The Dauphin Map of Canada, c. 1543, showing Cartier's discoveries. Newfoundland is near the upper right; Florida and the Bahamas are at lower left
While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning 'village' or 'settlement'.[1] In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona.[2] Cartier later used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona (the chief at Stadacona);[2] by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this small region along the Saint Lawrence River as Canada.[2]
From the 16th to the early 18th century, Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River.[3] In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada. These two colonies were collectively named the Canadas until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841.[4]
Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the legal name for the new country at the London Conference, and the word Dominion was conferred as the country's title.[5] By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "Realm of the Commonwealth".[6] The government of Louis St. Laurent ended the practice of using Dominion in the statutes of Canada in 1951.[7][8]
The Canada Act 1982, which brought the constitution of Canada fully under Canadian control, referred only to Canada. Later that year, the name of the national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day.[9] The term Dominion was used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though after the Second World War the term federal had replaced dominion.[10]
^Olson, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert (1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-313-26257-9.
^ abcRayburn 2001, pp. 14–22.
^Magocsi, Paul R. (1999). Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples. University of Toronto Press. p. 1048. ISBN 978-0-8020-2938-6.
^"An Act to Re-write the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada". J.C. Fisher & W. Kimble. 1841. p. 20.
^O'Toole, Roger (2009). "Dominion of the Gods: Religious continuity and change in a Canadian context". In Hvithamar, Annika; Warburg, Margit; Jacobsen, Brian Arly (eds.). Holy Nations and Global Identities: Civil Religion, Nationalism, and Globalisation. Brill. p. 137. ISBN 978-90-04-17828-1.
^Morra, Irene (2016). The New Elizabethan Age: Culture, Society and National Identity after World War II. I.B.Tauris. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-85772-867-8.
^"November 8, 1951 (21st Parliament, 5th Session)". Canadian Hansard Dataset. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
^Bowden, J.W.J. (2015). "'Dominion': A Lament". The Dorchester Review. 5 (2): 58–64.
^Buckner, Philip, ed. (2008). Canada and the British Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 37–40, 56–59, 114, 124–125. ISBN 978-0-19-927164-1.
^Courtney, John; Smith, David (2010). The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics. Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-19-533535-4.
While a variety of theories have been postulated for the nameofCanada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata...
Canadiannaming conventions vary based on whether one is Indigenous, English Canadian, or French Canadian. In English Canada, names follow much the same...
which brought the Constitution ofCanada fully under Canadian control, referred only to Canada. Later that year, the nameof the national holiday was changed...
This list of place names in Canadaof Indigenous origin contains Canadian places whose names originate from the words of the First Nations, Métis, or Inuit...
Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the...
ofCanada (French: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those...
Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada, [faɛ̯t dzy kanadɑ]), formerly known as Dominion Day (French: Fête du Dominion), is the national day ofCanada. A federal...
of the namesof cities across Canada. Canada portal History portal Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies List ofCanadian place names of...
This article lists the etymologies of the namesof the provinces and territories ofCanada. Acadia (French: Acadie): origin disputed: Credited to Florentine...
d/b/a) is used, among others, such as assumed business name or alternative business name. In Canada, "operating as" (abbreviated to o/a) and "trading as"...
Registered Persons Database ofCanadian health card recipients in the province of Ontario for a particularly Chinese-Canadianname list. Ignoring potentially...
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely,...
List ofCanadian poets List ofCanadian playwrights List ofCanadian short story writers List ofCanadian science fiction authors List ofCanadian historians...
of Verdun in Montreal.[irrelevant citation] Bell Canada is one of the main assets of the holding company BCE Inc., an abbreviation of its full name,...
known internationally by that name. Atlantic Canada has several unique varieties, which have spread to other parts of the country as people migrate for...
postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating nameof the Post Office Department of the Canadian government founded...
symbols. "O Canada" (French: Ô Canada) is the national anthem ofCanada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore...
Geographical Names Board ofCanada (GNBC) is a national committee with a secretariat in Natural Resources Canada, part of the Government ofCanada, which authorizes...
English place names in Canada is a list ofCanadian place names which are named after places in England, carried over by English emigrants and explorers...
The Communist Party of Canada changed its name multiple times in its history. It was founded as the Communist Party ofCanada in 1921. It was underground...
Common endonym: Canada Official endonym: Canada Adjectival: Canadian, Canada Demonym: Canadian (Fr. canadien) Etymology: NameofCanada Official languages :...
its name to what became the city of Toronto. John Graves Simcoe identified the area as a strategic location to base a new capital for Upper Canada, believing...
This is a list of placenames in Scotland that have been applied to parts ofCanada by Scottish emigrants or explorers. For Nova Scotian names in Scottish...
Ordre du Canada) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals ofCanada, after the...
Tobago, an island country in North America. Longest place names in Canada: Local service district of Lethbridge, Morley's Siding, Brooklyn, Charleston, Jamestown...
The Canada Life Assurance Company (French: La Compagnie d'Assurance du Canada sur la Vie), commonly known as Canada Life (Canada-Vie), is an insurance...
contains a list ofnamed passenger trains in Canada. The primary source for Canadian passenger train names is the Official Guide of the Railways, which...
Global Information