Canada, independent nation in North America. A country rich in minerals and agriculture, it was settled by the French and English and became an independent Commonwealth country with a federal system of government, in which the provinces enjoy a large measure of autonomy. Land and Economy. The 2nd-largest country in the world (after the USSR), Canada occupies the N half of the North American continent, stretching E and W from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans, N from the 49th parallel to the North Pole, including all the islands in the Arctic ....