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The territorial evolution of Canada began when, on 1 July 1867, three colonies of British North America were united into the independent federal Dominion of Canada through Confederation. One of these colonies split into two new provinces, and three other colonies joined later. Canada continued to accrete new provinces and territories and evolved over decades into a fully sovereign nation. Before being part of British North America, the constituents of the Dominion of Canada were part of the colonies of Canada and Acadia in New France, which were gradually ceded to Great Britain and later the United Kingdom after defeat in several wars. The French influence lived on, as the French language was common in the initial provinces of Canada, and remains one of the two official languages of the country. The central expanse of Canada was originally settled by the Hudson's Bay Company of the Kingdom of England, which had a royal monopoly over trade in the region; Rupert's Land was named after the company's first director, Prince Rupert of the Rhine. The North West Company later moved into a large portion of the region, and competition and minor hostilities between the two companies forced their merger. What was to become the Colony of British Columbia was claimed as part of New Spain and Russian America, until 1793 and 1825 respectively, and was for a time shared with the United States as what was known to Americans as the Oregon Country, until in 1846 the border was extended west from the Rockies to the Pacific along the 49th Parallel. Since it was formed, Canada's external borders have changed seven times, and it has grown from four provinces at Confederation to ten provinces and three territories. It has only lost significant territory in the border dispute with the Dominion of Newfoundland over Labrador, which later joined Canada as the 10th province. ==Notes== * The Northwest Territories (NWT) have been made up of several districts, but one of these, the District of Keewatin, once had a higher status than the other districts. Because of this unique status, it is handled separately from the NWT on this list. After 1905 it no longer had any special status, and it was finally dissolved in 1999 when Nunavut was created. * The maps used on this page, for simplicity, use the modern version of the borders of Labrador. For much of its history, Canada claimed Labrador extended only along the coast (the "Coasts of Labrador"), while Newfoundland claimed the larger area. It is Newfoundland's claim that is used. * The Arctic Islands were still being explored and discovered throughout Canada's history; apart from the Sverdrup Islands, however, they were all claimed by Canada upon discovery, and to simplify the list the individual discoveries are omitted. 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「Territorial evolution of Canada」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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