by John Knouse

This is an outline of the world's political divisions, organized by 1) continent; 2) area of continent if relevant; 3) nation; 4) national subdivision (province, state, department); 5) further subdivisions if they exist.

This page was last revised on March 17, 2001.

NORTH AMERICA

North America is entirely in the Northern Hemisphere. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean, to the west the Pacific, to the north, the Arctic, and to the south, the Gulf of Mexico and Central/South America.

Index

Greenland---Canada---United States---México

Possession of Island (Iceland)
Inuit Name: Kalaallit Inunaat
Capital:
Telephone Country Code: 299

Official name: Dominion of Canada
Pronunciation: KAH - nuh - duh; the initial a is the short English a as in "can"
Meaning of name: From the Native American "kanatah" meaning village or cluster of houses; apparently applied by the French explorers under Jacques Cartier in error due to the local inhabitants using the term to refer to their villages
Note: Most information on Canadian place names is from:
Hamilton, William B. (1978): The Macmillan Book of Canadian place names, Macmillan of Canada, Toronto
Country Code: CA
Capital: Ottawa (in Ontario)
Languages: English (official) and French (official); French is spoken widely only in QuebŠc; Inuit is important in the far north
Currency: Canadian Dollar; CAD
Telephone Country Code: 1 (same as United States)
Canada is divided into ten provinces, two territories, and one autonomous region. Each province carries responsibility for internal divisions, so they vary in type from province to province.

Canada Index

Alberta---British Columbia---Manitoba---New Brunswick---Newfoundland
Northwest Territies---Nova Scotia---Nunavut---Ontario---Ottawa (Federal District)
Prince Edward Island---Québec---Saskatchewan---Yukon

Provinces

Counties and Districts:

1. Athabasca
2. Banff
3. Barrhead
4. Beaver
5. Big Lakes
6. Bighorn
7. Bonnyville
8. Brazeau
9. Calgary
10. Camrose
11. Cardston
12. Clear Hills
13. Clearwater
14. Crowsnest Pass
15. Cypress
16. East Peace
17. Edmonton
18. Flagstaff
19. Foothills
20. Forty Mile
21. Grande Prairie (Big Prairie)
22. Greenview
23. Jasper
24. Knananaskis
25. Kneehill
26. Lac Sainte Anne (St. Anne Lake)
27. Lacombe
28. Lakeland
29. Lamont
30. Leduc
31. Lesser Slave River
32. Lethbridge
33. Mackenzie
34. Medicine Hat
35. Minburn
36. Mountain View
37. Newell
38. Northern Lights
39. Opportunity
40. Parkland
41. Peace
42. Pincher Creek
43. Ponoka
44. Provost
45. Red Deer
46. Rocky View
47. Smoky Lake
48. Special Areas
49. Starland
50. Stettler
51. Strathcona
52. Sturgeon
53. Taber
54. Thorhild
55. Vermilion River
56. Vulcan
57. Wainwright
58. Warner
59. Westlock
60. Wetaskiwin
61. Wheatland
62. Willow Creek
63. Wood Buffalo
64. Woodlands
65. Yellowhead

Origin of Name: After Cristobal Colombo (Christopher Columbus)
Province Abbreviation: BC
Capital: Victoria
Origin of Name: After England's Queen Victoria (19th Century)
Became province: 1871
Population: 4.023 million (7-1999)

Provincial Symbols:

• Tree: Western Redcedar
• Flower: Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii
• Bird: Steller's Jay

Counties and Regions:

1. Alberni-Clayguot
2. Bulkley-Nechako
3. Capital Region (Victoria)
4. Cariboo
5. Central Okanagan
6. Chilcotin
7. Columbia-Shuswap
8. Comox-Strathcona
9. Cowichan Valley
10. East Kootenay
11. Fort Nelson-Liard
12. Fraser Valley
13. Fraser-Fort George
14. Greater Vancouver
15. Kitimat-Stikine
16. Kootenay
17. Kootenay-Boundary
18. Mount Waddington
19. Nanaimo
20. North Okanagan
21. Okanagan Valley
22. Okanagan-Similkameen
23. Peace River
24. Powell River
25. Skeena-Queen Charlotte
26. Squamish-Lillooet
27. Sunshine Coast
28. Thompson-Nicola
29. Vancouver Island

