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Albert Sidney Johnston | Utah War | Utah War
As a key figure in the Utah War, Johnston took command of the U.S. forces dispatched to crush the Latter Day Saint rebellion in November 1857. Their objective was to install Alfred Cumming as governor of the Utah Territory, replacing Brigham Young, and restore U.S. legal authority in the region. As Johnston had replaced Brigadier General William S. Harney in command, he only joined the army after it had already departed for Utah. Johnston's adjutant general, and future U.S. general in the Civil War, Major Fitz John Porter wrote: "Experienced on the Plains and of established reputation for energy, courage, and resources, [Johnston's] presence restored confidence at all points, and encouraged the weak-hearted and panic-stricken multitude. The long chain of wagons, kinked, tangled, and hard to move, uncoiled and went forward smoothly."Johnston, pp. 211
Johnston worked tirelessly over the next few months to maintain the effectiveness of his army in the harsh winter environment at Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Major Porter wrote to an associate: "Col. Johnston has done everything to add to the efficiency of the command – and put it in a condition to sustain the dignity and honor of the country – More he cannot do… Don't let any one come here over Col. Johnston – It would be much against the wishes and hopes of everyone here – who would gladly see him a Brigadier General."Roland, pp. 202 Even the Mormons commended Johnston's actions, with the Salt Lake City Deseret News reporting that "It takes a cool brain and good judgment to maintain a contented army and healthy camp through a stormy winter in the Wasatch Mountains."Deseret News (1858). Edition published October 13, 1858, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
Johnston and his troops hoped for war. They had learned of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and wanted revenge against the Mormons. However, a peaceful resolution was reached after the army had endured the harsh winter at Fort Bridger. In late June 1858, Johnston led the army through Salt Lake City without incident to establish Camp Floyd some 50 miles distant. In a report to the War Department, Johnston reported that "horrible crimes… have been perpetrated in this territory, crimes of a magnitude and of an apparently studied refinement in atrocity, hardly to be conceived of, and which have gone unwhipped of justice."Johnston, pp. 239 Nevertheless, Johnston's army peacefully occupied the Utah Territory. U.S. Army Commander-in-Chief, Major General Winfield Scott, was delighted with Johnston's performance during the campaign and recommended his promotion to brevet brigadier general: "Colonel Johns[t]on is more than a good officer – he is a God send to the country thro' the army." The Senate confirmed Johnston's promotion on March 24, 1858.
With regard to the relations established by Johnston with the Native American tribes of the area, Major Porter reported that "Colonel Johnston took every occasion to bring the Indians within knowledge and influence of the army, and induced numerous chiefs to come to his camp... Colonel Johnston was ever kind, but firm, and dignified to them... The Utes, Pi-Utes, Bannocks, and other tribes, visited Colonel Johnston, and all went away expressing themselves pleased, assuring him that so long as he remained they would prove his friends, which the colonel told them would be best for them. Thus he effectively destroyed all influence of the Mormons over them, and insured friendly treatment to travelers to and from California and Oregon."Johnston, p. 235
In August 1859, parts of Johnston's Army of Utah were implicated as participants in an alleged massacre at Spring Valley, a retaliation against an Indian massacre of an emigrant train to California. There are conflicting reports of the event and Johnston only referenced it in a November 1859 report to Scott. He wrote: "I have ascertained that three [emigrant] parties were robbed, and ten or twelve of their members, comprising men, women, and children, murdered... The perpetrators of the robbery of the first party were severely chastised by a detachment of dragoons, under the command of Lieutenant Gay. The troops failed to discover the robbers of the last two parties that were attacked. They are supposed to be vagabonds from the Shoshonee (sic) or Snake and Bannack (sic) Indians, whose chiefs deny any complicity with these predatory bands. There is abundant evidence to prove that these robber bands are accompanied by white men, and probably instigated and led by them. On that account I am inclined to believe the disclaimer of the Indians referred to, of having any knowledge of the robberies or any share in the plunder." The only evidence of the massacre is the account of Elijah Nicholas Wilson (written in 1910, about 51 years after the incident) and oral histories.Senate of the United States; First Session of the 36th Congress, 1859–60; No. 42, p. 26Wilson, pp. 165
In late February 1860, Johnston received orders from the War Department recalling him to Washington D.C. to prepare for a new assignment. He spent 1860 in Kentucky until December 21, when he sailed for California to take command of the Department of the Pacific. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Slavery | Slavery
Johnston was a slave owner and a strong supporter of slavery. By 1846, he owned four slaves in Texas.Roland, p. 141. In 1855, having discovered that a slave was stealing from the Army payroll, Johnston refused to have him physically punished and instead sold him for $1,000 to recoup the losses. Johnston explained that "whipping will not restore what is lost and it will not benefit the [culprit], whom a lifetime of kind treatment has failed to make honest."Roland, p. 166. In 1856, he called abolitionism "fanatical, idolatrous, negro worshipping" in a letter to his son, fearing that the abolitionists would incite a slave revolt in the Southern states.Roland, p. 182. Upon moving to California, Johnston sold one slave to his son and freed another, Randolph Hughes, or "Ran", who agreed to accompany the family on the condition of a $12/month contract for five more years of servitude. Ran accompanied Johnston throughout the American Civil War until the latter's death.Roland, p. 242. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | American Civil War | American Civil War
thumb|Albert S. Johnston in Confederate Army uniform wearing Three Gold Stars and Wreath on a General's Collar
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Johnston was the commander of the U.S. Army Department of the Pacific in California. Like many regular army officers from the Southern United States, he opposed secession. Nevertheless, Johnston resigned his commission soon after he heard of the Confederate states' declarations of secession. The War Department accepted it on May 6, 1861, effective May 3.Johnston, p. 273. On April 28, he moved to Los Angeles, the home of his wife's brother John Griffin. Considering staying in California with his wife and five children, Johnston remained there until May. A sixth child was born in the family home in Los Angeles. His eldest son, Capt. Albert S. Johnston, Jr. was later killed in an accidental explosion on a steamer ship while on liberty in Los Angeles in 1863. Los Angeles Star. Vol. XII, No. 52, May 2, 1863.
