Alberta+History


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History
===Four districts of the Northwest Territories formed the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905: Athabasca, Assiniboia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. It was proclaimed a Province on September 1, 1905 and Edmonton became the capital city. ===

 Albertans celebrated their [|centennial] in 2005. Part of the celebrations included a [|Royal Visit] by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

First Nations
  The First Nations settled the plains about 8,000 years ago. They sustained themselves by hunting the buffalo. Later, these people — who included the Blackfoot, Blood, and Peigan — tamed horses and hunted buffalo with rifles they obtained from European explorers.

 Another group of First Nations, who included the Woodland Cree and Chipewyan tribes, settled the woodland areas of central Alberta. These people hunted caribou, moose and fished the lakes and rivers. They used bark canoes to travel up and down streams in the area.

 During the 19th Century, European fur traders married Native women. The result was the creation of a new people unique to Canada's plains. The children of these marriages are called Métis (meaning "mixed"), and they followed a different way of life that was similar to that of the First Nations' lives.

Law and Order


<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> In 1870, the Hudson's Bay Company turned over control of the entire Northwest to Canada. In 1872, the region was opened for settlement. To support its claim to the Northwest and to keep law and order in the region, the Canadian government formed the North-West Mounted Police in 1873. The Mounties established their first post in Alberta in 1874 at Fort Macleod. One of their first tasks was to control the whisky trade. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police).

<span style="background-color: #dc6573; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">**Major Historical Event**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A major event in Alberta history was the arrival of the railway in 1883. The railway made the Canadian settlement of the West possible. In 1881 there were about 1,000 non-Native settlers in Alberta. Ten years later that number had grown to 17,500. The most successful early settlers were the ranchers, who found Alberta's foothills to be ideal ranching country. Most of Alberta's ranchers were English settlers, but the cowboys — such as John Ware, who in 1876 brought the first cattle into the province — were American. Farming the prairie proved more difficult. Most newcomers preferred to settle in the United States West, but by the 1890s, most of the American land was taken. In 1897, Canada's minister of the interior, Clifford Sifton, began a massive advertising campaign in Europe to encourage people to come to the Canadian West.

<span style="background-color: #dc6573; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Oil and Gas
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Alberta's destiny was changed forever in 1947, when a major oil discovery was made at Leduc, near Edmonton. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Jobs were created in the petrochemical industry, as well as in construction, surveying, and transportation. Edmonton and Calgary emerged as prosperous cities of business and finance, surpassing their rural neighbors.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> Above information copied from: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; url(http: //www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px;">[|Alberta Canada]