1547, maps made by early European explorers show that rivière de Canada was given to the nearby St. Lawrence River; the river was called Kaniatarowanenneh ("big waterway") in Mohawk, coincidentally and reinforcingly similar to kanata. A plausible hypothesis is that the river was named for the village on its banks and the surrounding land for the river used to explore it."

"An unsubstantiated but occasionally heard explanation of the name's origin is that Spanish cartographers, not having explored the northern part of the continent, wrote acá nada ("nothing here") on that part of their maps. A similar tale credits Portuguese explorers who, upon seeing the eastern coastline, declared a similar sentiment (cá nada há)."

I did not know that the spanish and portuguese had been so up in the north.

Thank you so much!

Regards,

Fernando

>Another link from our friends at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada