Geography of Saskatchewan

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The geography of Saskatchewan (suskăch'uwun, –wän", săs"–) [key], province (2001 pop. 978,933), 251,700 sq mi (651,903 [[Square kilometre|sq km), describes a province in south-central Canada. The French established settlements in the region c. 1750, though the first permanent settlement was made by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1774. Next, it became part of the Northwest Territories by 1870, and a part of the Confederate Union in 1905. Regina, Saskatchewan stands as its second largest city and capital.[1]

It is surrounded, to the north by the Northwest Territories, to the east by Manitoba, to the south by the United States' Montana, and to the west by Alberta.[1] As a plains region, with prairies to the south and wooded country in the north, it supports rich and varied wildlife. The Cree Indians inhabited this region about five thousand years ago before it was claimed by the Hudson Company.[1] The Hudson Company controlled the area up until 1670 when it had surrendered the land to the British in 1868. It was also a part of Rupert's land (the territories granted to the Hudson's Bay Co.) up until 1869, and by 1870 it became a member of the Dominion of Canada. From 1882, the extension of the railroad brought in large numbers of European settlers. The province was established in 1905.[1] Its economy can be described as oil, gas, potash production, grains, and livestock.[1]

As one of the prairise provinces, its northern third is part of the Canadian shield. Its principal rivers are the North and South Saskatchewan, the Churchill River, and the Qu'Appelle River.[1] Moreover, between the Saskatchewan and Churchill rivers, locates a mixed forest belt that produces much timber.[1] In fact, a sector is preserved as Prince Albert National Park.[1]

The name "Saskatchewan" is derived from the Cree word "kisiskaciwan" that means "swift flowing water" referring the South Saskatchewan river which served as a major waterway in the eighteenth century by European explorers and fur traders.

Contents

[edit] Historical geography and politics

Original peoples of the Saskatchewan consist of three linguistics groups: the Athabascan, Algonquian, and Siouan. Henry Kelsey of the Hudson's Bay Company is considered the first European person to see this area.[1] The earliest trading posts were made by the French, however, the first permanent settlement was established at Cumberland House in 1774 by the HBC. In addition, several more ports were set up by British fur traders among the area's water ways.[1]

In 1870, the Hudson Bay's Company (HBC) had combined with the North West Company in 1821, and then ceded its rights from the Canadian government. The region became a part of the Northwest Territories. The majority of the Canadians of the indigenous descent in the Northwest Territories sold their lands to the government in the 1870s and were settled on reservations.[1] Additional native peoples and Métis (people of mixed French and indigenous Canadian ancestry), led by Louis Riel rebelled between 1884 and 1885 and were suppressed.[1]

In the beginning of the 20th century, Saskatchewan farmers created cooperative organizations to maintain grain marketization. During the drought and depression of the 1930s the population decreased as immigration nearly ended and numerous families left. During World War II, conservation programs and the increased demand for grain survived the economy.[1]

Except for the 1964–71 period, that Liberals were in power, Saskatchewan was governed by the social democratic New Democratic party (from 1944-1982; NDP, until 1961 called the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation). Among the NDP achievements are the enforcement of compulsory hospital and medical insurance. The Progressive Conservative party, including Grant Divine the premier was in power from, then Roy Romanow led the NDP back to power (in coalition with the Liberals after 1999). In 2001, Lorne Calvert, of the NDP, was premier, succeeding Romanow, who had resigned. In 2003, elections similarly resulted in NDP victory, giving the party a slight majority in the legislative assembly.[1]

Saskatchewan sends six Senators and fourteen Members of Parliament to the Canadian House of Commons.[1]

[edit] Climate

Saskatchewan climate can be described as temperate in the south and with cold wintrs in the north. The greatest rainfall occurs between April and June.[2] Summers are hot and humid, dry with tedious hours of sunshine. And winter temperatures are frequently cold and snowy until late March, but sunny.[2] Light to medium weights clothing during warmer months.[2] Heavyweights are worn for the winter.[2] Waterproof apparel is common throughout the year.[2]

