Canada

Canada, officially the Canadian Republic (République Canadien), is a country in North America. It consists of seventeen provinces, ten autonomous regions, and three territories, extending from the in the north to the  in the south, bordering nine other countries to the east and west, and covering __ square kilometers, the third-largest area of any country. The national capital is and the most populous city and financial center is ; other major urban areas include  (often called the "cultural capital"),, , and.

have inhabited what is now Canada for at least 12,000 years. began in the 16th century, forming the colony of, which covered most of the territory of modern Canada at its peak but lost to  and  to  following the. During the 1790s, in the context of the, Canada gained de facto independence as a , albeit with no sitting king, under the regency of the. Its political status remained ambiguous until after Lafayette's death when the regency was overthrown in the Canadian Revolution of 1837, which established the modern Canadian Republic and secured Canada's de jure independence. Canada fought a series of wars of expansion through the 19th century, regaining Louisiana from Spain and obtaining from  and  from British Columbia, as well as defeating a subsequent secession attempt by Louisiana, resulting in the. Indigenous allies in these wars had their lands recognized as Pays Indiens, the precursors of today's autonomous regions.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Canadian society underwent substantial and. In the first half of the 20th century, Canada fought in the First and Second Great Wars and emerged victorious as a ; in the second half of the century it engaged other world powers in the Great Game and asserted a leadership role in both North America and the Francophone world, including through major military interventions in Carolina and Algeria. The, beginning in the 1960s, brought about social changes including , the creation of a , and greater rights and autonomy for Indigenous, Black, Métis, and Creole peoples.

Canada today is a  and an economic and political  sometimes described as a : it is a permanent member of the Society of Nations Council and a nuclear-weapon state, has the world's second- or third-largest, and ranks highly in international metrics of human rights, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. It is a founding member of the North American Community, the Transatlantic Defense Organization, and La Francophonie, and the most populous member of all three. Its and culture are globally influential.

142,839,423

Population

 * Canadian portion: 24,067,928
 * Extra Quebec: 8,501,833
 * US states wholly included: 81,190,939
 * Portion of Texas: 6,653,507 (to Mexico: 2,973,076; independent Texas: 15,518,978)
 * Colorado: 	5,773,714
 * Montana: 1,085,407