If you’re planning on visiting Canada any time soon, you might want to be clued up on these facts before setting off:
1. Canada is the second largest country in the world, after Russia. Surprisingly, Canada doesn’t have as dense a population as you’d expect – its population density is the ninth lowest on the planet.
2. Canada is approximately 9,984,970sqkm and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The country spans six different time zones.. These are Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.
3. 31% of Canada is taken up by forests – 10% of the world’s forests can be found in Canada. These forests are home to a range of animals, including the grizzly bear, wolves and moose.
4. The word ‘Canada’ means ‘village’. It came about during a misunderstanding between Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, and a group of indigenous people (known as ‘Iroquois’). Jacques believed that ‘kanata’ was their word for ‘village’.
5. Canada has the largest coastline in the world, at 202,080km. It would take over four years to walk the entire length (if you didn’t take any breaks).
6. Famous Canadians include The Weeknd, Avril Lavinge, Jim Carrey, Shay Mitchell, Carly Rae Jepson, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Alessia Cara, Drake, Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes.
7. Smarties, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, apple pie, insulin, penicillin and velcro were all invented in Canada. The first IMAX cinema was built in Canada in 1967 by Robert C. Shaw, and the first IMAX film was shown three years later.
8. Canada is the most well-educated country and its literacy rate is over 99%. Canada has the highest number of students attending university, and the majority of adults have a degree.
9. Winnie the Pooh was inspired by a bear cub called Winnipeg, which was transported from Canada to London Zoo in 1915. The bear was visited by a young boy called Christopher and his father, A. A. Milne.
10. Canadians are the highest consumers of macaroni and cheese. Kraft Dinner is the most popular brand. Canadians also eat more doughnuts than Americans, and has the most doughnut shops per capita.