Soon, Johnston enlisted in the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles (a pro-Southern militia unit) as a private, leaving Warner's Ranch on May 27.Johnston, pp. 185. He participated in their trek across the Southwestern deserts to Texas, crossing the Colorado River into the Confederate Territory of Arizona on July 4, 1861. His escort was commanded by Alonzo Ridley, Undersheriff of Los Angeles, who remained at Johnston's side until he was killed. Los Angeles Star, Vol. XIII, No. 32, December 12, 1863.
Early in the Civil War, Confederate President Jefferson Davis decided that the Confederacy would attempt to hold as much territory as possible, distributing military forces around its borders and coasts.Woodworth, pp. 18–19. In the summer of 1861, Davis appointed several generals to defend Confederate lines from the Mississippi River east to the Allegheny Mountains.Woodworth, pp. 17–33. Aged 58 when the war began, Johnston was old by Army standards. He came east to offer his service for the Confederacy without having been promised anything, merely hoping for an assignment.
The most sensitive, and in many ways, the most crucial areas, along the Mississippi River and in western Tennessee along the Tennessee and the Cumberland riversWoodworth, pp. 20–22 were placed under the command of Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk and Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow. The latter had initially been in command in Tennessee as that State's top general.Woodworth, pp. 30–32. Their impolitic occupation of Columbus, Kentucky, on September 3, 1861, two days before Johnston arrived in the Confederacy's capital of Richmond, Virginia, after his cross-country journey, drove Kentucky from its stated neutrality.Woodworth, pp. 35, 45.Long, p. 114. The majority of Kentuckians allied with the U.S. camp.Woodworth, pp. 39, 50. Polk and Pillow's action gave U.S. Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant an excuse to take control of the strategically located town of Paducah, Kentucky, without raising the ire of most Kentuckians and the pro-U.S. majority in the State legislature.Woodworth, p. 39.Long, p. 115. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Confederate command in Western Theater | Confederate command in Western Theater
On September 10, 1861, Johnston was assigned to command the huge area of the Confederacy west of the Allegheny Mountains, except for coastal areas. He became commander of the Confederacy's western armies in the area often called the Western Department or Western Military Department.Woodworth, p. 51.Long, p. 116. Johnston's appointment as a full general by his friend and admirer Jefferson Davis had already been confirmed by the Confederate Senate on August 31, 1861. The appointment had been backdated to rank from May 30, 1861, making him the second-highest-ranking general in the Confederate States Army. Only Adjutant General and Inspector General Samuel Cooper ranked ahead of him.Eicher, Civil War High Commands. p. 807. From General Command Line List. Weigley, p. 110. McPherson, p. 394. After his appointment, Johnston immediately headed for his new territory.Woodworth, p. 52. He was permitted to call on Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi governors for new troops. However, politics largely stifled this authority, especially concerning Mississippi. On September 13, 1861, Johnston ordered Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer with 4,000 men to occupy Cumberland Gap in Kentucky to block U.S. troops from coming into eastern Tennessee. The Kentucky legislature had voted to side with the United States after the occupation of Columbus by Polk. By September 18, Johnston had Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner with another 4,000 men blocking the railroad route to Tennessee at Bowling Green, Kentucky.Long, p. 119.
Johnston had fewer than 40,000 men spread throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri.Woodworth, p. 53. Of these, 10,000 were in Missouri under Missouri State Guard Maj. Gen. Sterling Price. Johnston did not quickly gain many recruits when he first requested them from the governors, but his more serious problem was lacking sufficient arms and ammunition for the troops he already had. As the Confederate government concentrated efforts on the units in the East, they gave Johnston small numbers of reinforcements and minimal amounts of arms and material.Woodworth, p. 55. Johnston maintained his defense by conducting raids and other measures to make it appear he had larger forces than he did, a strategy that worked for several months. Johnston's tactics had so annoyed and confused U.S. Brig. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in Kentucky that he became paranoid and mentally unstable. Sherman overestimated Johnston's forces and was relieved by Brig. Gen. Don Carlos Buell on November 9, 1861. However, in his Memoirs, Sherman strongly rebutted this account.Woodworth, pp. 55–56Long, p. 138.McPherson, p. 394 says Johnston had 70,000 troops to defend his territory between the Appalachians and the Ozarks by the end of 1861.The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman (1885), Chapter IX https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4361/4361-h/4361-h.htm |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Battle of Mill Springs | Battle of Mill Springs
East Tennessee (a heavily pro-union region of the southern U.S. during the Civil War) was occupied for the Confederacy by two unimpressive brigadier generals appointed by Jefferson Davis: Felix Zollicoffer, a brave but untrained and inexperienced officer, and soon-to-be Maj. Gen. George B. Crittenden, a former U.S. Army officer with apparent alcohol problems.Woodworth, p. 61 While Crittenden was away in Richmond, Zollicoffer moved his forces to the north bank of the upper Cumberland River near Mill Springs (now Nancy, Kentucky), putting the river to his back and his forces into a trap.Woodworth, p. 65.Long, pp. 161–162. Zollicoffer decided it was impossible to obey orders to return to the other side of the river because of the scarcity of transport and proximity of U.S. troops.Woodworth, p. 66. When U.S. Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas moved against the Confederates, Crittenden decided to attack one of the two parts of Thomas's command at Logan's Cross Roads near Mill Springs before the U.S. forces could unite. At the Battle of Mill Springs on January 19, 1862, the ill-prepared Confederates, after a night march in the rain, attacked the U.S. soldiers with some initial success.Woodworth, pp. 66–67. As the battle progressed, Zollicoffer was killed and the Confederates were turned back and routed by a U.S. bayonet charge, their force of 4,000 suffering 533 casualties, while Crittenden's conduct in the battle was so inept that subordinates accused him of being drunk.Woodworth, p. 67.Long, p. 162. The Confederate troops who escaped were assigned to other units as General Crittenden faced an investigation of his conduct.Woodworth, p. 69.
