Canada shares a 5,525-mile- (8,890-km-) long border with the United States (including Alaska), and it is the longest border in the world not patrolled by military forces.
Although Canada shares many similarities with its southern neighbor—and, indeed, its popular culture and that of the United States are in many regards very similar—the differences between the two, both temperamental and material, are profound.
For example, according to the 20th-century literary critic Northrop Frye, the central fact of Canadian history is the rejection of the American Revolution.
Generally speaking, modern Canadians are inclined to favor orderly central government and a sense of community over individualism, and in international affairs, they are more likely to serve the role of a peacemaker instead of a warrior.
Whether at home or abroad, they are likely to have a pluralistic way of viewing the world.
Furthermore, Canadians live in a society that in most legal and official matters resembles Britain, at least in the English-speaking portion of the country.
Quebec, in particular, exhibits French adaptations: more than three-fourths of its population speaks French as their primary language.
The French character in Quebec is also reflected in differences in religion, architecture, and schooling.
Elsewhere in the country, French influence is less apparent, confined largely to the dual use of French and English for place names, product labels, and road signs.
The French and British influences are supplemented by the cultures of the country’s Native American peoples (in Canada they are often collectively called the First Nations) and Inuit peoples, the former being far greater in number and the latter enjoying semiautonomous status in Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut.
