The+Prairies

**Canadian Natural Resources - The Prairies**
**Broad Focus Questions** Questions 1 and 3: BY JEFFY & BEN & CASSIDY☆ Questions 2 and 4: BY JULIE & DUNCAN & ANGELA & OWEN

** 1. What physical and natural forces have shaped Canada and created a diverse landscape? ** The glaciers expanded southward, flattening the land. When the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago, it deposited material it had picked up in the form of glacial sediment.

** 2. How have physical and natural forces shaped our culture and identity? ** The Natives were the first to shape the culture of the prairies. The physical force of the flat and serene landscape shaped the way the natural driving force behind their culture was formed. That natural driving force was the buffalo. Their whole existence was to follow the migration of the buffalo as a resource. The buffalo was their main source of food, shelter, clothing, belief system and way of life. When the Europeans began the exploration of North America, they brought over firearms and defecated the population of buffalo through the means of hunting and habitat fragmentation.

The Europeans began to control the path of culture to be cultivated in the prairies. The flat lands, abundance of animals (with valuable furs) and access to the Hudson Bay shaped our modern understanding of the Canadian Prairie culture. The animals with valuable furs and access to Hudson Bay supported the fur trade that was the base of the Canadian economy. The flat landscape is the base of the growing agricultural business we see today. Alberta is home to the biggest rodeo in Canada due to its thriving cattle industry. The rest of the prairies are home to various specialized agricultural industries such as wheat and grain production. Today we know the prairies as three provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

** 3. How have communities in Canada adapted to, and been affected by, geographical changes? ** For 10-20,000 years, [|the Natives used fire] to remove trees and clear dead plant matter. The fire burns, and returns the nutrients back into the soil. Some cultures, for example, southern Alberta, developed cultures revolving around their economic activity. They adopted a cowboy culture when they opened ranches in the 1880's.Lots of buffalo (or American bison) were the main source for items, clothing, and other tools that the Natives used. Because of the buffalo migration, they adapted to live in tipis, because they were easy to put up/take down. In the mid-1800s traders i[|ntroduced the Natives] to a highly addictive form of whiskey. Soon, alcoholism was rampant throughout the tribes.In the 1870s, millions of buffalo were killed; the animal that had sustained the prairie tribes for centuries had begun to disappear.



** 4. How are important physical and cultural characteristics distributed across the map of Canada? ** Although the Praries are technically a Boreal Forest, it does contain plenty of fertile farmland that can be used for farming and to the concentration of rural farming cultures.

A map of where the prairies are located.

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