After the Confederate defeat at Mill Springs, Davis sent Johnston a brigade and a few other scattered reinforcements. He also assigned him Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, who was supposed to attract recruits because of his victories early in the war and act as a competent subordinate for Johnston.Woodworth, pp. 71–72. The brigade was led by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, considered incompetent. He took command at Fort Donelson as the senior general present just before U.S. Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant attacked the fort.Woodworth, pp. 80, 84. Historians believe the assignment of Beauregard to the west stimulated U.S. commanders to attack the forts before Beauregard could make a difference in the theater. U.S. Army officers heard that he was bringing 15 regiments with him, but this was an exaggeration of his forces.Woodworth, pp. 72, 78. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Nashville | Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Nashville
Based on the assumption that Kentucky neutrality would act as a shield against a direct invasion from the north, circumstances that no longer applied in September 1861, Tennessee initially had sent men to Virginia and concentrated defenses in the Mississippi Valley.Woodworth, p. 54.Eicher, The Longest Night. pp. 111–113. Even before Johnston arrived in Tennessee, construction of two forts had been started to defend the Tennessee and the Cumberland rivers, which provided avenues into the State from the north.Woodworth, p. 56. Both forts were located in Tennessee to respect Kentucky neutrality, but these were not in ideal locations.Long, p. 142Weigley, p. 108McPherson, p. 393. Fort Henry on the Tennessee River was in an unfavorable low-lying location, commanded by hills on the Kentucky side of the river. Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, although in a better location, had a vulnerable land side and did not have enough heavy artillery to defend against gunboats.
Maj. Gen. Polk ignored the problems of the forts when he took command. After Johnston took command, Polk at first refused to comply with Johnston's order to send an engineer, Lt. Joseph K. Dixon, to inspect the forts.Woodworth, p. 57. After Johnston asserted his authority, Polk had to allow Dixon to proceed. Dixon recommended that the forts be maintained and strengthened, although they were not in ideal locations, because much work had been done on them, and the Confederates might not have time to build new ones. Johnston accepted his recommendations. Johnston wanted Major Alexander P. Stewart to command the forts, but President Davis appointed Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman as commander.
To prevent Polk from dissipating his forces by allowing some men to join a partisan group, Johnston ordered him to send Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow and 5,000 men to Fort Donelson.Woodworth, p. 58. Pillow took up a position at nearby Clarksville, Tennessee, and did not move into the fort until February 7, 1862.Long, pp. 167–168.Eicher, The Longest Night, p. 171 says the garrison at Fort Donelson numbered 1,956 men before the Fort Henry garrison and the men under Floyd and Pillow joined them in early February 1862. Alerted by a U.S. reconnaissance on January 14, 1862, Johnston ordered Tilghman to fortify the high ground opposite Fort Henry, which Polk had failed to do despite Johnston's orders.Woodworth, p. 71. Tilghman failed to act decisively on these orders, which were too late to be adequately carried out in any event.McPherson, p. 396.A Confederate battery and the beginning of some fortifications were sited across the river at Fort Heiman, but these were of little value when the U.S. flotilla appeared.
Gen. Beauregard arrived at Johnston's headquarters at Bowling Green on February 4, 1862, and was given overall command of Polk's force at the western end of Johnston's line at Columbus, Kentucky.Woodworth, p. 78.After some preliminary work with Johnston, Beauregard assumed command of this force, which he named the Army of the Mississippi, on March 5, 1862, while at Jackson, Tennessee. Like the other Confederate commander, he had to withdraw to the south after the fall of the forts or be surrounded by the advancing U.S. forces. Long, p. 178. On February 6, 1862, U.S. gunboats quickly reduced the defenses of ill-sited Fort Henry, inflicting 21 casualties on the small remaining Confederate force.Woodworth, pp. 78–79.Long, p. 167. Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman surrendered the 94 remaining officers and men of his approximately 3,000-man force, which had not been sent to Fort Donelson, before Grant's U.S. forces could even take up their positions.Long, pp. 166–167Weigley, p. 109. Johnston knew he could be trapped at Bowling Green if Fort Donelson fell, so he moved his force to Nashville, the capital of Tennessee and an increasingly important Confederate industrial center, beginning on February 11, 1862.Woodworth, p. 79.Loing, pp. 169–170.
Johnston also reinforced Fort Donelson with 12,000 more men, including those under Floyd and Pillow, a curious decision given his thought that the U.S. gunboats alone could take the fort. He ordered the fort commanders to evacuate the troops if the fort could not be held.Woodworth, p. 80. The senior generals sent to the fort to command the enlarged garrison, Gideon J. Pillow and John B. Floyd, squandered their chance to avoid having to surrender most of the garrisonMcPherson, pp. 400–401. and on February 16, 1862, Brig. Gen. Simon Buckner, having been abandoned by FloydFloyd was able to ferry his four Virginia regiments out of the fort with him but left his Mississippi regiment behind to surrender with the rest of the garrison. Pillow escaped only with his chief of staff. Woodworth, p. 83. Long, p. 171. and Pillow, surrendered Fort Donelson.Woodworth, pp. 82–84. Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest escaped with his cavalry force of about 700 men before the surrender.Woodworth, p. 84.McPherson, pp. 401–402.This included about 200 men not in Forrest's immediate command. Weigley, p. 111 The Confederates suffered about 1,500 casualties, with an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 taken prisoner.Long, p. 172.Weigley, p. 111. U.S. casualties were 500 killed, 2,108 wounded, and 224 missing.
