Alberta

- Alberta is one of the Prairie Provinces.
- It is the fourth largest province.
- Saskatchewan is east of Alberta: British Columbia is west.
- The Northwest Territories are north of Alberta.
- The State of Montana is south.
- Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.
- Edmonton (capital city) and Calgary are the largest cities.
- Alberta's flower- Wild Rose ,tree- Lodge pole Pine , bird - Great Horned Owl, mammal- Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
- Alberta's motto- "Strong and free".
- It is known as Canada's “energy province".
The PEOPLE
- Alberta is home to over 3.5 million people. (April 2007)
- The largest cities are Edmonton (capital) and Calgary.
- More than half of the people live in these two cities
- Immigrants came from Britain, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the East and Southeast Asia.
- Ethnic backgrounds- British (44 percent), German, Ukrainian, French, Scandinavian, Dutch, and many other countries
HISTORY
- The first people settled in the area about 8000 years ago.
- In the woodland areas the woodland Cree and Chipewyan tribes hunted moose, caribou and deer, fished and gathered plants and berries.
- They used bark canoes to travel up and down the streams.
- On the plains the Blackfoot, Blood, and Peigan hunted the bison and lived in tipis.
- Anthony Henday (European explorer and fur trader) came to Alberta in 1754.
- Fur traders built trading posts on the Athabasca River and North Saskatchewan River.
- Forts were built to keep law and order.
- The First Nations traded furs and received guns, blanket and metal goods.
- In 1874 The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) established their first post in Alberta at Fort Macleod.
- Early settler were ranchers from England and the United States.

Canadian Geography

LOCATION

- Canada is on the continent of North America.
- The country stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
- The Arctic Ocean is north and the United States is south.
- Canada is north of the 49th parallel of latitude.
- The 49th parallel was chosen as a border from the Great Lakes to the west coast.

Facts

- Second largest country in the world (Russian) Federation is the largest
- Population 33, 212,696 (July 2008 est).
- Capital city of Canada - Ottawa (Ontario)
- Leader of Canada -Prime Minister Stephan Harper
- Emblem- maple leaf
- Flag - red and white with a red maple leaf
- Canada's birthday is on the first of July.
- Animal-the beaver
- Motto-from sea to sea
- National anthem- "O Canada"
- RCMP (ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE) the national police force
- There are six time zones

THE PEOPLE

- Most of the people live in the southern part of Canada.

- About 77 percent of Canadians live in cities and towns.

- The largest cities are Toronto, Montreal, AND VANCOUVER. (2006) Toronto- 5.5 million: MONTREAL- 3.6 million: VANCOUVER

- Saskatchewan is the fastest growing province.

- Canada’s two official languages are English and French.

-More than 9 million Canadians speak French.

- Ethnic groups include British Isles origin28%, French origin23%,other European 15%, North American Indian 2%, other mostly Asian, African, Arab6% mixed background26%
- Canada is the home of a million Aboriginal people.


- Three Aboriginal groups: First Nations, Métis and Inuit


- Eastern Canada: the Maliseet. Algonquin, Iroquois, Micmac, Huron and Ojibwa

-The Plains: Blackfoot, Cree and Assiniboine

- Pacific Coast: Kwakiutl, Bella Coola, and Haida
- Northern regions: Dene, Tsimshian and Slavey peoples
- Arctic region: the Inuit

Land and water

- Canada has the world's longest coastline.

- There are Oceans on three sides- Pacific (west), Atlantic (east), Arctic (North).

- Nearly one-forth of all the fresh water in the world is in Canada.

- Glaciers shaped the land and created many lakes (about 2 million lakes).

- The Mackenzie River (in the N.W.T.) is the longest river in Canada.

- Ships sail inland on the St.Lawrence River (from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes).

- Forests cover almost half of Canada.

- Canada has one-tenth of the world’s forests.

- Mount Logan in the Yukon Territory is Canada’s tallest peak at 5,959 metres.

GEOGRAPHY

- Canada has six main geographical regions: AppalachianHighland, CanadianShield, Arctic, lowlands, Interior Plains, Cordillera


TO BE CONTINUED...

Perseus the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the twelve Olympians. Perseus was the Greek hero who killed Medusa and claimed Andromeda, having rescued her from a sea monster.

Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danae. Danae's father, King Acrisius, set Danae and her son adrift on the sea because of prophecy that Perseus would him. The two were taken in by Polydectes, the king of Seriphus. Polydectes later conceived a passion for Danae, but was unable to force his attentions on her because Perseus had grown into a redoubtable protector. To get rid of Perseus, Polydectes sent him on a quest to bring back the head of the Gorgon Medusa, a snake haired maiden who turned all who saw her into stone.

Perseus accomplished his quest with the help of Hermes &Athena. He went first to the Gorgons' sisters, the Graeae, who had only one eye and one tooth which they shared among themselves. Perseus took the eye and the tooth and agreed to give them back only if the Graeae helped him in his quest. They helped him acquire a pair of winged sandals, a wallet or satchel and the cap of Hades; the sandals enabled him to fly, the satchel was to carry the Gorgon’s head, and the cap conferred invisibility on its wearer. Wearing the cap, he approached Medusa, looking only at her reflection in his shield, and cut off her head.

As he flew back over Africa on his way home, he en counted Atlas; in the course of a struggle, he used the Gorgon's head to turn Atlas to stone (thereby) forming the Atlas Mountains. He also dripped blood from the head onto the sands of African desert, giving birth to the deadly vipers of that region. Later in the journey he saw the maiden Andromeda chained naked to a rock by the sea as a sacrifice to a sea monster. He fell in love with her and bargained with her father, Cepheus, for her hand in marriage if he killed the monster. He succeed in slaying the beast, but at the wedding feast Phineus, a jilted suitor of Andromeda, angrily demanded the bride. In the battle which followed, Perseus used Medusa's head to turn Phineus and followers into stone.

Medusa

Medusa was once a lovely young girl who had a boyfriend she loved very much. One afternoon she and her boyfriend were looking for a place where they could be alone, and they went into a temple of the goddess Athena. Seeing that nobody else was there, they sat down to talk, and soon they started to kiss.

Athena, looking down from the sky, saw them, and she was very angry that they would use her temple this way. She made Medusa grow very ugly, and have snakes instead of hair. Medusa's boyfriend ran away, frightened.

After that Medusa went away from other people and hid herself, and she lived with her sisters (who had also gotten ugly) for many years. They were so ugly that if you looked at them you would turn into a stone statue!

In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. It derives from the Greek word gorgos which means “dreadful" while descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes and a horrifying gaze that turned those
who beheld it to stone. Traditionally, while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Sthheno and Euryale, their sister Medusa was not, and was slain by the mythical hero Perseus.

In late myths, Medusa was the only one of the Three Gorgons who was not immortal; hence Perseus was able to kill her by cutting off her head while looking at her in the reflection of a mirrored shield he supposedly got from Athena.

Some authors say that Perseus was armed with a scythe by Hermes (Mercury) and a mirror (or a shield) by Athena (Minerva) whether the mirrored shield or the scythe, these weapons allowed him to defeat Medusa easily. From the blood that spurted from her neck sprang Pegasus, her son by Poseidon. Other sources say that each drop of blood became a snake. He gave the head which had the power of turning into stone all who looked upon it, to Athena, who placed it on her shield. According to another account, Perseus buried it in the Marketplace of Argos.


According to other accounts, either he or Athena used the head of Medusa to freeze Atlas into stone, transforming him into the Atlas Mountains that held up both heaven and earth. He also used it against a competing suitor. Ultimately, he used it against King Polydectes, who originally had sent him to kill Medusa in hopes of getting him out of the way, while he pursued Perseus's mother Danae.

So the story goes. Perseus returned to the court of King Polydectes, who sat at his throne with Danae. The King asked if Perseus has the head of Medusa, and he replied "here it is" and held it a loft turning the whole court to stone.

The Olympians

The Olympians are a group of 12 gods who ruled after the overthrow of the Titans. All the Olympians are related in some way they are named after their dwelling place Mount Olympus.
Zeus
Poseidon
Hades
Hestia
Hera
Ares
Athena
Apollo
Aphrodite
Hermes
Artemis
Hephaestus


Poseidon is the brother of Zeus. After the overthrow of their Father Cronus he drew lots with Zeus and Hades, another brother, for shares of the world. His prize was to become lord of the sea. He was widely worshiped by seamen. He married Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the Titon Oceanus.


At one point he desired Demeter. To put him off Demeter asked him to make the most beautiful animal
that the world had ever seen. So to impress her Poseidon created the first horse. In some accounts his first attempts were unsuccessful and created a variety of other animals in his quest. By the time horse was created his passion for Demeter had cooled.

