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Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city had a population of 877,926 in the 2014 census,〔 http://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/facts_figures/population-history.aspx 〕 making it Alberta's second-largest city and Canada's fifth-largest municipality. This population represents 66 percent of the total 2014 population of 1,328,300 〔 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo05a-eng.htm 〕 within the Edmonton census metropolitan area (CMA), Canada's fifth-largest CMA by population. Edmonton is the northernmost North American city with a metropolitan population over one million. A resident of Edmonton is known as an ''Edmontonian''. Edmonton's historic growth has been facilitated through the absorption of five adjacent urban municipalities (Strathcona, North Edmonton, West Edmonton, Beverly and Jasper Place)〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Population History )〕 and a series of annexations ending in 1982. Edmonton serves as the northern anchor of the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor.〔 Known as the "Gateway to the North",〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=City Centre Airport (Gateway to the North) )〕 the city is a staging point for large-scale oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta and large-scale diamond mining operations in the Northwest Territories.〔(【引用サイトリンク】author=The Diavik Diamond Mine )〕 Edmonton is a cultural, governmental and educational centre. It hosts a year-round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname "Canada's Festival City".〔 It is home to North America's largest mall, West Edmonton Mall (the world's largest mall from 1981 until 2004), and Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest living history museum. == History == The earliest known inhabitants settled in the area that is now Edmonton around 3,000 BC and perhaps as early as 12,000 BC, when an ice-free corridor opened up as the last glacial period ended and timber, water, and wildlife became available in the region. In 1754, Anthony Henday, an explorer working for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), may have been the first European to enter the Edmonton area. His expeditions across the Canadian Prairies were mainly to seek contact with the aboriginal population for the purpose of establishing the fur trade, as competition was fierce between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company. By 1795, Fort Edmonton was established on the north bank of the river, as a major trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company. The name of the new fort was suggested by John Peter Pruden after Edmonton, London, the home town of both the HBC deputy governor Sir James Winter Lake, and Pruden. The coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to southern Alberta in 1885 helped the Edmonton economy, and the 1891 building of the Calgary and Edmonton (C&E) Railway resulted in the emergence of a railway townsite (South Edmonton/Strathcona) on the south side of the river, across from Edmonton. The arrival of the CPR and the C&E Railway facilitated the arrival of settlers and entrepreneurs from eastern Canada, Britain and continental Europe, U.S. and other parts of the world. The fertile soil and cheap land in the Edmonton area helped attract settlers, further establishing Edmonton as a major regional commercial and agricultural centre. Some people participating in the Klondike Gold Rush passed through South Edmonton/Strathcona in 1897. Strathcona was the northernmost railway point in North America, but travel to the Klondike was still very difficult for the "Klondikers", and a majority of them took a steamship north to the Yukon from Vancouver.〔Monto, Tom (2011). ''Old Strathcona, Edmonton's Southside Roots''. Edmonton: Crang Publishing/Alhambra Books.〕 Incorporated as a town in 1892 with a population of 700 and then as a city in 1904 with a population of 8,350, Edmonton became the capital of Alberta when the province was formed a year later, on September 1, 1905.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Edmonton )〕 In November 1905, the Canadian Northern Railway (CNR) arrived in Edmonton, accelerating growth.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Edmonton, Alberta (2004) )〕 During the early 1900s, Edmonton grew very rapidly, causing speculation in real estate. In 1912, Edmonton amalgamated with the City of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River; as a result, the city extended south of the North Saskatchewan River for the first time. Just prior to World War I, the boom ended, and the city's population declined sharply from more than 72,000 in 1914 to less than 54,000 only two years later. Many impoverished families moved to subsistence farms outside the city and others fled to greener pastures in other provinces.〔Monto, Tom (2011). ''Old Strathcona, Edmonton's Southside Roots''. Edmonton: Crang Publishing/Alhambra Books, pp. 346–349〕 Recruitment to the Canadian army during the war also contributed to the drop in population.〔Monto, Tom (2011). ''Old Strathcona, Edmonton's Southside Roots''. Edmonton: Crang Publishing/Alhambra Books, p. 354〕 Afterwards, the city slowly recovered in population and economy during the 1920s and 1930s and took off again during and after World War II. The Edmonton City Centre Airport opened in 1929,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History and Milestones )〕 becoming the first licensed airfield in Canada.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History )〕 Originally named Blatchford Field in honour of former mayor Kenny Blatchford, pioneering aviators such as Wilfrid R. "Wop" May and Max Ward used Blatchford Field as a major base for the distribution of mail, food, and medicine to Northern Canada; hence Edmonton's emergence as the "Gateway to the North". World War II saw Edmonton becoming a major base for the construction of the Alaska Highway and the Northwest Staging Route. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edmonton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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