Annual precipitations ranges are of 320 to 450 mm in the southern portion (below about 54 degrees North) where the majority of the population live.[3] The northern forest area is wetter in precipitation.[3] In the far north there is few frost-free days and the subsoils remain frozen all around the year.[3]

Location Annual
precipitation
(mm)		 Frost-free
period (days)		 Days above
5° Celsius
Saskatoon 347 118 1601
Regina 364 113 1661
North Battleford 368 122 1548
Prince Albert 406 95 1416
Estevan 418 128 1783
Kindersley 324 116 1592
Moose Jaw 357 122 1773
Swift Current 367 120 1583
Yorkton 436 112 1530[3]

[edit] Population

The census of 2001 displays that Saskatchewan's population had declined by 1.1% from five years prior in 1996 and is below the high of 1.01 million in 1986.[4] In 2001, Saskatoon, is the largest city with a Metropolitan area population of 225,927 people and received one of few increases in population of 3.1%.[4] The capital city of Regina was the second largest city with a Metropolitan Area population of 192,800 (a decline of 0.4% from 1996).[4]

The labor force in June 2000 amounted to 524,600 with 478,100 employed yielding an employment rate in 5.2% Most of the labor force is of the service industry followed by trade and agriculture.[4]

[edit] Agriculture

The census originated from Roman times as citizens and their property enumerated.[5] Currently, the data collected in a national census is interpreted statistically and published in the benefit of the governments, corporations and private citizens for Canada. Federal and Provincial governments, whom are probably the largest census data users, use data in planning education and health care, fore taxes and much more.[5]

The first Census of Canada was performed in 1666 by Jean Talon in the "Colony of New France".[5] The document recorded age, sex, marital status and occupation of the 3215 citizens.[5] By 1667, more details of livestock and property were done, displaying 3915 hectares of land under cultivation and 3107 cattle and 85 sheep. Since confederation the British North America Act provided the federal government to do census each 10 years beginning in 1871. At the turn of the century, the rapid expansion of Western Canada created a demand for agriculture information for more frequent intervals.[5] A separate census for agriculture was then conducted every 5 years beginning in Manitoba in 1896,[5] the entire territory of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1906 and expanded to the rest of Canada in 1951. The census was conducted simultaneously the population census began in 1951.[5]

[edit] Business and markets

The total market value of Saskatchewan's farms estimated in 2001 was $33,463,911,487 in 2001 compared to the amount of $196,868,929,481 for all of Canada.[5] Between 1995 and 2000, the cost farmer's received for their products declined by 4.6%, while the prices they paid for expenses such as fuel and fertilizer increased by 10%.[5] In 2000, a farmer must spend 87 cents in order to make a dollar in farm gross receipts.[5] Total farm gross receipts nationally were $38.3 billion in 2000, while operating expenses made $33.2 billion.

[edit] Farms and people

In 1941, the census showed 732,832 farms in Canada, the most farms since settlement began.[5] Since then, the amount have been in decline steadily and are becoming greater. The 2001 census counted 246,923 farms for Canada, below 10.7% from 1996. In Saskatchewan the decline was 11.2%[5]. The average Canadian farm grew by 11.2% larger, growing from 608 acres to 676 acres from 1996 to 2001. In 1996, the average farm size in Saskatchewan was 1152 acres. As the farm population continued to declined, in 1996 only 14% of the Province's population lived on a farm.[5]

Number of farmers
2001 1996 1991
Saskatchewan 50,598 56,995 60,840[5]
Canada 246,923 276,548 280,043

Most farms were grain and oilseed, however, the trend is to diversify with speciality crops and animals.[5]

[edit] Land and crops

Nationally, 89.9 million acres of land was chop production in 2001.[5]

Wheat still was Canada's largest crop with 26.8 million acres but the area has declined steadily since 1996 as more land was placed intopasture and fodder to support larger domestic animal populations.[5] Several droughts also have helped to the decline of wheat production.[5] Sasketchewan had shown a decline in 23.1% in area of land seeded wheat since the previous census.[5] Oilseeds, pulses and speciality crops continued to increase as farmers diversified their crop production.

