Dominion of Canada

The name Canada has been in use since the earliest European settlement in Canada and most likely originates from a First Nations word kanata for "settlement", "village", or "land". more...

Today, Canada is pronounced /ˈkænədə/ in English and /kanada/ in French.

The French colony of Canada, New France, was set up along the Saint Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. Later the British colonies along the St. Lawrence River were called Upper Canada and Lower Canada until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, the name Canada was officially adopted for the new dominion, which was commonly referred to as the Dominion of Canada until after World War II.

Name origin

The name Canada is believed to have originated around 1535 from a Wendat (Huron-Iroquoian) word, kanata, meaning "village", "settlement", or "collection of huts", referring to Stadacona, a settlement on the site of present-day Quebec City; another contemporary translation was "land". By 1547, maps made by early European explorers show that the name 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.

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