His weapon is a trident, which can shake the earth, and shatter any object. He’s second only to Zeus in power amongst the gods. He has a difficult quarrelsome personality. He was greedy. He had a series of disputes with other gods when he tried to take over their cities.


Hades is the brother of Zeus. After the overthrow of their Father Cronus he drew lots with Zeus and Poseidon, another brother, for shares of the world. He had the worst draw and was made lord of the underworld, ruling over the dead. He is a greedy god who is greatly concerned with increasing his subjects. Those whose calling increase the number of dead are seen favourably. The Erinnyes are welcomed gusts. He is exceedingly disinclined to allow any of his subjects to leave.

He is also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined from the earth. He has a helmet that makes him invisible. He rarely leaves the underworld. He is unpitying and terrible, but not unpredictable. His wife is Persephone Whom Hades abducted. He is the King of the dead but, death itself is another god, Thanatos.

Prometheus

Prometheus was the son of lappets who was one of the Titans. He tricked the gods into eating bare bones instead of good meat. He stole the sacred fire from Zeus and the gods. Prometheus did not tell Zeus the prophecy that one of Zeus's sons will overthrow him in punishment, Zeus commanded that Prometheus be chained for eternity in the Caucasus. There, an eagle (or, according to other sources, a vulture) would eat his liver, and each day the liver would be renewed so the punishment was endless, until Hercules finally killed the bird. Prometheus is known to be one of the most interesting characters in Greek Mythology.

The two most prominent aspects of the Prometheus myth- the creation of man from clay and the theft of fire- have parallels within the mythologies of many cultures throughout the world.

In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of 12 powerful deities, sons and Daughters of Gaia (mythology) and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. The males were Atlas, Oceanus, Hyperion,Coeus, Cronus,Crius and lapetus and the females were Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea, and Themis. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Olympians, in the Titanomachy ("Battle with the Titans") which affected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks may have borrowed from the Ancient Near East.


Among the Titans were the brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus. To them fell the office of populating the world, and providing their creations with natural gifts. Prometheus, whose name means "forsight"took some Earth and shaped it in the god's image. He named his creation Man.

Epimetheus, whose name means "hindsight" gave little thought to his work. He squandered the physical gifts on the lower animals. He gave wings to birds, powerful teeth and claws to lions and bears, and swift legs to horses and deer. When Man's turn came, nothing remained.

Prometheus invented a new gift, and he gave it to the human race. It was Intelligence, and it was better than all the others. It set our race above all the other animals, and gave us dominion over the land. That's the entire story of creation, as other Greeks tell it.

We, however, know the truth. Prometheus created at least one other race, and we believe there are more. We will look for them and, if they exist, we will find them. We will greet them as brothers and sisters, and welcome them into our nation.

Hercules

Hercules was half man and half god. His father was Zeus, the king of all the gods. But His mother was a mortal. But he did not know he was part god for quite while

Hera, Zeus' wife ,was very jealous of Hercules. She tried all kinds of ways to kill, including sending a couple of really big snakes into his crib He was just a baby, but Hercules crushed those snakes and barely noticed.

Zeus admired strength . He loved his little son. But he figured that sooner or later, Hera might actually kill little Hercules. To keep Hercules safe from attack, Zeus sent him to live with a mortal family on Earth.

Hercules grew up loved and noble. But he didn't fit in on earth. He was too big and too strong One day, his earth father told him he was a god, well part god anyway.

The rest of the story of Hercules is a series of stories, tasks and adventures, as Hercules earned his way into the heavens, to take his place with the gods.
According to Legend Eurystheus was the mortal cousin of Hercules. When Eurystheus was crowned king of Tiryns ( a little village in the city-state of Argos,Hera helped Eurystheus design 12 Labors(missions or tasks) that Hercules had to complete.


Supposedly, when Hercules had completed the 12 missions, he would earn his immortality. That's what the Oracle at Delphi had said. Actually, the oracle had said, If you complete 12 labors, immorality will be yours. Of course, being an oracle, she never explained what she meant by" immortality" - would he live forever in legend or for real? Hercules never asked.(She would not have told him anyway.)

The truth was that Eurystheus was afraid of Hercules. He did not want Hercules coming after his crown. It would never have occurred to Hercules to do so. But an evil little man like Eurystheus would never have believed that Each time Eurystheus and Hera gave Hercules a task to accomplish, they were sure that Hercules would never live through it.

