Alberta is the westernmost of the Prairie Provinces of Canada. It stretches about 1,215 km (755 mi) north from Montana to the Northwest Territories. Alberta is the fourth largest province of Canada and the fourth most populous, with one of the largest growth rates. Traditionally associated with wheat-growing and cattle ranching, Alberta is today especially important because of its fuel resources, the largest in Canada. The first European explorer to penetrate the region is thought to have been Anthony Henday, in 1754, and the first European settlement was a fur-trading post established in 1778 on the \TAthabasca River\t in the northeastern part of today's province. In 1882 Alberta was made a district of the former Northwest Territories and named for a daughter of Queen Victoria who was the wife of the then governor-general of Canada. THE LAND AND RESOURCES The eastern three-fourths of Alberta's terrain is made up of plains, which rise from less than 300 m (1,000 ft) in the northeast to more than 1,220 m (4,000 ft) in the southwest. The plains vary locally from very flat and extensive old lake bottoms to rolling landscapes with many lakes and depressions. These landforms reflect the former presence of Pleistocene ice sheets, which, at maximum extent, covered all the province except for a few high pockets. In places, hilly or plateau areas (for example, Cypress Hills and Swan Hills) may rise to 600 m (2,000 ft) above the general surface of the plain. To the west of the plains, an area of foothill ridges of higher elevation is bordered by the abrupt east-facing rock wall of the \TRocky Mountains\t. The Rockies, with several peaks over 3,660 m (12,000 ft), make up the other major physical region of the province. Geologically the province includes almost a complete range in age, from the ancient Precambrian of the \TCanadian Shield\t in the extreme northeast corner through progressively younger formations in the southwest, including Tertiary deposits. Soils Soil types are arranged in concentric arcs from the southeastern part of Alberta and reflect the moisture and natural vegetation patterns. Brown prairie soils are succeeded by rich black soils with a deep humus layer in the central parts of the province. However, more than two-thirds of Alberta, in the northern and western sectors, is marked by podzols, or gray-wooded soils, which are less fertile. Lakes and Rivers Most of southern and central Alberta drains eastward into Hudson Bay via the \TNelson\t River system, which in Alberta includes such major rivers as the North Saskatchewan and the South Saskatchewan. West central and northern Alberta is drained into the Arctic Ocean by the \TMackenzie River\t system, which includes such important rivers as the \TPeace\t, Athabasca, and Hay. A small sector of the extreme south drains into the Milk River, which is part of the Missouri-Mississippi system. Groundwater aids irrigation, as do diverted mountain-origin rivers in parts of southern Alberta. Lakes are especially numerous in the central and northern parts of the province. Lake Claire and Lesser Slave Lake are the two largest lakes wholly within Alberta. The western third of Lake \TAthabasca\t also lies within the province. Lake \TLouise\t in the Rocky Mountains is known for its beautiful scenery. Climate Alberta has a continental climate with long, cold winters and short, cool summers, although summers are longer and warmer in the southeastern quarter. At \TEdmonton\t the average January temperature is-20 deg C (-4 deg F) and in July is 23 deg C (74 deg F). Precipitation is moderate to light, with the southeast being particularly dry. The average annual precipitation for Edmonton is 440 mm (17 in), much of which falls as snow in the winter. The western foothills and mountains receive more abundant precipitation (more than 500 mm/20 in). A distinctive local feature that often moderates the winter temperatures of southern Alberta in the foothills and western plains is the \TChinook\t, a warm westerly wind that descends the eastern face of the Rockies and raises local temperatures dramatically. Vegetation and Animal Life Two-thirds of Alberta is forested. The grasslands of the southeast reflect that region's warmer summers and sparser precipitation. Most of Alberta's forest is a mixture of conifers (white spruce, jack pine) and deciduous trees (aspen, poplar, white birch). However, conifers become dominant in the northeast (the taiga, or boreal coniferous forest) and in the foothills and lower mountains (subalpine forest). In the mountains, \Ttundra\t occurs above the tree line. Surviving grassland animals include pronghorn antelope, ground squirrels, and coyotes. Forested areas include a variety of fur-bearing animals (bear, otter, ermine, beaver) and big game animals (moose, caribou, elk, deer), as well as North America's largest surviving herd of wild buffalo. Resources Alberta's major natural resources are fuels, forests, and productive soils. The province's water resources, which include the source regions for parts of the continent's major river systems, are particularly important, especially to the other provinces to the east. Much of the mountain and foothill zones are included in national or provincial parks and are protected by the government. