A few interesting historical facts for Canadian inventions and discoveries:
Basketball – invented by James A. Naismith in 1891.
Electric Light Bulb – Henry Woodward of Toronto made improvements to the existing light bulb, and then sold the Canadian patent to Thomas Edison, who further perfected it.
Electron Microscope – the first practical microscope was invented by Eli Franklin Burton of the University of Toronto.
Telephone – Alexander Graham Bell moved from Edinburgh with his family to Canada in the early 1920s and he spent his time between his home in Brantford, Ontario and Boston in the United States. With his partner, Thomas A. Watson, he was successful in transmitting the human voice.
Insulin – Frederick Banting and Charles Best were the first to inject insulin into diabetic patients, discovering that blood sugar could be controlled.
The French colony of Canada referred to the part of New France along the Saint Lawrence and the northern shores of the Great Lakes. Later, it was split into two British colonies, called Upper Canada and Lower Canada until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841.
It was 1867 when the name ”Canada” was adopted for the entire country and was often referred to as the ”Dominion of Canada” until the 1950s. As Canada finally claimed its political independence from Britain, the Federal Government started using ”Canada” on legal state documents and treaties. In 1982, the national holiday was renamed from “Dominion Day” to “Canada Day”.
The earliest inhabitants of this vast land were prehistoric tribes from Asia. There was the odd Viking visit which did not last very long. The Aboriginal people lived freely and developed their customs, languages and traditions until the 15th century. In 1534, Jacques Cartier made the first claim for France and a gentleman named Samuel de Champlain founded Québec City in the early 1600s so by the mid 16th century, Canada was declared a French province.
The vast majority of Canadians claim European ancestry with four in nine Canadians claiming some British ancestry and just less than one in three have some French ancestry with 80% of the residents in Quebec having French ancestry. Other European groups include Italians, Germans and Ukrainians (especially in the Prairie states).