So vast and various
Subtitle: interpreting Canada's regions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
By: edited by John Warkentin
Series: Carleton library series -- 219; Carleton library -- 219.
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Montreal
Language: eng
Number of pages: 508
ISBN-13: 9780773537194; 9780773537385
Subjects: History; Géographie historique; Historical geography; Histoire
Description: "Every writer on the geography of Canada is confronted by the profound variety of Canada's great regions, with their distinctive scenery, people and cultures. From the vast resources and internal contrasts of British Columbia, To the expanse of the prairies, To the demanding Arctic tundra, The forests and minerals of the Canadian Shield, The axis of the Saint Lawrence River and its industries and cities and The coastal fisheries, islands, and peninsulas of the Atlantic, Canada's many landscapes and cultural regions have been a challenge to characterise and understand. So Vast and Various provides selections from the works of seven of the country's most astute geographical writers to elucidate the ways in which the country has been depicted and understood over time. John Warkentin looks at the work of geographers from 1831 to 1977 through the regional descriptions of seven perceptive observers of Canada who provide very different but illuminating interpretations: Joseph Bouchette, a surveyor-general from Lower Canada; George Parkin, an educator and journalist from New Brunswick; J.D. Rogers, a British barrister and scholar; Harold Innis, the great economic historian; R.C. Wallace, a geologist with administrative experience in the North; Bruce Hutchison, a brilliant BC journalist with deep regional insights; and Thomas Berger, who presided over a Royal Commission on northern development in the 1970s. Warkentin's introduction reveals how their descriptions and interpretations of Canada's areas helped provide the perceptions that influence contemporary conceptions of the country both its regions and as a whole."--pub. desc.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Joseph Bouchette, The British Dominions in North America, 1831. Indian territories ;  Upper Canada ; The river St Lawrence : The Great Lakes : the gulf : the canals ; Lower Canada ; Nova Scotia ; Cape Breton ; New Brunswick ; Prince Edward Island ; Newfoundland; title: George R. Parkin, The great dominion : studies of Canada, 1895. Introductory ; The North-West ; The North-West-continued ; Eastern Canada : Ontario ; Eastern Canada : the Maritime Provinces ; Eastern Canada : Quebec ; British Columbia ; Northern Canada : the great fur country; Labour, climatic determinism and migration; title: J.D. Rogers, A historical geography of the British Colonies, Canada : geographical, 1911. The far North-Land and its heroes ; The far East : Nova Scotia, the two islands and their people ; Links between far and middle East : New Brunswick and its people ; Other links between far and Middle East : peninsulas and islands of the gulf ; The core of Canada and the Middle East ; The Middle East : Quebec, or the province of two nations and one river ; The middle East : Ontario, one nation on three St. Lawrence valleys and beyond ; The middle West : prairie-land ; The many nations of prairie-land ; The far west and north-west, or the land of mountains ; The peopling and civilization of the far west; title: J.D. Rogers, A historical geography of the British Colonies : Newfoundland, 1911 (1931). Preface ; The beginnings of permanence ; Progress by land during the last period, 1818-1910 ; Fish; title: Harold A. Innis, A history of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 1923. introduction ; The Pacific coast ; The Hudson Bay Drainage Basin ; On the St. Lawrence; title: R.C. Wallace, The Canadian Northland, 1930; title: Bruce Hutchinson, The unknown country : Canada and her people, 1942. Chez Garneau, Quebec ; The rock, Quebec City ; The wood choppers, Quebec ; St. Lawrence River : the ready way to Canada ; The wedge, Ontario ; Wood, Wind, and water, Nova Scotia, regionalism ; Fundy's children, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Gaspé ; The men in sheepskin coats, Manitoba, ethnic groups ; Drought and glut, Saskatchewan, the prairies ; The promised land, British Columbia ; The lotus eaters, Vancouver Island ; Cariboo Road, interior British Columbia; title: Bruce Hutchinson, Canada, tomorrow's giant, 1957. The misty island, Newfoundland ; The kingdom of Joe Howe, Nova Scotia ; The toy continent, Prince Edward Island ; The land of Peter Emberley, New Brunswick ; The lost peasant, Quebec ; The fortress, Quebec ; The homeland, Ontario ; The shield, Northern Ontario ; A little security, Manitoba ; The big farm, Saskatchewan ; The big dreamers, Alberta ; The long day, Alberta, Peace River country ; The trail's end, British Columbia; title: Bruce Hutchinson, major Canadian cities, The unknown country, 1842, and Canada, tomorrow's giant, 1957. The misty island, St. John's Newfoundland, 1956 ; Sailors' town, Halifax, 1941 ; The kingdom of Joe Howe, Halifax, 1956 ; The toy continent, Charlottetown, 1956 ; Fundy's children, Saint John, 1941 ; The land of Peter Emberley, Saint John, 1956 ; The home town, Fredericton, 1941 ; The land of Peter Emberley, Fredericton and Moncton, 1956 ; Mother of Canada and the rock, Quebec City, 1941 ; The fortress, Quebec City, 1956 ; Ville Marie, Montreal, 1941 ; The fortress, Montreal, 1956 ; Three o'clock Ottawa time, Ottawa, 1941; The cliff, Ottawa, 1956 ; The wedge, Toronto, 1941 ; The homeland, Toronto, 1956 ; The frontiersman, Winnipeg, 1941 ; The hub, Winnipeg, 1956 ; The big farm, Regina, 1956 ; The big dreamers, Calgary and Edmonton, 1956 ; The promised land, Vancouver, 1941 ; The big trees, Vancouver, 1956 ; The lotus eaters, Victoria, 1941 ; The big trees, Victoria, 1956; title: Thomas R. Berger, Northern frontier : Northern homeland, the report of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline inquiry, 1977. The North ; Cultural impact ; Economic.