But Hercules surprised them. He not only lived, he had great adventures, discovered true friends, and rid the world of some really nasty critters.

Zeus

was for many Greeks, the king of the gods. He is shown this way in Homer'sIiad , for example
He is a Sky god: people thought of him as on top of a mountain (MountOlympus), and when he is angry he throws lightning bolts out of the sky at people. Zeus probably was not worshipped in Greece before the Indo- European arrived there in the Middle Bronze Age.
He is an Indo-European god, and he is basically the same as other Indo- European sky gods like Jupiter (this is really even the same world: Ju= Zeus and piter means father or Odin. He's related to Indra, a Hindu sky god, the son of Dyeus Pita.
In some ways Zeus represents the Indo-Europeans in the minds of the later Greeks. When he arrived in Greece, he seems to have married the local earth goddess, Demeter (De for earth and meter means mother). This may be a sort of religious representation or memory of the actual mixing that took place between the invaders and the local people in the Middle Bronze Age. It is also a fertility ritual, where as with Gaia the sky and the earth come together to make the grain grow: and the child of Zeus& Demeter is Persephone, the Grain.
In other ways, people thought of Zeus as representing the father in psychological terms. People who had real problems with their own fathers might think of Zeus as a sort of ideal father, for instance. In the story of Phaeton, we see Zeus playing the part of the wise father.
Other people might see Zeus more as a way of explaining why sometimes good things happen to you and sometimes bad things: if good things happened, they would say, that was because you had done something that pleased Zeus, and if bad things happened you had done something wrong, and you needed to try to make Zeus happy now. The story of Prometheus explains how this works.
Although Zeus was not really related to any Egyptian gods, Greek people who traveled to Egypt thought that Zeus was Like the Egyptian god of the air and wind, whose name was Amon.

Classical Mythology 209 Greek women

1- Gynaikeion
The separation between the two sexes while worshipping or attending other religious services.


2- Parthenos
The title of a massive chryselephantine sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena made by Phidias and housed in the Parthenon in Athens.


3- Sophrosyne
Is a Greek philosophical term etymologically meaning moral sanity and from there self control or moderation guided by true self knowledge.


4- Kore
Was the Queen of the Underworld. Aka Persephone


5- Nymphe
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female spirit typically associated with a particular location or landform.

6- Oikos
Is the ancient Greek equivalent of a household, house, or family.


7- Miasma
In Greek mythology, a miasma is a contagious power that has an independent life of its own. Until purged by the sacrificial death of the wrongdoer, society would be chronically infected by catastrophe.

The Arctic

The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around The South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean (which overlies the North Pole) and parts of Canada, Greenland, (a Territory of Denmark), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Appalachian

Appalachian is mostly located in the United States but extends into southeastern Canada, forming a zone from 100to 300 miles wide, running from the island of Newfoundland 1,500 miles south-westward to central Alabama in the United States. The system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3,000 ft. The highest of the group is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet, which is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River.

The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence forest region occupies a broad geographic range primarily in Ontario and Quebec. This region is distinguished by the presence of eastern White and Red pines and eastern hemlock and Yellow birch.

The Canadian Shield

The Canadian Shield also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a massive geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia creation. It is an area mainly covered by igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history. It has a deep, common, joined bedrock region in eastern and central Canada and stretches north from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean, covering over half of Canada; it also extends south into the northern reaches of the United States. Population is scarce, and industrial development is minimal, although the region has a large hydroelectric power potential.

The Interior plains

The Interior plains Region of the United States and Canada falls within this area. The Interior plains were often covered by shallow inland seas. Sediments from the shield and the Rocky Mountains were deposited in these seas over millions of years. Eventually the Sediments were composed by the weight of the layers above into sedimentary rock. Part of the sedimentary rock deposited in these areas consists of coral reefs that formed close to the surface of seas during the Paleozoic era.

The Arctic Cordillera

The Arctic Cordillera is a vast, deeply dissected chain of mountain ranges extending along the northeastern flank of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from Ellesmere Island to the northeastern most part of the Ungava Peninsula in northern Labrador and northern Quebec, Canada. It spans most of the eastern coast of Nunavut with high glaciated peaks rising Through the Ice fields and some of Canada's largest ice caps, including the Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island. It is bounded to the east by Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea while its northern portion is bounded by the Arctic Ocean.