Johnston, who had little choice in allowing Floyd and Pillow to take charge at Fort Donelson based on seniority after he ordered them to add their forces to the garrison, took the blame and suffered calls for his removal because a full explanation to the press and public would have exposed the weakness of the Confederate position.Woodworth, pp. 84–85. His passive defensive performance while positioning himself in a forward position at Bowling Green, spreading his forces too thinly, not concentrating his forces in the face of U.S. advances, and appointing or relying upon inadequate or incompetent subordinates subjected him to criticism at the time and by later historians.Weigley, p. 112.McPherson, pp. 405–406.Davis defended Johnston, saying: "If Sidney Johnston is not a general, we had better give up the war, for we have no general." McPherson, p. 495. The fall of the forts exposed Nashville to an imminent attack, and it fell without resistance to U.S. forces under Brig. Gen. Buell on February 25, 1862, two days after Johnston had to pull his forces out to avoid having them captured as well.Woodworth, p. 86.Long, p. 175.McPherson, p. 402. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Concentration at Corinth | Concentration at Corinth
Johnston was in a perilous situation after the fall of Ft. Donelson and Henry; with barely 17,000 men to face an overwhelming concentration of Union force, he hastily fled south into Mississippi by way of Nashville and then into northern Alabama.Woodworth, pp. 85–86. Johnston himself retreated with the force under his personal command, the Army of Central Kentucky, from the vicinity of Nashville. With Beauregard's help,McPherson, p. 406. Johnston decided to concentrate forces with those formerly under Polk and now already under Beauregard's command at the strategically located railroad crossroads of Corinth, Mississippi, which he reached by a circuitous route.Woodworth, pp. 86–88. Johnston kept the U.S. forces, now under the overall command of Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck, confused and hesitant to move, allowing Johnston to reach his objective undetected.Woodworth, p. 88. He scraped together reinforcements from Louisiana, as well as part of Polk's force at Island No. 10, and 10,000 additional troops under Braxton Bragg brought up from Mobile.Woodworth, pp. 90, 94. Bragg at least calmed the nerves of Beauregard and Polk, who had become agitated by their apparent dire situation in the face of numerically superior forces, before Johnston's arrival on March 24, 1862.Woodworth, p. 95.Long, p. 188.
Johnston's army of 17,000 men gave the Confederates a combined force of about 40,000 to 44,669 men at Corinth.Eicher, The Longest Night, p. 223. On March 29, 1862, Johnston officially took command of this combined force, which continued to use the Army of the Mississippi name under which Beauregard had organized it on March 5.Long, 190.Eicher, Civil War High Commands p. 887 and Eicher, The Longest Night p. 219 are nearly alone in referring to this army as the Army of Mississippi. Muir, p. 85, in discussing the first "Army of Mississippi", includes this army as one of three in the article with that title but states: "Historians have pointed out that the Army of Mississippi is frequently mentioned in the Official Records as the Army of the Mississippi." Contemporaries, including Johnston and Beauregard, and modern historians call this Confederate army the Army of the Mississippi. , Volume X, Part 1, index, pp. 96–99; 385 (Beauregard's report on the Battle of Shiloh, April 11, 1862, from Headquarters, Army of the Mississippi) and Part 2, p. 297 (Beauregard's announcement on taking command of Army of the Mississippi); p. 370 (Johnston General Orders of March 29, 1862, assuming command and announcing the army would retain the name Army of the Mississippi); pp. 405–409. Beauregard, p. 579. Boritt, p. 53. Connelly, Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861–1862. p. 151. ("The Army retained Beauregard's chosen name...") Connelly, Civil War Tennessee: Battles And Leaders. p. 35. Cunningham, pp. 98, 122, 397. Engle, p. 123. Hattaway, p. 163. Hess, pp. 47, 49, 112 ("...Braxton Bragg's renamed Army of Tennessee (formerly the Army of the Mississippi)..."). Isbell, p. 102. McDonough, pp. 60, 66, 78. Kennedy, p. 48. Noe, p. 19. Williams, p. 122.
Johnston's only hope was to crush Grant before Buell and others could reinforce him. He started his army in motion on April 3, intent on surprising Grant's force as soon as the next day. It was not an easy undertaking; his army had been hastily thrown together, two-thirds of the soldiers had never fired a shot in battle, and drill, discipline, and staff work were so poor that the different divisions kept stumbling into each other on the march.Woodworth, pp. 96–97.Long, p. 192 Beauregard felt that this offensive was a mistake and could not possibly succeed, but Johnston replied "I would fight them if they were a million" as he drove his army on to Pittsburg Landing.McWhiney; Jamieson, p. 162. His army was finally in position within a mile or two of Grant's force, undetected, by the evening of April 5, 1862.Woodworth, p. 97.Long, pp. 193–194.Weigley, p. 113.McPherson, pp. 406–407.Johnston did not achieve total surprise as some U.S. pickets were alerted to the Confederate presence and provided warning to some U.S. units before the attack began. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Battle of Shiloh and death | Battle of Shiloh and death
Johnston launched a massive surprise attack with his concentrated forces against Grant at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862.Chisholm, p. 473 As the Confederate forces overran the U.S. camps, Johnston personally rallied troops up and down the line on his horse. One of his famous moments in the battle occurred when he witnessed some of his soldiers breaking from the ranks to pillage and loot the U.S. camps and was outraged to see a young lieutenant among them. "None of that, sir", Johnston roared at the officer, "we are not here for plunder." Then, realizing he had embarrassed the man, he picked up a tin cup from a table and announced, "Let this be my share of the spoils today", before directing his army onward.