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY Since the early 1950s, when Alberta's economy was dominated by agriculture, mining and manufacturing have grown so rapidly that they now now greatly overshadow agricultural activities. Petroleum production is a crucial income source, but a 20-year-long oil boom ended in recession with the worldwide oil glut of the 1980s. Manufacturing and Mining Alberta's manufacturing originally concentrated on processing food products. Food and beverage industries are still a very important manufacturing group. Since the discovery (1947) of the Leduc oil fields near Edmonton, however, both the value and diversity of manufacturing have increased greatly. Over 80% of all Canadian oil production and 90% of natural gas production occur in Alberta. Petroleum-product processing is now a dominant industrial activity, and it furnishes raw materials for a new petrochemical industry. Exploitation of major oil-sand deposits in northern Alberta has begun, but immense potential remains. Alberta contains approximately half of Canada's huge minable coal reserves, with this resource underlying most of the southern half of the province. Although production almost ceased after the great petroleum development, it began to prosper again in the 1970s through sales to Japan. Agriculture and Forestry Cattle ranching, in the foothills and the drier south, is an important agricultural sector of the economy. Wheat and barley are the province's principal grain crops. Irrigation farming, which is centered in Lethbridge, produces vegetables, sugar beets, and livestock feed. Central Alberta concentrates on mixed farming and dairying, with cash crops and seed production in the Peace River district to the northwest. Sawmills, utilizing both hardwoods and softwoods, operate in the forested areas of the north and west. Tourism Of the five national parks, three in the Rocky Mountains--Waterton Lakes, Banff, and Jasper--draw visitors from all over the world. Local attractions, such as the numerous rodeos, Calgary Stampede, and Edmonton Klondike Days, as well as sport fishing and hunting, also contribute to the influx of tourists. Transportation The province is crossed by two transcontinental highway systems (the \TTrans-Canada Highway\t and the Yellowhead Highway) and by two transcontinental railroads (the \TCanadian Pacific Railway\t and the \TCanadian National Railways\t). Alberta is crisscrossed by a network of oil and gas pipelines, the major focus of which is Edmonton. These include the Interprovincial Pipe Line to Montreal and the Trans Mountain Pipe Line to Vancouver. PEOPLE Alberta's population continued to increase during the recession years 1981-86, although the growth rate (6.1%) slowed markedly compared with the increase (21.7%) during the previous census period, 1976-81. Alberta has received many immigrants from other parts of Canada and from abroad. English is the native language of more than 80% of Alberta's population, followed by German, Ukrainian, French, and various Scandinavian languages. Native Indians are a small number of the total population and include Plains Indians, such as the \TBlackfoot\t, and Woodlands Indians, such as the \TCree\t. Education and Cultural Activity Much of the provincial income from oil and gas sales has been channeled to educational and cultural purposes. Alberta has four provincially funded universities. The oldest and largest is the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, founded in 1906. The University of Calgary was established after World War II as an affiliate of the University of Alberta but has been an independent institution since 1966. Alberta enjoys a variety of cultural institutions. The major collections in the province are housed in the modern Provincial Museum and Archives in Edmonton and the Glenbow-Alberta Institute in \TCalgary\t. Both Edmonton and Calgary have symphony orchestras and professional theater, ballet, and opera companies. The province is well served by communications networks. Special radio-telephone service connects even the remote corners of the province. Places of Interest Recreation and sports areas are spread throughout the province and include national parks and provincial parks. Wood Buffalo National Park in northernmost Alberta is, at 44,800 sq km (17,300 sq mi), Canada's largest national