CALGARY - CANADA |
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Calgary is a city in the province of Alberta,
Canada. It is situated towards the south of the province, in a region of
hills and high plains east of the Rocky Mountains and sits at an elevation
of about 1000 metres above sea level. As of 2002, the metropolitan
population was 993,200. By 2005 the population is expected to reach over 1.2
million. It is the largest city in Alberta and the third largest in Canada,
serving as the hub of the fifth largest Census Metropolitan Area. Calgary is
located in Division No. 6.
Calgary International Airport serves the city.
Calgary's economy is largely centred on the petroleum industry, with
agriculture and high-tech industries contributing to the city's rapid
economic growth. Calgary is Canada's wealthiest city, and Alberta is also
the wealthiest province (based on per capita income). |
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First Settlement
Before Calgary was settled by white Europeans, it was the domain of the
Blackfoot people, whose presence has been traced back 11,000 years. In 1787
cartographer David Thompson spent the winter with a band of Peigan Indians
encamped along the Bow River in the Calgary area. He was the first recorded
European to visit the area. By 1860 settlers began arriving to hunt buffalo
and sell illegal whiskey.
The first recorded settler in Calgary was rancher Sam Livingston in the
early 1870s, and in 1875 the site became a post of the North West Mounted
Police (now the RCMP). Originally named Fort Brisbois, it was renamed to
Fort Calgary in 1876. The detachment was assigned to protect the western
plains from whiskey traders from the United States. Fort Calgary was named
by Colonel James Macleod after Calgary Bay on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. When the Canadian Pacific
Railway constructed a major rail station in the city, Calgary began to grow
into an important commercial and agricultural centre. (The Canadian Pacific
Railway headquarters are located in Calgary today.) Calgary was officially
incorporated as a town in 1884 and elected its first mayor George Murdoch.
In 1894, Calgary was elevated to a city.
The Oil Boom
With the discovery of oil in Alberta in the mid–20th century, Calgary became
the centre of an accompanying oil boom. Calgary's economy grew when oil
prices increased with the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. The city's population grew from 325,000 in 1974 to 647,000 in 1987.
During this time, Calgary skyscrapers were constructed at a pace seen by few cities anywhere. With the
announcement of the National Energy Program in 1981 the oil boom started to
subside. The NEP was cancelled in the mid-1980s by the Mulroney government,
and Calgary has since largely recovered.
Calgary remains the oil capital of Canada and second only to Toronto for
corporate head offices. The beef industry is also very important to Calgary,
as it is a distribution centre for the outlying rural areas. Lakeside
Packers and Cargill Limited near Calgary are some of the most modern, state-of-the-art beef processing
facilities in North America.
The Stampede
Calgary is world famous for its Calgary Stampede, a large festival and rodeo
in July of each year and has quite a history.
The Calgary Stampede was inaugurated (1912) by Guy Weadick, an American trick roper. Weadick wanted to put on a world-class rodeo event
and Wild West show that would bring the best cowboys from across the
continent. The first Stampede was the richest rodeo competition in North
America with prize money totalling $20,000. It drew more than 100,000
spectators. For the year 2000, the attendance to the 10-day rodeo and
exhibition totalled 1,218,851 people. During Stampede Week, the city's
residents dress in western attire, and nearly all businesses decorate their
stores and offices western style. The Calgary Stampede is often called "The
Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth."
Cultural Scene
Calgary's cultural scene has changed considerably over time. Today it has
grown into a more cosmopolitan city despite its traditional culture of hotel
saloons, hockey and western music.
Calgary is home to the internationally-renowned contemporary theatre company
One Yellow Rabbit. The company shares
the massive Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts with the Calgary
Philharmonic Orchestra and two more established theatre companies, Theatre
Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects. Calgary was also the birthplace, in
the 1970s, of the improvisational theatre games known as Theatresports.
Calgary is affectionately called the Nashville of the North, and took a
large part in the country revival of the 1990s. Currently, some of the
city's most popular bars trade on the image of cool country, playing
contemporary country music to young twenty-somethings.
Political Scene
Calgary is traditionally seen as a conservative city, dominated by older
small-c social conservatives and more modern fiscal conservatives. This is
only aided by the fact that the city is a corporate power-centre, with a
high percentage of the workforce employed in white-collar professions.
During the 1990s the city's mainstream political culture was dominated by
the right-wing Reform Party. However, as Calgary has grown, its politics
have gained more diversity, particularly on the left. This growing
alternative left-wing political culture got a lot of attention during the
2000 World Petroleum Congress and the J26 G8 Protests. The largest protests
in the city's history erupted in early 2003, in response to the War on Iraq.
The city has a chapters of various well-known organizations, as well as an
Anti-Capitalist Convergence
As of September 2004, all eight of Calgary's federal MPs are members of the
Conservative Party of Canada, and all 21 provincial MLAs are Progressive
Conservatives. The city will gain two additional legislature seats when the
26th Alberta general election is called, probably before the end of 2004.
Education
Calgary is the site of four major tertiary educational institutions: the
University of Calgary, The Alberta College of Art & Design, the Southern
Alberta Institute of Technology, and Mount Royal College.
Sports
Calgary held the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. The remaining venues have become
a training site for athletes around the world.
Professional sports teams in Calgary include the Calgary Flames of the
National Hockey League and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football
League. The city also has an A-League Soccer franchise, the Calgary Mustangs
and the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League. Calgary's
multipurpose arena, the Pengrowth Saddledome is shown at the right. |
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