147 years of Canadian trivia

Some notable dates in the history of Canada, which marks its 147th birthday July 1:

June 24, 1497 - John Cabot claims a new continent in the name of King Henry VII of England after landing near Labrador.

June 30, 1508 - A detailed map of the New World published in Rome lists for the first time Terra Nova, Newfoundland.

June 11, 1534 - French explorers under Jacques Cartier celebrate Canada's first Roman Catholic mass, at their camp of Brest on Labrador's coast.

June 29, 1534 - Cartier sights Prince Edward Island and calls it the ``best tempered region one can possibly see.''

Aug. 13, 1535 - Cartier becomes the first European to sail into the St. Lawrence River, which he believes is a route to Asia. Two sons of Iroquois Chief Donnacona, who are guiding Cartier, refer to their native village as Canada, the explorer's first exposure to the name.

1600 - Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit and Francois Grave du Pont build Canada's first fortified trading post, at Tadoussac in what is now Quebec.

1606 - Jean de Beincourt, Sieur de Poutrincourt, builds North America's first water-powered mill, on the Allains River in Acadia, after seeing six men die of exhaustion from grinding grain by hand.

July 3, 1608 - Samuel de Champlain founds the settlement of Quebec.

July 30, 1609 - Champlain helps Huron and Algonquins defeat a much larger force of Iroquois, exposing them to firearms for the first time.

June 24, 1611 - English explorer Henry Hudson and his crew are set adrift by other mutinous crew members in the massive bay that now bears Hudson's name.

June 3, 1620 - The Recollet missionaries lay the cornerstone for Notre Dame des Agnes, the first stone church in Quebec.

June 25, 1625 - Father Nicholas Viel, missionary to the Hurons of Ontario, becomes Canada's first martyr when he is deliberately drowned in the Ottawa River.

March 16, 1649 - More than 1,000 Iroquois overrun the Huron missions of New France, torturing to death the missionaries who established them.

July 21, 1660 - Canada's first census puts the population at 3,418.

May 2, 1670 - King Charles II of England signs the charter incorporating the Hudson's Bay trading company.

Aug. 7, 1679 - After being granted permission to explore western North America, Sieur de La Salle launches the Griffon, the first ship to navigate the Great Lakes.

July 19, 1701 - The Iroquois cede territory to England north of Lake Ontario and west of Lake Michigan.

Aug. 4, 1701 - The Iroquois Five Nations sign a peace treaty with New France at Ville-Marie, Que.

April 11, 1713 - Under the Treaty of Utrecht, France recognizes British sovereignty over Hudson Bay, Acadia and Newfoundland. France retains possession of St. Pierre and Miquelon, Ile Royale (Cape Breton) and Ile Saint-Jean (P.E.I.).

Aug. 12, 1728 - Danish sailor Vitus Johassen Bering sails through the strait that now bears his name in an expedition that would prove that Asia and North America are some 60 kilometres apart.

1739 - A census of Canada records a population of 42,701.

April 17, 1750 - A fortified outpost is built on the present site of Toronto. Fort Rouille is intended to encourage Indians to trade furs with the French.

March 23, 1752 - Canada's first newspaper, the Halifax Gazette, is printed by John Bushell.

1754 - Louis La Corne plants the first wheat in the west, in the Carrot River Valley of present-day Saskatchewan.

May 17, 1756 - The Seven Years' War begins with Britain declaring war on France. It starts in North America and spreads to Europe.

Feb. 10, 1763 - The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War, with Britain taking possession of Canada.

June 22, 1774 - The British Parliament passes the Quebec Act, establishing among other things French civil law, British-based criminal law and religious freedom for Roman Catholics.

March 29, 1778 - James Cook, George Vancouver and their crews become the first Europeans known to have landed at British Columbia.

June 22, 1813 - A Queenston (Ont.) woman, Laura Secord, aided by Indians, treks more than 19 kilometres to warn British forces of plans she overheard of an American attack.

1825 - The latest census puts the population of Lower Canada (Quebec) at 479,288, and Upper Canada (Ontario) at 157,923.

April 23, 1851 - Canada's first official postage stamp, the three-penny beaver, is issued.

Dec. 31, 1857 - Queen Victoria names Ottawa as the new capital of Canada.

May 15, 1870 - Manitoba becomes Canada's fifth province.

April 2, 1871 - The first census of the Dominion of Canada lists the population as 3,689,257.

July 20, 1871 - British Columbia enters Confederation as the nation's sixth province.

July 1, 1873 - Prince Edward Island enters Confederation.

