The world's second-largest country, from sea to sea to sea, dominated by the Canadian Shield and the Arctic Archipelago
Stretching across nearly 10 million km² from the Atlantic to the Pacific and on to the Arctic Ocean, Canada shares only one land border, with the United States, more than 8,800 km long — the longest international border in the world. The country has more lakes than all other countries combined, a vast Precambrian shield (the Canadian Shield) covering nearly half its territory, and an immense Arctic Archipelago of more than 36,000 islands, largely uninhabited and covered in ice for much of the year.
9,984,670 km²
Area
5,959 m
Highest point · Mount Logan (Yukon)
1
Land borders
The main rivers of Canada. Click a river to see its length, source and mouth.
Climate
Extremely varied depending on latitude and distance from the oceans: temperate and humid on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, continental with hot summers and harsh winters on the Prairies and in the centre, subarctic then Arctic (tundra and permafrost) in the Far North, where some stations are among the coldest and most remote inhabited places on Earth.
Administrative divisions
Canada is a federation of ten provinces, which have their own constitutional powers, and three territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), whose powers are delegated by the federal government. Unlike France, Canada has no non-contiguous or overseas territory: the whole country forms a single continental block, extended to the north by its Arctic Archipelago.
10
Provinces
3
Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
The 13 regions of the mainland territory of Canada.