History of Canada

The account of Canada’s past, from Indigenous societies and European colonization through the creation and development of the modern country.

Confederation: The 1867 union of the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia as the Dominion of Canada. It established the federal country whose later history this account follows.
Indigenous peoples in Canada: The First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples whose communities and political traditions span the lands now called Canada. Their histories predate Canada and continue throughout its national history.
Louis Riel: A Métis political leader who led the Red River Resistance and North-West Resistance in the nineteenth century. His campaigns challenged Canadian expansion and remain central to Métis political history.
Canadian federalism: A system of government that divides constitutional powers between Canada’s federal and provincial governments. Regional and linguistic conflicts repeatedly shaped the distribution of power between governments.
Indigenous history: The study and account of Indigenous peoples’ pasts, grounded in their communities, knowledge, and historical experiences. It can foreground Indigenous continuity and perspectives obscured by state-centered national narratives.
Seven Years' War: A global conflict from 1756 to 1763 that transferred French North American territories to Britain. British victory reshaped colonial rule in territories that became Canada.
New France: A French colonial territory in North America that existed from the sixteenth century until 1763. Its settlements and institutions formed a lasting French-speaking society in Canada.
John A. Macdonald: A Canadian politician who became the first prime minister of Canada in 1867. He helped negotiate Confederation and led the early federal government.
Canadian Confederation: The process by which British North American colonies formed the Dominion of Canada in 1867 and later joined it. Its evolving membership and constitutional arrangements define the country’s founding process.
Settler colonialism: A form of colonialism in which settlers establish a lasting society and seek control of Indigenous lands. It frames Canadian expansion as an ongoing structure, not only a sequence of early events.

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