park. Within its wilderness area, besides the buffalo, the nesting grounds of the near-extinct whooping crane. Resorts are especially popular in the mountain and foothill areas and in the lakes of central Alberta. The oldest and best known of Alberta's resorts is \TBanff\t. GOVERNMENT Alberta is a parliamentary democracy, without a formal written constitution. It is governed by a Legislative Assembly comprising 83 members, with an Executive Council, or cabinet, that is made up of members drawn from the Assembly. The Executive Council is headed by the premier, who is the leader of the party with the majority of the seats in the Assembly. The \TSocial Credit party\t dominated Alberta's government from 1935 to 1971. The Conservatives then won control, led--until 1985--by Peter Lougheed. Donald Getty succeeded Lougheed as party leader and premier and won elections in 1986 and 1989. The Crown is represented by a lieutenant-governor appointed by the government of Canada. Local government within the province is provided by 30 counties and 18 municipal districts. The sparsely settled areas are included in 22 improvement districts, which are administered by the provincial department of municipal affairs. HISTORY Before European settlement two distinctive Indian groups lived in Alberta; each had a culture that corresponded to the natural vegetation patterns of the environment. In the grasslands of the southeast were the Plains Indians, who depended mainly upon buffalo hunting. They included the \TBlackfoot\t Confederacy--which comprised the Blood, Peigan, and North Blackfoot tribes--and the Sarcee, Stoney, and Plains \TCree\t. In the forested regions, with their more varied hunting patterns, were the Woodland Cree, Beaver, and Chippewyan tribes. For about 125 years after the visit (1754) of the first European, Alberta was mainly of interest as a fur-producing region. The few European inhabitants were based in trading posts that were established on rivers in forested areas. Most such posts did not last long, although a few survived to become modern cities (for example, Edmonton). The \THudson's Bay Company\t administered the region during this period. For a few years after 1870, when the vast area of western Canada was sold by the Hudson's Bay Company to the Canadian government, whiskey traders from the United States moved into the southern parts of Alberta and began selling illegal liquor to the Indians. To stop this practice and establish Canadian authority in the area, the North-West Mounted Police (now the \TRoyal Canadian Mounted Police\t) was formed and in 1874 marched west to build small forts. Fort Macleod, founded in 1874, was the first such fort in Alberta, and Calgary had its origin in a similar fort in 1875. With this security, and after treaties had been signed with the Indians, large ranches were established in the southern grasslands and foothills region. The arrival of the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway to Calgary in 1883, and the rapid construction of other railroad lines soon after, launched the large-scale settlement of Alberta. The settlement process was generally peaceful and orderly. An interruption occurred in 1885 when unrest among Indians and metis (people of Indian and European ancestry) over land ownership flared briefly into the Riel Rebellion (see \TRiel, Louis\t). On Sept. 1, 1905, the district of Alberta, with some adjacent territory, was made a province of Canada. It remained a predominately agricultural province until the development of the petroleum and natural-gas deposits in the post-World War II period. During the early 1980s strains between Alberta and the federal government developed over control of the province's energy sources. In 1980 the federal government announced a new National Energy Program designed to make Canada self-sufficient in energy and to increase the federal share of revenues from exploitation. In protest, Alberta reduced its oil production in 1981, necessitating increased foreign oil imports. An accord was reached on oil prices in September 1981, but the oil and gas industries then experienced recession because of low world prices. Effects of the recession lingered, although Albertans were cheered by playing host to the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary. William C. Wonders Bibliography: Frederickson, Olive, and East, Ben, The Silence of the North (1972); Hardy, W. G., ed., Alberta, A Natural History (1977); Kroetsch, R., Alberta (1968); MacGregor, J. G., A History of Alberta, 2d ed. (1981); Palmer, Howard and Tamara, eds., The Peoples of Alberta: Portraits of Cultural Diversity (1982); Smith, P. J., ed., The Prairie Provinces (1972); Warkentin, J., ed., Canada, A Geographical Interpretation (1968); Wonders, W. C., et. al., Atlas of Alberta (1969).