Canada occupies most of northern North America, and has a history that not only spans over almost 1000 years, but is also full of interesting facts. Right here, are a few more facts about this beautiful and unique country.
Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its symbolic or ceremonial executive head of state.
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Borders of Canada stretch from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, with the Arctic Ocean to its north.
It is an extremely diversified multicultural country, open to providing citizenship to many people from different parts of the world.
Both, English and French are its official languages. Christianity is the major religion, and other religions include Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism.
Canada perhaps is the only country in the world that is rarely in the news for any controversial issues.
It is known to be a peace-loving country and is also one of the most preferred countries to migrate to.
Know some fun facts that make this country stand apart from the rest.
An unusual fact about Canada is its name origin, it comes from a St. Lawrence Iroquoian word, "kanata", which means village or settlement.
It's the world's second largest country according to total area. It has a total area of 9,984,670 square kilometers.
It has the longest coastline in the world, about 243,000 kilometers in length.
The country shares the world's longest common border with the United States of America, which is also the only unprotected border in the world.
It is the world's largest country that borders only one country, which is the United States of America.
81 percent of the total population in Canada resides in cities.
The belief that the North Pole is owned by Canada is false. No country owns the North Pole.
It is also the largest producer of a refreshingly sweet dessert wine called "Ice wine".
It features in the list of top five world's producers of gold, copper, zinc, nickel, aluminum, and natural gas.
A funny fact about Canada's city of Montreal, sometimes called "The City of Churches", is that it has more churches than houses!
Canada is home to the world's smallest jail, located in Ontario. It is only 270 square feet.
The longest highway in the world is the Trans-Canada Highway which is over 7604 kilometers in length.
It has the highest tertiary education enrollment in the world, which includes locals as well as international students.
Toronto is the largest city of Canada, with a population of more than 2.7 million people. Toronto dwellers hold more university degrees than any other big city in the world.
Despite being a really big country, it has the fourth-lowest population density in the world, with only three people living per square kilometer! Almost half of the population in Canada were born in other countries.
Here's a weird fact, it produces so much energy, that it provides it to the US too!
The Ice Hotel in Quebec, known as "Hotel de Glace" is created every year using 400 tons of ice and 12,000 tons of snow. It melts away every summer and is recreated every winter.
The country has just no true desert, but only some regions that exhibit desert-like terrain. In British Columbia, towards the southernmost corner of the Okanagan Valley in Osoyoos, which is considered to be a semi-desert.
This semi-desert is only 15 miles long, with over 100 rare plants, and over 300 rare animals. It is also the only desert in the world that has a long boardwalk, for people to walk on!
Winter temperatures fall below freezing point, with snow covering some parts of the country for nearly six months!
The first person to make paper from wood fibers was a Canadian, Charles Fenerty.
Many inventions including basketball, the electric light bulb, the electric range, the electric wheelchair, standard time, the cardiac pacemaker, the foghorn and the first snowmobile were invented in this remarkable country.
Also, the first practical electron microscope was constructed at the University of Toronto.
It has two national sports; Lacrosse as the country's national summer sport, and Ice Hockey as the national winter sport.
It is also known to have the sixth highest human development index in the world, according to the United Nations Human Development Index 2011.
In 1883, the baseball glove was invented in Canada.
Half of the country is covered with forests, which should not be surprising, considering one-tenth of the world's forests are here. It is also home to the polar and the grizzly bears.
Canada ranks high on tourist preferred destination itineraries, as it offers a unique peek into its multi-cultural and bio-geographical diversity. It is relatively free from all sorts of discrimination and divide, a fact most Canadians are proud about.