- published: 05 Jun 2013
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Relations between Canada and the United States have spanned more than two centuries. This includes a shared British cultural heritage, warfare during the 1770s and 1812, and the eventual development of one of the most stable and mutually-beneficial international relationships in the modern world. Each is the other's chief economic partner and large-scale tourism and migration between the two nations has increased rapport. The most serious breach in the relationship was the War of 1812, which saw an American invasion of then British North America and counter-invasions from British-Canadian forces. The border was demilitarized after the war and, apart from minor raids, has remained peaceful. Military collaboration began during World War II and continued throughout the Cold War on both a bilateral basis through NORAD and through multilateral participation in NATO. A high volume of trade and migration between the United States and Canada has generated closer ties, especially after the signing of the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement in 1988.
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km2 (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
Tired eyes
Closed for days
There's no regret
'Cause there's no place
I don't know
What I believe
But if I feel safe
What do I need
A home
A home
A home
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution blues
What will they do
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution blues
What will they do to me
What will they do to me
What will they do to me
What will they do to me
Dulcet tongues
Whisper fast
The future yearns
Right now's the past
Rouse me soon
The end draws nigh
Who's side are you on
Your blood you cannot buy
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution blues
What will they do
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution blues
What will they do to you
Well I
I feel alright
So tonight
I got to ask you why
Why deny it
It's no surprise
I've got to survive
Freedom shines the light ahead
I'll lead the last charge to bed
I said my last rights
I don't have to run scared no more
Fight
I wanna fight
I wanna fight a revolution
Tonight
I wanna fight
I wanna fight a revolution
Tonight
At the light
At the light
Do you wanna watch me die
Let me be something good
Let me prove something real like I should
Let me embrace every single living thing