On the outside, Canada is a vast and rugged land. From north to south, it spans more than half the Northern Hemisphere.

From east to west, it stretches almost 4,700 miles (7,560 kilometers) across six time zones.

But even though it's the second largest country in the world, only one-half of one percent of the world's population lives there.

Canada is rich with black-blue lakes, rivers, majestic mountains, and forested valleys.

The Canadian Shield, a hilly region in the northern part of the country, even has some of the oldest rocks on Earth!

Canada's far north belongs to the Arctic Circle, where ice, snow, and glaciers dominate the landscape.

Few trees grow here, and farming is not feasible, really. Native Canadians, called First Nations people, live in this region and by mostly hunting and fishing.

The first people to come to Canada are thought to have arrived between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago across a land bridge that connected Asia and North America.

Interestingly, around A.D. 1000, the Viking explorer Leif Eriksson reached Newfoundland and tried to establish a settlement there, but it didn't last.

The French and British settlers arrived in the 16th century. Continual land disputes between farmers and fur traders led to four wars between 1689 and 1763.

The final one, called the French and Indian War, left the British in control of Canada; however, French influence remains strong even today.

In 1867, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick combined to form a dominion with its own separate government, parliament, and prime minister.

Manitoba joined soon after and in 1931, Canada became an independent nation.

As the pictures illustrate, Canada is, in some ways, many nations in one. Descendents of British and French immigrants make up roughly half of the population, then there are other European and Asian immigrants, and First Nations peoples make up just about four percent.

Inuit people live mostly in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Many Native Canadians live on their traditional lands, but a considerable portion have moved to cities across the country.

To get an even better understanding of this corner of the world, fire up our earlier "Meanwhile, in Canada" publications that reflect the country here and here.