Nov. 7, 1885 - Rail director Donald Smith drives the ceremonial last spike home for the Canadian Pacific Railway, linking Montreal to Port Moody.

Nov. 16, 1885 - Metis leader Louis Riel is hanged for high treason as a result of the North West Rebellion.

Jan. 2, 1908 - The first coin is struck at the new Royal Mint building in Ottawa, ending years of importing Canadian currency from England.

Aug. 4. 1914 - Following Germany's invasion of Belgium, Britain declares war on Germany. Canada, as part of the British Empire, is engaged in the war as well.

Dec. 6, 1917 - Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship, explodes in Halifax Harbour, killing more than 1,000 people and destroying some 6,000 homes.

Nov. 11, 1918 - The First World War ends; Canada has lost 60,000 troops.

Feb. 1, 1920 - The Royal North West Mounted Police and Dominion Police merge to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Oct. 25, 1923 - Frederick Banting and J.J.R. Macleod are first Canadians to win a Nobel prize, for their work that led to discovery of insulin.

May 24, 1932 - Legislation brings the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission into existence.

Sept. 10, 1939 _ Canada declares war on Nazi Germany.

Dec. 7, 1941 - Canada declares war on Japan after its attack on Pearl Harbor.

Feb. 26, 1942 - The Canadian government announces plans to move all Japanese on Canada's West Coast inland to camps.

May 11, 1942 - A German U-boat in the St. Lawrence River torpedoes two freighters, the first time the war has come to Canadian territory.

Aug. 19, 1942 - Canadian troops sustain major losses in a raid on the French port of Dieppe. Nearly 1,000 Canadians die and another 1,800 are taken prisoner.

June 6, 1944 - Allied troops storm the beaches at Normandy, Canadians take Juno Beach, in the largest amphibious operation in history.

May 7, 1945 - Victory comes for the Allies in Europe as the Germans surrender. News of V-E Day touches off wild celebrations in Canada.

March 31, 1949 - Newfoundland officially enters Confederation..

June 26, 1959 - Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower officially open the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Dec. 15, 1964 - A new Canadian flag, red maple leaf on white background between two red bars_ wins the approval of Parliament.

April 28, 1967 - Expo 67, a world's fair built on the theme Man and His World, opens in Montreal.

Oct. 5, 1970 - The October Crisis begins as the Front de Liberation du Quebec kidnaps British diplomat James Cross and, later, Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act, which allows government to temporarily suspend civil liberties. Cross is released 60 days later but Laporte is found dead.

Sept. 28, 1972 - Team Canada, on Paul Henderson's goal with 34 seconds remaining in final game, defeats the Soviet Union four games to three, with one tied.

June 22, 1976 - The House of Commons approves, by just eight votes, a bill abolishing the death penalty.

July 17, 1976 - Montreal hosts the Summer Olympics.

Sept. 1, 1980 - Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope, his one-legged run across Canada to raise money for cancer research, ends abruptly near Thunder Bay, Ont., when his cancer returns.

April 17, 1982 - With the stroke of a pen by the Queen in Ottawa, Canada has its own Constitution.

May 2, 1986 - Expo 86, a world's fair on the theme of transport, opens in Vancouver.

June 30, 1987 _ The $1 coin, which quickly earns the nickname ``loonie,'' is introduced.

Jan. 1, 1991 - After months of protest, the GST takes effect. The federal tax adds seven per cent to the cost of many goods and services.

July 2, 1992 - With cod stocks dwindling, Fisheries Minister John Crosbie announces a two-year shutdown for Newfoundland's northern cod fishery.

Oct. 30, 1995 - Quebecers narrowly reject separation, with 50.6 per cent voting ``no.''

Feb. 19, 1996 - Canada's new $2 coin, dubbed the ``toonie,'' is introduced.

Aug. 4, 1998 - A treaty gives the Nisga'a First Nation ownership of 2,000 square kilometres in northern British Columbia. Some critics complain the deal paves the way for aboriginal self-government.

April 1, 1999 _ Canada's newest territory, Nunavut, is carved out of the eastern Northwest Territories.

Mar. 13, 2007 _ Census data collected the year before puts Canada's population at 31,612,897.

Feb. 12, 2010 - The Winter Olympic Games begin in Vancouver. Freestyle moguls skier Alexandre Bilodeau becomes the first-ever athlete to claim a gold medal on Canadian soil. Canada goes on to win 14 gold medals _ an all-time high for a host country in a Winter Olympics.

March 12, 2014: The Canadian flag is lowered at the NATO headquarters in Kabul, marking the formal end to Canada's operations in Afghanistan.