The Dominion of Canada.—The name Canada has lately acquired an enormous exten sion of territorial signification. In 1867, an act for the union of C. (Upper and Lower), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick was passed, and by it these provinces were federally united into one Dominion of C. under the crown of the United Kingdom, with a consti tution similar to that of the mother country and with Ottawa for its capital. All the vast territory which the Hudson bay company held tinder a charter issued by Charles II., was transferred to the imperial government in Dec. 1869—the company receiving an indemnity front the Canadian government of £300,000—and was, by order of H. M. the queen in council, received into the Dominion the following year. The portion of that territory known as Red River Settlement (q.v.) was in 1870 erected into the pro vince of Manitoba. (The district to the n. rind e. of Manitoba is now known as Keewatin. The vast region towards the n.w. was organized as a territory in 1875 under the name of the North-west territory.) British Columbia became a member of the Dominion in 1871. Prince Edward island joined the confederation in 1673, and the accession of Newfoundland cannot be long deferred.
This vast extent of territory, extending from the latitude of Rome to the Arctic ocean, stands in superficial area (3,500,000 sq.m.), even if we exclude Labrador and the islands of the Arctic ocean, little behind the United States (3,603,000) and Europe (3,720,000). East and w. it extends from the 53d to the 141st meridians. The total habitable area is, however, diminished considerably when the frozen regions n. of the 60th parallel of latitude are deducted.
The physical characteristics and statistics of the various provinces will be found discussed under their several heads.
The census of 1871 gives the following figures for the several provinces: Indian population of the Dominion was in 1877 reported by the superintendent of Indian affairs to amount to 99,650. In 1871, the number of immigrants into the Dominion was 37,949; in 1873, they numbered no less than 99,059; and in 1874, 80,022. Of these a fair proportion became actual settlers; thus of a total of 31,650 immigrants in 1876, 25,633 settled in the country. Of late there has been some immigration from the United States. In 1879, there were upwards of 6000 Chinese residents in British Columbia.
Church and Educatian.—There is no state church in C. In 1871, there were 1,492,000 Roman Catholics in the Dominion, the mass of the inhabitants of Quebec province being French Catholics. The Presbyterians numbered 544,000: the Methodists, 514,000; and the Episcopal church, 494,000. Lutherans, Congregationalists, and many other
sects are also represented. The Episcopal church is governed by nine bishops, and the Roman Catholic church by four archbishops and fourteen bishops.
Education is carefully fostered in the Dominion. Especially in the oldest settlement both primary and secondary schools are numerous. The province of Ontario had in 1871 nearly 5000 educational establishments, including 16 called colleges. Quebec has '3 universities, 1 being Catholic, and above 20 classical and industrial colleges. New Brunswick has nearly 1000 primary schools. Nova Scotia has a university ut IIalifax; and the new province of Manitoba has already a university at Winnipeg. In 1871, there were 420 newspapers and other periodicals published in C., of which 255 appeared in Ontario.
Revenue. —The total revenue of the Dominion of C. for the financial year ending June, 1877, amounted to £8,877,956, and the gross expenditure was £8,840,324, leaving a surplus of £37,632. In the financial estimates for the year ending June, 1879, the total expenditure was fixed at £7,866,876. The debt of the Dominion, incurred chiefly on account of public works, the interest of which forms the largest part of the expend iture, amounted in 1878 to £29,879,421; and of this capital, £24,497,524 represented debt payable in London. • Commerce.—The trade of the Dominion is chiefly with the United States and Great Britain; and while the greater part of the Canadian exports finds its way to Great Britain, the imports are now chiefly from the United States. Thus, of a total expor tation of '76,000,000 in 1877, 41 millions went to Great Britain, 26 millions to the United States; while of a total importation of 99,000,000, 40 millions came from Great Britain, but 51 millions from the United States. In 1878, the total exports were valued at $79,323,667 (£15,864,000); the imports at $93,081,787 (2,18,616,000). The staple articles of export are wood and breadstuffs; also fish, furs, etc., and minerals. The chief imports from the United Kingdom are iron, wrought and unwrought, woolen manufac tures, and cotton goods.
Shipping.—The merchant shipping of C. is important, and, considering its popula tion, remarkably extensive. At the end of 1877, there were 7362 vessels on the regular books of the Dominion, measuring 1,310,468 tons of register tonnage. C. is, accord ingly, the fifth in rank of the ship-owning states of the world, following, for extent of shipping, Britain, the United States, Norway, and Italy, but taking precedence of Ger many, France, and all other maritime powers.