At about 2:30 pm, while leading one of those charges against a U.S. camp near the "Peach Orchard", he was wounded, taking a bullet behind his right knee. The bullet clipped a part of his popliteal artery, and his boot filled up with blood. No medical personnel were on the scene since Johnston had sent his personal surgeon to care for the wounded Confederate troops and U.S. prisoners earlier in the battle.thumb|220x220px|Henry Mosler's drawing of the death of General Johnston
Within a few minutes, Johnston was observed by his staff to be nearly fainting. Among his staff was Isham G. Harris, the Governor of Tennessee, who had ceased to make any real effort to function as governor after learning that Abraham Lincoln had appointed Andrew Johnson as military governor of Tennessee. Seeing Johnston slumping in his saddle and his face turning deathly pale, Harris asked: "General, are you wounded?" Johnston glanced down at his leg wound, then faced Harris and said his last words in a weak voice: "Yes... and I fear seriously." Harris and other staff officers removed Johnston from his horse, carried him to a small ravine near the "Hornets Nest", and desperately tried to aid the general, who had lost consciousness. Harris then sent an aide to fetch Johnston's surgeon but did not apply a tourniquet to Johnston's wounded leg. A few minutes later, Johnston died from blood loss before a doctor could be found. It is believed that Johnston may have lived for as long as one hour after receiving his fatal wound. It was later discovered that Johnston had a tourniquet in his pocket when he died.thumb|right|Monument to Johnston at Shiloh National Military ParkHarris and the other officers wrapped General Johnston's body in a blanket to not damage the troops' morale with the sight of the dead general. Johnston and his wounded horse, Fire Eater, were taken to his field headquarters on the Corinth road, where his body remained in his tent for the remainder of the battle. P. G. T. Beauregard assumed command of the army. He resumed leading the Confederate assault, which continued advancing and pushed the U.S. forces back to a final defensive line near the Tennessee river. With his army exhausted and daylight almost gone, Beauregard called off the final Confederate attack around 1900 hours, figuring he could finish off the U.S. army the following morning. However, Grant was reinforced by 20,000 fresh troops from Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio during the night and led a successful counter-attack the following day, driving the Confederates from the field and winning the battle. As the Confederate army retreated to Corinth, Johnston's body was taken to the home of Colonel William Inge, which had been his headquarters in Corinth. It was covered in the Confederate flag and lay in state for several hours.Sword, pp. 270–273, 443–446; Cunningham, pp. 273–276; Smith, pp. 26–34. Sword offers evidence that Johnston lived as long as an hour after receiving his fatal wound.
It is possible that a Confederate soldier fired the fatal round, as many Confederates were firing at the U.S. lines while Johnston charged well in advance of his soldiers.Sword, p. 444. Alonzo Ridley of Los Angeles commanded the bodyguard "the Guides" of Gen. A. S. Johnston and was by his side when he fell. Los Angeles Star, Vol. XII, No. 30, November 29, 1862.
Johnston was the highest-ranking fatality of the war on either side and his death was a strong blow to the morale of the Confederacy. At the time, Davis considered him the best general in the country.Dupuy, p. 378. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Legacy and honors | Legacy and honors
thumb|Johnston's tomb and statue by Elisabet Ney in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas
Johnston was survived by his wife, Eliza, and six children. His wife and five younger children, including one born after he went to war, chose to live out their days at home in Los Angeles with Eliza's brother, Dr. John Strother Griffin. Johnston's eldest son, Albert Sidney Jr. (born in Texas), had already followed him into the Confederate States Army. In 1863, Albert Jr. was on his way out of San Pedro harbor on a ferry after taking home leave in Los Angeles. While a steamer was taking on passengers from the ferry, a wave swamped the smaller boat, causing its boilers to explode. Albert Jr. was killed in the accident.
Upon his passing, General Johnston received the highest praise ever given by the Confederate government: accounts were published on December 20, 1862, and after that, in the Los Angeles Star of his family's hometown. Johnston Street, Hancock Street, and Griffin Avenue, each in northeast Los Angeles, are named after the general and his family, who lived in the neighborhood.
Johnston was initially buried in New Orleans. In 1866, a joint resolution of the Texas Legislature was passed to have his body moved and reinterred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. The re-interment occurred in 1867. Forty years later, the state appointed Elisabet Ney to design a monument and sculpture of him to be erected at the grave site, installed in 1905.
The Texas Historical Commission has erected a historical marker near the entrance of what was once Johnston's plantation. An adjacent marker was erected by the San Jacinto Chapter of the Daughters of The Republic of Texas and the Lee, Roberts, and Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederate States of America.
In 1916, the University of Texas at Austin recognized several confederate veterans (including Johnston) with statues on its South Mall. On August 21, 2017, as part of the wave of confederate monument removals in America, Johnston's statue was taken down. Plans were announced to add it to the Briscoe Center for American History on the east side of the university campus.
Johnston was inducted to the Texas Military Hall of Honor in 1980.
In the fall of 2018, A. S. Johnston Elementary School in Dallas, Texas, was renamed Cedar Crest Elementary. Johnston Middle School in Houston, Texas, was also renamed Meyerland Middle School. Three other elementary schools named for Confederate veterans were renamed simultaneously. |
Albert Sidney Johnston | See also | See also
Albert Sidney Johnston High School, a defunct public high school in Austin, Texas
Statue of Albert Sidney Johnston (Texas State Cemetery), a 1903 memorial sculpture by Elisabet Ney
Statue of Albert Sidney Johnston (University of Texas at Austin), a statue by Pompeo Coppini
List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)
List of Confederate monuments and memorials |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Notes | Notes |
Albert Sidney Johnston | References | References
Beauregard, G. T. The Campaign of Shiloh. p. 579. In Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. I, edited by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence C. Buel. New York: Century Co., 1884–1888. .
Dupuy, Trevor N., Curt Johnson, and David L. Bongard. Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. .
Hattaway, Herman, and Archer Jones. How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983. .
Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. .
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Albert Sidney Johnston | Further reading | Further reading
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Albert Sidney Johnston | External links | External links
Eliza Johnston, Wife Of Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston
Albert Sidney Johnston at Handbook of Texas Online
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Category:Slave owners killed in the American Civil War
Category:Preston family (Virginia) |
Albert Sidney Johnston | Table of Content | short description, Early life and education, Marriage and family, Texian Army, United States Army, Utah War, Slavery, American Civil War, Confederate command in Western Theater, Battle of Mill Springs, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Nashville, Concentration at Corinth, Battle of Shiloh and death, Legacy and honors, See also, Notes, References, Further reading, External links |
Android (robot) | Short description | thumb|Repliee Q2, an android, can mimic human functions such as blinking, breathing and speaking, with the ability to recognize and process speech and touch, and then respond in kind.
