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Themes	Famous People	National Parks
Actors/Actresses and Directors	Famous People	Nobel Prize Winners
Actors/Actresses and Directors	Genealogy	Nobel Prize Winners
Anglo-Saxons and Danes	Heritage and Nature	Places of Interest
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty	Historic Events	Prime Ministers
Artists and Architects	Inventors and Scientists	Royal Consorts and Heirs
Composers	Maps and Documents	World Heritage Sites
Explorers and Adventurers	Monarchs	Writers and Poets

The people included here were either born in Britain, died in Britain,
became British citizens, became Prime Minister of Britain or ascended the British throne.

Canada

Inhabited by American Indians and the Inuit people the land was reached by Vikings as early as 1000 AD. During the 16th century expeditions from different European countries lead to France "claiming" the land and establishing it's first settlement there in 1605.

Vikings

The British set up the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670 beginning a century of trade rivalry with the French which only ended after the Treaty of Paris in 1763 when the territories were ceded to the British. This heralded an increase in emigration to the land and these numbers increased again after the American War of Independence and throughout the 19th century.

Hudson's Bay Company Archives

Explorers and Adventurers

Born in Scotland on the Isle of Lewis in 1764 Alexander Mackenzie entered the Canadian fur business during which he discovered the Mackenzie River in 1789. In 1792 he set out to become the first European to cross the Rocky Mountains and reached the Pacific Ocean the following year.

The English explorer John Franklin died in 1847 off King William Island in the Northwest Territories while on an expediton to find the Northwest Passage around Canada.

John Franklin

Matthew Webb died in 1883 attempting to be the first person to swim across the rapids of the Niagara River just below the Niagara Falls on the US-Canadian border. He had been born in Dawley in Shropshire in 1848 and in 1875 had become the first person to swim the English Channel when he swam from Dover to Cap Gris Nez in France.

Historic Events

Notable Achievements

In 1901 the Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in sending the first transatlantic radio signal in the form of Morse code from Poldhu in Cornwall across the ocean to St John's in Newfoundland. In 1909 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.

In 1919 a plane flown by the pilot John William Alcock and the navigator Arthur Whitten Brown took off from Newfoundland and less than 17 hours later crash-landed at Clifden, County Galway in Ireland, the successful end of the first ever non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

John William Alcock

Maps and Documents

Hudson's Bay Company
(A London-based corporation that traded principally in furs in the north and west of Canada)

Prime Ministers

Born in Scotland in 1822 Alexander Mackenzie arrived in Canada in 1842. He entered Canadian politics and from 1873-78 served as the Canada's first ever Liberal Prime Minister.

Andrew Bonar Law was British Prime Minister from 1922-23. He had been born in Rexton, New Brunswick in 1858.

Andrew Bonar Law

World Heritage Sites

Alberta

The Dinosaur Provincial Park was designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1979. It contains fossils dating back to 75 million years ago.

In 1981 Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was designated a World Heritage Site. The site was where buffalo were once hunted by being chased over a precipice to fall to their deaths below.

Containing North America's largest population of wild bison, the Wood Buffalo National Park was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983. The park stretches into the Northwest Territories.

In 1984 the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks along the Alberta-British Columbia border were designated a World Heritage Site. These include the former World Heritage Sites of Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta.

Lying on the border to the United States, the Waterton Lakes National Park was combined with the Glacier National Park in Montana to create the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. This was designated a World Heritage Site in 1995.

British Columbia

In 1979 the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park was designated a World Heritage Site. Together with the Kluane National Park in the Yukon and the Wrangell-St Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks in Alaska, the site forms one of the largest protected areas in the world.

Lying off the Queen Charlotte Islands, SGaang Gwaii illustrates the Haida people's way of life and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1981.

In 1984 the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks along the Alberta-British Columbia border were designated a World Heritage Site. These include the former World Heritage Sites of Kootenay and Yoho National Parks together with the Burgess Shale Site in British Columbia.

Newfoundland and Labrador

In 1978 the L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site was designated a World Heritage Site. The site contains an 11th century Viking settlement, the first evidence of Europeans reaching North America.

Situated in the west of Newfoundland, the Gros Morne National Park was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.

The Red Bay Basque Whaling Station was designated a World Heritage Site in 2013.

Mistaken Point was designated a World Heritage Site in 2016.

Northwest Territories

In 1978 the Nahanni National Park Reserve was designated a World Heritage Site.

Containing North America's largest population of wild bison, the Wood Buffalo National Park was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983. The park stretches into Alberta.

Nova Scotia

In 1995 the Old Town of Lunenberg was designated a World Heritage Site. The town was established by the British in 1753 and is the best example of the planning of a colonial settlement.

In 2008 the Joggins Fossil Cliffs were designated a World Heritage Site. The cliffs contain the world's best record of life during the Carboniferous period, 300 million years ago.

In 2012 the Landscape of Grand Pré was designated a World Heritage Site.

Ontario

The Rideau Canal National Historic Site was designated a World Heritage Site in 2007, protecting the historic 202 km waterway which links the town of Kingston to the capital of Ottawa.

Quebec

Founded by the French in the early 17th century the Historic District of Quebec was designated a World Heritage Site in 1985. It is the only city in North America to have preserved its fortifications.

In 1999 the Miguasha Park was designated a World Heritage Site. It contains the world's best examples of fish fossils from the Devonian period.

Yukon

In 1979 the Kluane National Park was designated a World Heritage Site. Together with the Wrangell-St Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks in Alaska and the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, the site forms one of the largest protected areas in the world.

Writers and Poets

The Scottish author of The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan, died in 1940 in Montreal, Quebec while serving as the country's Governor-General. He is buried in Elsfield in Oxfordshire, England.

John Buchan

John Buchan Society

International Links

Genealogy in England