Canada Geography
The Canadian shield forms the largest natural area, which with five million km² takes up half of the land area of Canada. It has a bowl-shaped shape with arched edges. The mean altitude is between 200 and 600 m. The Hudson Bay, which only emerged in the New Earth Age, is surrounded by low-lying marshland. To the north, the shield dissolves into the Canadian Arctic Islands. As a folded mountain range that was already almost eroded in the ancient times, it geologically represents the oldest part of North America, on which further layers of rock were deposited from the ancient times to the modern age. Today the area made up of granites, gneiss, old limestone and sandstone appears as a gently undulating hilly landscape. Thousands of large and small lakes and scattered boulders are remnants of the Ice Age.
The large lakes in the south form the largest freshwater reservoir on earth. Between Lake Ontario and Quebec, along the southeastern edge of the Canadian Shield, as a result of old rift breaks, lies the wide, 600 km long St. Lawrence Lowland, the economic center of Canada.
To the west, the Canadian Shield merges into the Inner or Great Plains. Mighty deposits from ancient times and the Middle Ages form a landscape that rises in several stages from 300 m in the east to 1,500 m in the west and from which a few mountains protrude.
In the west rises the Canadian section of the high mountains, which crosses the west of the American continent from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. The approximately 800 km wide mountain ranges can be divided into three zones: in the east the Rocky Mountains jut out like a steep wall from the inner plains and reach heights of over 3,000 m. Wide plateaus define the core zone, while in the west adjoins the coastal mountains. Here is Mount Logan (5,959 m), the second highest peak in North America. The islands off the Pacific coast, including Vancouver, are the peaks of the western edge of the mountain range.
Canada – important addresses
Canadian Tourism Commission : c / o Lange Touristik-Dienst,
Eichenheege 1-5, 63477 Maintal
Telephone: (01805) 52 6232 (end consumer) and (06181) 45178 (travel agent), Fax: (06181) 49 7558
email: [email protected]
The Tourism Commission of Canada in Germany is also responsible for Switzerland and Austria)
Canadian Tourism Commission : Suite 1400,
Four Betall Center, 1055 Dunsmuir Street, CA-Vancouver V7X 1L2
Phone: (604) 638 8300
email: [email protected]
Embassy of Canada in Germany : Mr. Eric Matthew Walsh, envoy (chargé d’affaires ai),
Leipziger Platz 17, 10117 Berlin
Telephone: (030) 20 3120, Fax: (030) 20 31 2590)
email: [email protected]
Attention : The Visa and Immigration Department of the Canadian Embassy in Germany is closed. Germans with relevant inquiries must contact the Canadian embassy in Austria (Vienna).
Canada maintains consulates (without issuing a visa) in Munich (phone: (089) 2 19 9570, email: [email protected]) and Düsseldorf (phone: (0211) 17 2170, [email protected]) as well as a Honorary consulate in Stuttgart (phone: (0711) 2 23 9678, email: [email protected]).
Embassy of Canada in Austria : Laurenzer Berg 2 / III,
1010 Vienna
Telephone: (01) 53138 3000, Fax: (01) 53138 3321, Visa Department: Telephone: (01) 53138 3010, Fax: (01) 53138 3911
email: [email protected]
Opening times: Mon – Fri 8.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m., 1.30 p.m. – 3.30 p.m. Visa matters: Mon – Fri 8.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.
Embassy of Canada in Switzerland (without issuing a visa): Kirchenfeldstrasse 88,
P.O. Box, 3005 Bern
Telephone: (031) 357 3200, Fax: (031) 357 3210
email: [email protected]
Opening times: Mon – Thu 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., Fri 8 a.m. – 1.30 p.m.
The visas for Swiss citizens are issued by the embassy in France or Germany, application forms are available upon written request.
Canada has a consulate in Geneva.
Embassy of Canada in France: 35 Avenue Montaigne,
75008 Paris
Telephone: 0033 1 44 43 2900, Fax: 0033 1 44 43 2999
Opening times: Mon – Fri 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Questions about visas and immigration: Telephone: 0033 1 44 43 2916, Fax: 0033 1 44 43 2993
Opening times: Mon – Fri 8.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.
The Canadian Embassy in France is also responsible for Switzerland.
Embassy of Germany in Canada : Werner Wnendt, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,
1 Waverley Street, Ottawa, Ontario K2P OT8
Telephone: (001 613) 232 1101, Fax: (001 613) 594 9330
email: [email protected]
Postal address: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, PO Box 379, Postal Station “A”, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 8V4, Canada
Canada climate
Due to the enormous geographic extent, Canada has a share in the climatic zones from the humid climate to the polar climate. Most of Canada is characterized by a boreal climate with long and sometimes very cold winters (down to -35 ° C) and short, hot summers (up to 35 ° C). In the territories and provinces, however, the regional climate is very different.
According to Bridgat, Canada has four different seasons, with arrival times varying in different regions. The most important factor for the climate is the geographical latitude. As a rule of thumb, the further north you go, the colder it gets. So it is no coincidence that the warmest areas in the south are also the most densely populated.
The seasons are most pronounced in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Winter is cold, spring and autumn mild and between July and September there are often humid and hot summers with average temperatures of about 25 ° C.
The western and eastern coasts are both characterized by a maritime climate and are very humid, with much of the precipitation falls in winter. In Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and eastern Alberta, the prairies are relatively dry year round. Canadian winters are long and harsh: more than two-thirds of the country’s average January temperature is -18 ° C. July and August are the warmest months, with temperatures typically reaching the top 20 ° C in the south.