An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being, often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids existed only in the domain of science fiction and were frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot technology have allowed the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots.Ishiguro, Hiroshi. "Android science.", Cognitive Science Society, Osaka, 2005. Retrieved on 3 October 2013. |
Android (robot) | Terminology | Terminology
thumb|Early example of the term androides used to describe human-like mechanical devices, London Times, 22 December 1795
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest use (as "Androides") to Ephraim Chambers' 1728 Cyclopaedia, in reference to an automaton that St. Albertus Magnus allegedly created.OED at "android" citing Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopædia; or, a universal dictionary of arts and sciences. 1728. By the late 1700s, "androides", elaborate mechanical devices resembling humans performing human activities, were displayed in exhibit halls.
The term "android" appears in US patents as early as 1863 in reference to miniature human-like toy automatons. The term android was used in a more modern sense by the French author Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam in his work Tomorrow's Eve (1886), featuring an artificial humanoid robot named Hadaly. The term made an impact into English pulp science fiction starting from Jack Williamson's The Cometeers (1936) and the distinction between mechanical robots and fleshy androids was popularized by Edmond Hamilton's Captain Future stories (1940–1944).
Although Karel Čapek's robots in R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921)—the play that introduced the word robot to the world—were organic artificial humans, the word "robot" has come to primarily refer to mechanical humans, animals, and other beings. The term "android" can mean either one of these, while a cyborg ("cybernetic organism" or "bionic man") would be a creature that is a combination of organic and mechanical parts.
The term "droid", popularized by George Lucas in the original Star Wars film and now used widely within science fiction, originated as an abridgment of "android", but has been used by Lucas and others to mean any robot, including distinctly non-human form machines like R2-D2. The word "android" was used in Star Trek: The Original Series episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" The abbreviation "andy", coined as a pejorative by writer Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, has seen some further usage, such as within the TV series Total Recall 2070.
While the term "android" is used in reference to human-looking robots in general (not necessarily male-looking humanoid robots), a robot with a female appearance can also be referred to as a gynoid. Besides one can refer to robots without alluding to their sexual appearance by calling them anthrobots (a portmanteau of anthrōpos and robot; see anthrobotics) or anthropoids (short for anthropoid robots; the term humanoids is not appropriate because it is already commonly used to refer to human-like organic species in the context of science fiction, futurism and speculative astrobiology).
Authors have used the term android in more diverse ways than robot or cyborg. In some fictional works, the difference between a robot and android is only superficial, with androids being made to look like humans on the outside but with robot-like internal mechanics. In other stories, authors have used the word "android" to mean a wholly organic, yet artificial, creation. Other fictional depictions of androids fall somewhere in between.
Eric G. Wilson, who defines an android as a "synthetic human being", distinguishes between three types of android, based on their body's composition:
the mummy type – made of "dead things" or "stiff, inanimate, natural material", such as mummies, puppets, dolls and statues
the golem type – made from flexible, possibly organic material, including golems and homunculi
the automaton type – made from a mix of dead and living parts, including automatons and robots
Although human morphology is not necessarily the ideal form for working robots, the fascination in developing robots that can mimic it can be found historically in the assimilation of two concepts: simulacra (devices that exhibit likeness) and automata (devices that have independence). |
Android (robot) | Projects | Projects
Several projects aiming to create androids that look, and, to a certain degree, speak or act like a human being have been launched or are underway. |
Android (robot) | Japan | Japan
thumb|Repliee Q2, a Japanese android
Japanese robotics have been leading the field since the 1970s. Waseda University initiated the WABOT project in 1967, and in 1972 completed the WABOT-1, the first android, a full-scale humanoid intelligent robot. Its limb control system allowed it to walk with the lower limbs, and to grip and transport objects with hands, using tactile sensors. Its vision system allowed it to measure distances and directions to objects using external receptors, artificial eyes and ears. And its conversation system allowed it to communicate with a person in Japanese, with an artificial mouth.Robots: From Science Fiction to Technological Revolution, page 130
In 1984, WABOT-2 was revealed, and made a number of improvements. It was capable of playing the organ. Wabot-2 had ten fingers and two feet, and was able to read a score of music. It was also able to accompany a person. In 1986, Honda began its humanoid research and development program, to create humanoid robots capable of interacting successfully with humans.
The Intelligent Robotics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Ishiguro at Osaka University, and the Kokoro company demonstrated the Actroid at Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan and released the Telenoid R1 in 2010. In 2006, Kokoro developed a new DER 2 android. The height of the human body part of DER2 is 165 cm. There are 47 mobile points. DER2 can not only change its expression but also move its hands and feet and twist its body. The "air servosystem" which Kokoro developed originally is used for the actuator. As a result of having an actuator controlled precisely with air pressure via a servosystem, the movement is very fluid and there is very little noise. DER2 realized a slimmer body than that of the former version by using a smaller cylinder. Outwardly DER2 has a more beautiful proportion. Compared to the previous model, DER2 has thinner arms and a wider repertoire of expressions. Once programmed, it is able to choreograph its motions and gestures with its voice.
The Intelligent Mechatronics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Tokyo University of Science, has developed an android head called Saya, which was exhibited at Robodex 2002 in Yokohama, Japan. There are several other initiatives around the world involving humanoid research and development at this time, which will hopefully introduce a broader spectrum of realized technology in the near future. Now Saya is working at the Science University of Tokyo as a guide.