Origin of Name: Probably from the Cree "maniotwapow" meaning "spirit of the strait", referring to the roaring of the water movement in a part of Lake Manitoba. An alternate claim is that it is from the Assiniboine "mini tobow" meaning "Lake of the Prairies"
Province Abbreviation: M
Capital: Winnipeg
Origin of Capital Name: From the Cree "winnipi" meaning "muddy water", referring to Lake Winnipeg

Geographical Areas:

1. Eastern
2. Interlake
3. North of 53
4. Parkland-Western
5. Pembina Valley-Central Plains
6. Winnipeg Metro

Origin of Name: After the English house of Brunswick, in honor of King George III who was a descendant of the house
Province Abbreviation: NB
Capital: Fredricton
Origin of Capital Name: After the 18th-century Prince Frederick, Bishop of Osnaburg

Counties:

1. Albert: Moncton
2. Carleton: Woodstock
3. Charlotte
4. Gloucester: Bathurst
5. Kent: Richibucto
6. King's: Sussex
7. Madawaska: Edmundston
8. Northumberland
9. Restigouche: Campbellton
10. St. John: St. John
11. Sunbury:
12. Victoria
13. Westmorland
14. York: Fredericton

Origin of Name: Literal meaning, as this area was one of the first sighted in this part of the New World
Province Abbreviation: NF
Capital: St. John's
Origin of Capital Name: Because the land was supposedly discovered by Europeans on the feast day of St. John

Areas:

1. Labrador (mainland portion)
2. Newfoundland Island

Counties:

1. Annapolis
2. Antigonish
3. Cape Breton
4. Colchester
5. Cumberland
6. Digby
7. Guysborough
8. Halifax
9. Hants
10. Inverness
11. King's
12. Lunenburg
13. Pictou
14. Queen's
15. Richmond
16. Shelburne
17. Victoria
18. Yarmouth

Ontario is the only province with shoreline on the Great Lakes (it fronts all except Michigan).
Pronunciation: ahn - TERR - ee - oh
Origin of Name: Probably from the Native American "onitariio" meaning "beautiful lake"
Province Abbreviation: ON
Capital: Toronto
Origin of Capital Name: Apparently from the Mohawk word "tkaronto" meaning "place of trees in the water", referring to fishing weirs, but referring to a place some distance from the modern Toronto

Counties:

1. Addington
2. Brant
3. Carleton
4. Dundas
5. Durham
6. Elgin
7. Essex
8. Frontenac
9. Glengarry
10. Grenville
11. Haldimand
12. Halton
13. Huron
14. Kent
15. Lanark
16. Leeds
17. Lennox
18. Lincoln
19. Middlesex
20. Norfolk
21. Ontario
22. Oxford
23. Peel
24. Perth
25. Prescott
26. Prince Edward
27. Renfrew
28. Russell
29. Simcoe
30. Stormont
31. Victoria
32. Waterloo
33. Welland
34. Wellington
35. Wentworth
36. York

Often just called P.E.I.
Origin of Name: After Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and father of Queen Victoria
Province Abbreviation: PE
Capital: Charlottetown
Origin of Capital Name: After Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III

Counties:

1. Kings
2. Prince
3. Queens

Pronunciation: keh - BEK, not kwuh - BEK
Origin of Name: From the Algonquin "kebek" meaning strait or rapids, because of the straits of the St. Lawrence River at Québec City
Province Abbreviation: QU
Capital: (Cité de) Québec
The principal language in Québec is French.
The county list is not as yet complete.

