Let’s Go Canada!

www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com Try testing your knowledge at the online Canadian Encyclopedia with the Canucklehead Quiz. Didn’t do so well, eh? Herein lies the problem, according to encylopedia sponsor Historica: Neither you, nor Canada, know much about Canadian history. The Canadian Encyclopedia is one of several Web sites dedicated to promoting Canada’s history. Historica, a foundation created ...

www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com

Try testing your knowledge at the online Canadian Encyclopedia with the Canucklehead Quiz. Didn’t do so well, eh? Herein lies the problem, according to encylopedia sponsor Historica: Neither you, nor Canada, know much about Canadian history.

The Canadian Encyclopedia is one of several Web sites dedicated to promoting Canada’s history. Historica, a foundation created to engage Canadians in their heritage, bills the encyclopedia as a tool to create a more "responsible" citizenry.

The interactive site, published in both English and French, features multimedia illustrations of Canadian architecture and the natural wonders of Canada. It includes dynamic graphs, an interactive and illustrated timeline of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, thousands of biographies of notable Canadians, and figures on the annual rainfall in the town of Iqaluit (193 cm). You can even take a quick lesson in French.

The site is inventive but revealing in its insecurity: A feature on Canada’s 100 most interesting citizens opens with the question, "Think Canadians are boring?" (Click on it and visitors will find the entire biography database instead of a list.) And Historica’s "100 Greatest Events in Canadian History" are not always so great: the 1847 publication of Egerton Ryerson’s report on education, for instance. More recently, Donovan Bailey’s 100-meter dash gold medal win at the 1996 Summer Olympics "set off an outburst of national pride in winning the glamour event of the Olympic Games." Donovan who?

So the next time you’re playing the Canadian edition of Trivial Pursuit, and you can’t remember who was governor of Quebec in 1768, try consulting The Canadian Encyclopedia online. It was Guy Carleton, ya hoser.

More from Foreign Policy

Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.
Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War

Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests

And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.