The Waseda University (Japan) and NTT docomo's manufacturers have succeeded in creating a shape-shifting robot WD-2. It is capable of changing its face. At first, the creators decided the positions of the necessary points to express the outline, eyes, nose, and so on of a certain person. The robot expresses its face by moving all points to the decided positions, they say. The first version of the robot was first developed back in 2003. After that, a year later, they made a couple of major improvements to the design. The robot features an elastic mask made from the average head dummy. It uses a driving system with a 3DOF unit. The WD-2 robot can change its facial features by activating specific facial points on a mask, with each point possessing three degrees of freedom. This one has 17 facial points, for a total of 56 degrees of freedom. As for the materials they used, the WD-2's mask is fabricated with a highly elastic material called Septom, with bits of steel wool mixed in for added strength. Other technical features reveal a shaft driven behind the mask at the desired facial point, driven by a DC motor with a simple pulley and a slide screw. Apparently, the researchers can also modify the shape of the mask based on actual human faces. To "copy" a face, they need only a 3D scanner to determine the locations of an individual's 17 facial points. After that, they are then driven into position using a laptop and 56 motor control boards. In addition, the researchers also mention that the shifting robot can even display an individual's hair style and skin color if a photo of their face is projected onto the 3D Mask. |
Android (robot) | Singapore | Singapore
Prof Nadia Thalmann, a Nanyang Technological University scientist, directed efforts of the Institute for Media Innovation along with the School of Computer Engineering in the development of a social robot, Nadine. Nadine is powered by software similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana. Nadine may become a personal assistant in offices and homes in future, or she may become a companion for the young and the elderly.
Assoc Prof Gerald Seet from the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and the BeingThere Centre led a three-year R&D development in tele-presence robotics, creating EDGAR. A remote user can control EDGAR with the user's face and expressions displayed on the robot's face in real time. The robot also mimics their upper body movements. |
Android (robot) | South Korea | South Korea
thumb|200px|EveR-2, the first android that can sing
KITECH researched and developed EveR-1, an android interpersonal communications model capable of emulating human emotional expression via facial "musculature" and capable of rudimentary conversation, having a vocabulary of around 400 words. She is tall and weighs , matching the average figure of a Korean woman in her twenties. EveR-1's name derives from the Biblical Eve, plus the letter r for robot. EveR-1's advanced computing processing power enables speech recognition and vocal synthesis, at the same time processing lip synchronization and visual recognition by 90-degree micro-CCD cameras with face recognition technology. An independent microchip inside her artificial brain handles gesture expression, body coordination, and emotion expression. Her whole body is made of highly advanced synthetic jelly silicon and with 60 artificial joints in her face, neck, and lower body; she is able to demonstrate realistic facial expressions and sing while simultaneously dancing. In South Korea, the Ministry of Information and Communication had an ambitious plan to put a robot in every household by 2020. Several robot cities have been planned for the country: the first will be built in 2016 at a cost of 500 billion won (US$440 million), of which 50 billion is direct government investment. The new robot city will feature research and development centers for manufacturers and part suppliers, as well as exhibition halls and a stadium for robot competitions. The country's new Robotics Ethics Charter will establish ground rules and laws for human interaction with robots in the future, setting standards for robotics users and manufacturers, as well as guidelines on ethical standards to be programmed into robots to prevent human abuse of robots and vice versa. |
Android (robot) | United States | United States
Walt Disney and a staff of Imagineers created Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln that debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Dr. William Barry, an Education Futurist and former visiting West Point Professor of Philosophy and Ethical Reasoning at the United States Military Academy, created an AI android character named "Maria Bot". This Interface AI android was named after the infamous fictional robot Maria in the 1927 film Metropolis, as a well-behaved distant relative. Maria Bot is the first AI Android Teaching Assistant at the university level. Maria Bot has appeared as a keynote speaker as a duo with Barry for a TEDx talk in Everett, Washington in February 2020.
Resembling a human from the shoulders up, Maria Bot is a virtual being android that has complex facial expressions and head movement and engages in conversation about a variety of subjects. She uses AI to process and synthesize information to make her own decisions on how to talk and engage. She collects data through conversations, direct data inputs such as books or articles, and through internet sources.
Maria Bot was built by an international high-tech company for Barry to help improve education quality and eliminate education poverty. Maria Bot is designed to create new ways for students to engage and discuss ethical issues raised by the increasing presence of robots and artificial intelligence. Barry also uses Maria Bot to demonstrate that programming a robot with life-affirming, ethical framework makes them more likely to help humans to do the same.
Maria Bot is an ambassador robot for good and ethical AI technology.
Hanson Robotics, Inc., of Texas and KAIST produced an android portrait of Albert Einstein, using Hanson's facial android technology mounted on KAIST's life-size walking bipedal robot body. This Einstein android, also called "Albert Hubo", thus represents the first full-body walking android in history. Hanson Robotics, the FedEx Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas at Arlington also developed the android portrait of sci-fi author Philip K. Dick (creator of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the basis for the film Blade Runner), with full conversational capabilities that incorporated thousands of pages of the author's works. In 2005, the PKD android won a first-place artificial intelligence award from AAAI. |
Android (robot) | Use in fiction | Use in fiction
Androids are a staple of science fiction. Isaac Asimov pioneered the fictionalization of the science of robotics and artificial intelligence, notably in his 1950s series I, Robot. One thing common to most fictional androids is that the real-life technological challenges associated with creating thoroughly human-like robots — such as the creation of strong artificial intelligence—are assumed to have been solved.Van Riper, op.cit., p. 11. Fictional androids are often depicted as mentally and physically equal or superior to humans—moving, thinking and speaking as fluidly as them.
The tension between the nonhuman substance and the human appearance—or even human ambitions—of androids is the dramatic impetus behind most of their fictional depictions. Some android heroes seek, like Pinocchio, to become human, as in the film Bicentennial Man, or Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Others, as in the film Westworld, rebel against abuse by careless humans. Android hunter Deckard in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and its film adaptation Blade Runner discovers that his targets appear to be, in some ways, more "human" than he is. The sequel Blade Runner 2049 involves android hunter K, himself an android, discovering the same thing. Android stories, therefore, are not essentially stories "about" androids; they are stories about the human condition and what it means to be human.