[edit] Livestock

Since 1996 and 2001 census showed that livestock numbers have increased to record levels cattle: up by 4.4%, pigs by 26.4%, and sheep by 46%.[5] Beef cow numbers rose to 15.6 million head nationally. Saskatchewan had approximately 20% of the national herd with Alberta dominating at 43%.[5]

There were just more than 13.6% less dairy cows since 1996. There was an even bigger decline of 29.2% in the number of farms with dairy cows.[5]

Albeit dairy cow numbers have been constantly declining, milk production, it had remained fairly constant.[5] Increased production per per dairy cow, has been achieved by improved breeding, feeding and milking methods, including a growth of three milkings per day from the traditional two by some operations.[5]

The amount of hogs in Canada increased to 26.4% to a record 13.9 million, as farmers responded to strong export markets for live hogs and pork products. More than 5000 small big producers were leaving production since 1996. Hog Production, then dominated by large corporate enterprises. There in fact is more hogs than people.[5]

There were 126.2 million hens and chickens in Canada in 2001: about 60% of them in Ontario and Quebec. For flock, 69% were raised for meat the rest for laying hens and pullets. The outreach was fueled by an increased demand for eggs (16 dozen per capita each year).[5]

Over 1.3 million sheep were now on Canadian farms, an increase of over 50% from 1996 and much below the peak of 3.6 million in 1931. The sheep mainly were bred for meat production instead of wool. Lamb and mutton was very popular for ethnic production, specifically in the Toronto area.[5]

[edit] Agriculture and food information

According to the 2001 census the number of farms in Saskatchewan (50, 598) declined by 11.2% from the amounts reported from the prior census in 1996. Farms were fewer by 24.8 % a decade ago. In 1936, about seven decades ago the highest census for farms occurred and the number was 142,391.

Saskatchewan accounts for 20% of all Canadian farmers and has the largest farms with an average farm size of 1283 acres (up from 1152 acres in the last census). The province had nearly 40% of the agricultural land in Canada, nearly 13 million more acres than second-place Alberta.

About 64.9 million acres of the province is farmland. Thirty-eight million acres were cropped in 2001.

Distribution of farm land:

  1. Cropped (38 million acres)
  2. Summerfallow (7.7 million acres)
  3. Tame (seeded) Pasture (3.5 million acres)
  4. Natural Pasture (12.7 million acres)
  5. Other uses (3.0 million acres)

Spring wheat still dominated the prairie landscape, though the crop is losing ground to oilseeds and speciality crops.

The five major crops in 2001 were:

  1. Spring wheat (10.7 million acres)
  2. Barley (4.7 million acres)
  3. Durum wheat (4.6 million acres)
  4. Canola (4.3 million acres)
  5. Alfalfa/alfalfa mixtures (2.8 million acres)

The numbers of large animals for 2001 were:

  1. Cattle and calves (2.9 million)
  2. Sheep and lambs (149 thousand)
  3. Pigs (1.1 million)
  4. Other animals (184 thousand)

The province also supported a large poultry industry with 9.7 million birds.

Farm Cash receipts for 2001
Farm Cash receipts accumulated to over $5.8 billion in 2001. Wheat accounted for 26% of the total and cattle 19%. Canola was the most significant crop after wheat and the pulse percentage and speciality crops were increasing. Dairy making continued in decline, while hog production was increasing.

Saskatchewan (GPD) (2002)
In 2002, Agriculture, fishing, and hunting accumulated for 6% of the Province's $28.1 billion GPD. The importance of agriculture, however lied in the provinces exports. Without exports Saskatchewan would have the economy of a third world country. More than 73% of the GPD came from exports of goods and services.

Agriculture-food exports
Saskatchean exported $4,152.2 million of agriculture and food products in 2000 making 32% of the total exports ($12,950.6 million). Agriculture and Food Products products were declining majority as a contributor to exports (i.e. in 1997 over 50% of exports were agricultural). The USA, Japan, EU, and China dominated the list for 50% of their Agriculture-Food exports. The USA alone accounted for 23%.

