Former colonies and territories in Canada

[2] The colonization of Canada by Europeans began in the 10th century, when Norsemen explored and, ultimately unsuccessfully, attempted to settle areas of the northeastern fringes of North America.

Following their first conflict with the British invaders (King Philip's War) in 1677, the Mi'kmaq joined the wider Wabanaki Confederacy, an alliance with four other Algonquian-language nations: the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet.

The Blackfoot Confederacy in present-day Alberta and neighbouring Montana originally consisted of three dialect groups of the same language (Peigan, Kainai, and Siksika)[note 2] but they were later joined the completely unrelated Sarcee people.

The Iron Confederacy of present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan consisted of numerous bands of mixed Plains Cree, Assiniboine, and Saulteaux people.

The French controlled New France, a region around the Great Lakes Waterway, Mississippi River System and parts of the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, until the Treaty of Paris in 1763 when it was ceded to the British.

[20] Based on the Treaty of Tordesillas the Portuguese Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the Atlantic waters visited by explorer John Cabot in 1497 and 1498.

[22] In 1498 to 1500, the Portuguese mariner João Fernandes Lavrador visited the north Atlantic coast, accounting for the appearance of the name "Labrador" on topographical maps of the period.

[24] The extent and nature of Portuguese activity on the Canadian mainland during the 16th century remains unclear and controversial, but it is generally accepted that explorer Joao Álvarez Fagundes attempted to establish a seasonal fishing colony.

[27] In 1604, the first year-round permanent settlement was founded by Samuel de Champlain at Île-Saint-Croix on Baie Française (Bay of Fundy), which was moved to Port-Royal in 1605.

[32] – List of Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Spanish colonizers had originally taken the lead in the Pacific Northwest coast, with the voyages of Juan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 and 1775.

[36] The stated southward limit of Russian claims was 51 degrees north latitude, roughly that of Cape Scott at the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

Intense tripartite negotiation led to treaties between Russia with the U.S. and Britain in 1824 and 1825, respectively, setting the new southward limit of Russian territories at 54 degrees, 40 minutes north latitude, corresponding with Cape Muzon at the southern tip of Dall Island, at the extreme southwest of what is today the Alaska Panhandle.

[40] Canada argued its historic boundary with Russian America included the Lynn Canal and the port of Skagway, both occupied by the U.S.,[40] while the U.S. claimed the Atlin District and the lower Stikine and even Whitehorse.

Pre-Columbian distribution of North American language families
Map of North America in 1750, before the French and Indian War , the North American theatre of the worldwide conflict known as the Seven Years' War (1756 to 1763), showing possessions of Britain (pink and purple), France (blue), and Spain (orange).
Animated map of North America's territorial evolution from 1750 to 2008 — in the interactive SVG version on a compatible browser, hover over the timeline to step through time
When Canada was formed in 1867 its provinces were a relatively narrow strip in the southeast, with vast territories in the interior. It grew by adding British Columbia in 1871, P.E.I. in 1873, the British Arctic Islands in 1880, and Newfoundland in 1949; meanwhile, its provinces grew both in size and number at the expense of its territories.
Animation of the evolution of the borders and names of Canada's provinces and territories
Map showing the 1973 agreed delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Greenland and Canada as defined by the Canadian Hydrographic Service