Administrative Regions and Electoral Divisions:

1. Abitibi-Témiscamingue
2. Bas-Saint-Laurent (Lower St. Lawrence)
3. Centre-du-Québec
4. Chaudière-Appalaches
5. Côte-Nord (North Coast)
6. Estrie
7. Gaspésie- les-de-la-Madeleine
8. Lanaudière
9. Laurentides
10. Laval
11. Mauricie
12. Montérégie
13. Montréal
14. Nord-du-Québec (North of Québec)
15. Outaouais
16. Québec
17. Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
    

    Counties north of St. Laurent:

18. Abitibi
19. Argenteuil: Lachute
20. L'Assomption:
21. Berthier: Berthierville
22. Bonaventure: New Carlisle
23. Champlain: St. Geneviève de Batiscan
24. Charlevoix Est: La Malbaie
25. Charlevoix Oest: Baie-St.-Paul
26. Chicoutimi: Chicoutimi
27. Deux-Montagnes ("Two Mountains")
28. Gatineau: Maniwaki
29. Hull:
30. Joliette: Joliette
31. Labelle: Mont-Laurier
32. Lac-St. Jean Ouest:
33. Maskinongé: Louiseville
34. Maurice: Didace y Amachiche
35. Montcalm: Ste. Julienne
36. Montmorency #1
37. Montmorency #2: Ste. Famille
38. Papineau: Papineauville
39. Pontinac: Campbells Bay
40. Portneuf ("New Bridge"): Cap-Santé
41. Québec: Loretteville
42. Saguenay:
43. Soulanges: Coteau-Landing
44. Terrebonne ("Good Earth"): St. Jérôme
45. Timiscamingue
46. Vaudreuil: Vaudreuil
    

    Counties south of St. Laurent:

47. Arthabaska: Arthabaska
48. Bagot: St. Liboire
49. Beauce: Beauceville Est
50. Beauharnois: Beauharnois
51. Bellechasse: St. Rapha‰l
52. Bonaventure:
53. Brome: Lac-Brome
54. Chambly: Longueuil
55. Chateauguay: Ste. Martine
56. Compton: Cookshire
57. Dorchester: Ste.-Henédine
58. Drummond: Drummondville
59. Frontenac: Lac Mégantic (Huge Lake)
60. Gaspé North:
61. Gaspé South:
62. Huntingdon: St. Chrysostine
63. Iberville: Iberville
64. L'Islet: St. Jean-Port-Joli
65. Kamouraska: St. Pascal
66. Laprairie: Laprairie
67. Lévis: St. Romuald
68. Lotbinière: Ste. Croix
69. Matane:
70. Matapedia:
71. Mégantic: Inverness
72. Missisquoi: Bedford
73. Montmagny: Cap-St. Ignace
74. Napierville: Napierville
75. Nicolet: Bocancour
76. Richelieu: Sorel
77. Richmond: Richmond
78. Rimouski: Rimouski
79. Rivière du Loup: Rivière du Loup
80. Rouville: Marieville
81. St. Hyacinthe: St. Hyacinthe
82. Shefford: Waterloo
83. Sherbrook: Sherbrook
84. Stanstead: Barnston
85. Témiscouata: Notre Dame du Lac
86. Verchères: Verchères
87. Wolf: Ham-Sud
88. Yamaska:
    

    Other

89. Abitib Territory

Pronunciation: sas - KAT - chue - on
Origin of Name: From the Cree "kisiskatchewani sipi" meaning "swift-flowing river" and referring to the Saskatchewan River
Province Abbreviation: SA
Capital: Regina
Origin of Capital Name: Means "Queen", referring to Queen Victoria. Once known as "Pile o' Bones"

Nunavut was created as of April 1, 1998, out of the Northwest Territories, as a self-governing Inuit homeland
Official Name: Nunavut Autonomous Area
Pronunciation: NUH - na - vut
Origin of Name: Inuit for "Our Land"
Capital: Iqualuit
Origin of Capital Name: Inuit for "Place of Fish"; formerly known as Frobisher Bay

1. Baffin Region
2. Keewatin Region
3. Kitikmeot Region

Origin of Name: Because of their location in Canada
Territory Abbreviation:
Capital: Yellowknife
Origin of Capital Name: After the yellow copper knives of the Athabascan Indians

Districts:

1. Kitikmeot District
2. Fort Smith District

Official name: United States of America (USA)
Origin of name: After the explorer Amerigo Vespucci
Capital: Washington, DC (District of Columbia)
Origin of Capital Name: After George Washington, the first president, and after Cristobal Colombo (Christopher Columbus)
Language: English; Spanish is also important in some areas

States

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