Covering most of the northern part of the North American continent and with an area larger than that of the United States, Canada has an extremely varied topography.

Canada is the largest country in the Western Hemisphere, covering 9,970,610 square kilometres including both land and freshwater areas. It is surrounded on three sides by oceans: the Pacific to the west, the Arctic to the north, and the Atlantic to the east. Its southern border with the United States, which stretches 5,525 miles, is the longest undefended border in the world.

Because Canada is such a large country, approximately 60 percent of its 1991 population of 26.9 million was concentrated in urban centres, particularly in the south-eastern stretch between Windsor, Ontario, and Québec City, Québec. The largest cities are Toronto, with a population of 3.8 million, followed by Montreal, with 3.1 million, and Vancouver, with 1.6 million.

Canada and the United States have many major geographic features in common. They share the Rocky Mountains, the Interior Plains, four of the Great Lakes, the Appalachian Highlands, and many rivers.

Unlike the United States, Canada is made up of provinces and territories: Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, the recently created Nunavut, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Each province has its own provincial government, coat of arms, and provincial capital. The nation's capital is Ottawa, Ontario.