Canadian Geography

Viewed by satellite, the face of Canada reveals six clearly defined landform regions: Cordillera, Interior Plains, Canadian Shield, Great Lakes- Saint Lawrence, Appalachian, and Arctic. All these regions occupy significant portions of Canada's vast expanse. Each possesses similar geologic structures, physical features, climatic conditions, soils, and vegetation. Considered as a whole, Canada's landforms encompass an unrivaled diversity of landscapes: spectacular mountain ranges, sweeping plains, rocky uplands, temperate lowlands, and frigid tundra. The forces of nature-our daily weather, for example- actively shape landforms. Some forces level landforms, others rebuild them. Over time, the impact of water, ice, and wind slowly and steadily reduce the mighty Rockies to rubble, while rivers bear away sediments to deltas and sea bed where new landforms wait to be born.

Geo

What is the power of place?

A concept from economic geography, which reveals economic strength and weakness of wealth.

What is the sense of a place?


Intense feelings people have for the place they live may be due to natural factors such as climate or cultural factors such as language.

Interesting Facts: Hildegard was also known as a visionary and prophetess. She started receiving visions when she was a child but it was only in her 40s when she decided to keep track of it in writing. Her 26 recorded visions are known as Scivias. She wrote," And it came to pass when I was 42 and 7 months old, that the heavens were opened and and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming and suddenly I understood of the meaning of expositions of the books.

Woman Mystics: Hildegard

HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

HILDEGARD WAS BORN IN GERMANY

SHE HAD many visions

HILDEGARD WAS a Very NOBLE NUN

HILDEGARD WROTE MANY SONGS

HILDEGARD BEGAN a remarkable three decades of vibrant philosophical, artistic and scientific expression


Born: 1098, she was the tenth child of a noble German family.
Birthplace: Bockelheim, West Franconia (Germany)

Died: September17, 1179 in Rupertsberg, near Bingen

Also Known As: One of the earliest known female composers; Roman Catholic abbess, also called Hildegard of Bingen"Sybil of the Rhine" and Saint. Hildegard.

Although she hasn't been formally canonized, she is often referred to as Saint. HILDEGARD IN Germany, her feast day is celebrated on September17.

HILDEGARD had spent her thirty years in a CATHOLIC CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

Type of Compositions: She is particularly known for the plainsong setting of her poetry;
She also left behind works of theology and visionary writings.

Influence: Being the tenth child, Hildegard's parents dedicated her to the religious service. When she was s years old, she was sent to the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenberg to receive religious education. There she met Jutta, an anchoress born to a wealthy family who decided to dedicate her life to God.In 1136, Hildegard succeeded Jutta as prioress. She later left Disibodenberg and established a nunnery at Rupert berg.

Musical Work: In total, she wrote 77 chants and what is considered the first musical drama titled The RITUAL of the VIRTUES." Her poetry and musical compositions are divided into two large works; the Ordo Virtutum (The PLAY OF The VIRTUES) and Symphonia armonie celestinum revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations).

GEO Vocabulary-

Vocabulary-

Heartland: A geographic area based in which a nation's industry, population, and political power are concentrated; also known as a core.


Hinterland: A geographic area based on resource development that supplies the heartland with many of its primary products; also known as periphery


NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE Agreement: In January 1994, Canada the United States, and Mexico launched the North American Free trade agreement and formed the world's largest free trade area. The Agreement has increased trade among the three countries and rearranged the location of labor- intensive manufacturing firms to Mexico where wages are much lower than in either the United States or Canada.
(NORAD) headquartered in COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, as a binational command, centralizing operational control of continental air Defenses against the threat of Soviet bombers. In March1981, the name was changed to North American Aerospace Defense Command but the acronym NORAD continued to be used Since11 September 2001; NORAD is responsible for protecting North America from domestic as well as foreign air attacks.

Periphery: The weakly developed area surrounding an industrial core, also known as a hinterland.


Primary products: Goods derived from agriculture, fishing logging, mining, and trapping; non processed products.

Region: An area of the Earth's surface defined by its distinctive human or natural characteristics. Boundaries between regions are often transition zones where the main characteristics of one region merge into those of a neighboring region. Geographers use the concept of regions to study parts of the world.

Gross domestic product: An estimate of the total value of all materials, foodstuffs, goods, and services produced by a country or province in a particular year.

Geography

Course objectives At the end of the course the student will understand:

1. The physical and cultural characteristics of Canada.


2. important regional issues and problems.