[edit] Economic overview

Excluding a semi-arid area of the southwest used for grazing and the area in the east and central portion used for mixed farming and dairying, the land is dedicated to raising hard wheat. Saskatchewa usually produces ⅔s of Canada's wheat. The vast extensions of unbroken plain are accurate to large-scale mechanized farming. Oats, barley, rye, rapeseed, and flax are also grown throughout the year. The historic process of fur trapping is still practiced.

Saskatchewan is rich by minerals. Oil and natural gas found beneath the praire, prove to be one of the province's most important minerals. The area north of Lake Athabaska has been exploited for ores yielding uranium. The area around Fin Flon, in the northeast, is mined for copper, gold, and zinc. In the southwest, Coal is mined. Potash mining had gegun in the 1950s near Saskatoon and Esterhazy, and Canada is currently a leading producer of the mineral. The majority of the province's industries process raw materials.

[edit] Education

Instiitues of higher education includes the Aldergate College, at Moose Jaw, the University of Regina; and the University of Saskatchewan, at Saskatoon.

[edit] Additional information

[edit] State and other emblems or symbols

  • Motto: Multis E Gentibus Vires (From many peoples strength)
  • Area: 57,013, 327 hectares(651,900 square kilometres).
  • Saskatchewann is Canada’s fifth-largest province and has 44% of Canada’s farmland.
  • Saskatchewan’s land mass is nearly 1/3 Precambrian rock; 1/3 agricultural land; 23% commercial forest and 12% lakes and rivers
  • Shield: authorized by Royal Warrant of King Edward VII, 25 August 1906
  • Coat of Arms: This is a crest, supporters, and motto were officially added to the Shield of Arms on 16 September 1986. It is an augmentation of the original Shield of Arms adopted by Royal Warrant of King Edward VII in 1906. It has a lion and a deer on it. The shield displays the rotal lion and the three gold sheaves, that symbolize Saskatchewann agriculture.
  • Flag: The green upper half represents the northern, the largely forested area of the province; the gold on the lower half represents the southern, the largely grain growing area. The flag is formally adopted in 1969.
  • The state flower is a western red lily, lilium philadelphicum var. andinum, selected 1941
  • The state bird is sharp-tailed grouse, pedioectes phasianellus jamesi, chosen in 1945.
  • The state tree is white birch, betula papyrifera; chosen in 1988
  • Mammal: White-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, selected in 1988
  • Provincial colours: green and gold

Weather

  • Coldest recorded temperature: -57° at Prince Albert, 1 February 1893
  • Hottest recorded temperature: 45° at Yellow Grass and Midale, 5 July 1937
  • Average annual percentage of daylight with bright sunshine: 53.3
  • Highest number of hours, bright sunshine: 2,701 at Estevan, 1980

Ethnic orgins

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Answers.com on Saskatchewan. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e Saskatchewan climate can be described as temperate in the south and with cold wintrs in the north. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
  3. ^ a b c d Saskatchewan geography. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
  4. ^ a b c d Saskatchewan population. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Agriculture census. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.


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Flag of Saskachewan Subdivisions of Saskatchewan
Census divisions 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18
SARM divisions 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6
Cities Estevan · Flin Flon (part) · Humboldt · Lloydminster (part) · Melfort · Melville · Moose Jaw · North Battleford · Prince Albert · Regina · Saskatoon · Swift Current · Weyburn · Yorkton
Communities · Rural municipalities · First Nations · Indian reserves · Subdivisions of: BC · AB · MB · ON · QC · NB · NS · PEI · NL · YU · NT · NU
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Geography of the Provinces and territories of Canada
National Geography of Canada • Canada's landforms
Flag of Canada
Provinces British Columbia • Alberta • Saskatchewan • Manitoba • Ontario • Quebec • New Brunswick • Nova Scotia • Prince Edward Island • Newfoundland and Labrador
Territories Yukon • Northwest Territories • Nunavut
See also Regions of Canada • Islands • Rivers • Lakes • Mountains • Canadian National Parks
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