One aspect of writing about the meaning of humanity is to use discrimination against androids as a mechanism for exploring racism in society, as in Blade Runner. Perhaps the clearest example of this is John Brunner's 1968 novel Into the Slave Nebula, where the blue-skinned android slaves are explicitly shown to be fully human. More recently, the androids Bishop and Annalee Call in the films Aliens and Alien Resurrection are used as vehicles for exploring how humans deal with the presence of an "Other". The 2018 video game Detroit: Become Human also explores how androids are treated as second class citizens in a near future society.
Female androids, or "gynoids", are often seen in science fiction, and can be viewed as a continuation of the long tradition of men attempting to create the stereotypical "perfect woman". Examples include the Greek myth of Pygmalion and the female robot Maria in Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Some gynoids, like Pris in Blade Runner, are designed as sex-objects, with the intent of "pleasing men's violent sexual desires",Melzer, p. 204 or as submissive, servile companions, such as in The Stepford Wives. Fiction about gynoids has therefore been described as reinforcing "essentialist ideas of femininity", although others have suggested that the treatment of androids is a way of exploring racism and misogyny in society.Dinello, op. cit., p 77.
The 2015 Japanese film Sayonara, starring Geminoid F, was promoted as "the first movie to feature an android performing opposite a human actor". |
Android (robot) | See also | See also |
Android (robot) | References | References |
Android (robot) | Further reading | Further reading
Kerman, Judith B. (1991). Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. .
Perkowitz, Sidney (2004). Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids. Joseph Henry Press. .
Shelde, Per (1993). Androids, Humanoids, and Other Science Fiction Monsters: Science and Soul in Science Fiction Films. New York: New York University Press. .
Ishiguro, Hiroshi. "Android science." Cognitive Science Society. 2005.
Glaser, Horst Albert and Rossbach, Sabine: The Artificial Human, Frankfurt/M., Bern, New York 2011 "The Artificial Human"
TechCast Article Series, Jason Rupinski and Richard Mix, "Public Attitudes to Androids: Robot Gender, Tasks, & Pricing"
Carpenter, J. (2009). Why send the Terminator to do R2D2s job?: Designing androids as rhetorical phenomena. Proceedings of HCI 2009: Beyond Gray Droids: Domestic Robot Design for the 21st Century. Cambridge, UK. 1 September.
Telotte, J.P. Replications: A Robotic History of the Science Fiction Film. University of Illinois Press, 1995. |
Android (robot) | External links | External links
Category:Japanese inventions
Category:South Korean inventions
Category:Osaka University research
Category:Science fiction themes
Category:Human–machine interaction
Category:Robots |
Android (robot) | Table of Content | Short description, Terminology, Projects, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, United States, Use in fiction, See also, References, Further reading, External links |
Alberta | Short description | Alberta is a province of Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta borders British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south. It is one of the only two landlocked provinces in Canada, with eastern neighbour Saskatchewan being the other. The eastern part of the province is occupied by the Great Plains, while the western part borders the Rocky Mountains. The province has a predominantly continental climate but experiences quick temperature changes due to air aridity. Seasonal temperature swings are less pronounced in western Alberta due to occasional Chinook winds.
Alberta is the fourth-largest province by area at , and the fourth-most populous, being home to 4,262,635 people. Alberta's capital is Edmonton, while Calgary is its largest city. The two are Alberta's largest census metropolitan areas. More than half of Albertans live in either Edmonton or Calgary, which contributes to continuing the rivalry between the two cities. English is the official language of the province. In 2016, 76.0% of Albertans were anglophone, 1.8% were francophone and 22.2% were allophone."Census 2016 Language of Albertans" (consulted April 2021)
Alberta's economy is advanced, open, market-based, and characterized by a highly educated workforce, strong institutions and property rights, and sophisticated financial markets. The service sector employs 80% of Albertans in fields like healthcare, education, professional services, retail, tourism and financial services. The industrial base includes manufacturing, construction, and agriculture (10%, 5%, and 2% of employment respectively), while the knowledge economy includes approximately 3000 tech companies employing 60,000 people, mainly in Calgary and Edmonton. The energy sector employs 5% of Albertans but significantly impacts exports and GDP. Alberta's exports, primarily US-bound, consist of 70% oil and gas, 13% food products, and 12% industrial products. Oil and gas are culturally influential, having shaped politics, generated "striking it rich" narratives, and created boom-and-bust cycles. In 2023, Alberta's output was $350 billion, 15% of Canada's GDP.
Until the 1930s, Alberta's political landscape consisted of two major parties: the centre-left Liberals and the agrarian United Farmers of Alberta. Today, Alberta is generally perceived as a conservative province. The right-wing Social Credit Party held office continually from 1935 to 1971 before the centre-right Progressive Conservatives held office continually from 1971 to 2015, the latter being the longest unbroken run in government at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history.
Since before becoming part of Canada, Alberta has been home to several First Nations like Plains Indians and Woodland Cree. It was also a territory used by fur traders of the rival companies Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company. The Dominion of Canada bought the lands that would become Alberta as part of the NWT in 1870. From the late 1800s to early 1900s, many immigrants arrived to prevent the prairies from being annexed by the United States. Growing wheat and cattle ranching also became very profitable. In 1905, the Alberta Act was passed, creating the province of Alberta. Massive oil reserves were discovered in 1947. The exploitation of oil sands began in 1967.
Alberta is renowned for its natural beauty, richness in fossils and for housing important nature reserves. Alberta is home to six UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Wood Buffalo National Park and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. Other popular sites include Banff National Park, Elk Island National Park, Jasper National Park, Waterton Lakes National Park, and Drumheller. |
Alberta | Etymology | Etymology
Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise was the wife of John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada (1878–83). Lake Louise and Mount Alberta were also named in her honour.
The name "Alberta" is a feminine Latinized form of Albert, the name of Princess Louise's father, the Prince Consort ( , masculine) and its Germanic cognates, ultimately derived from the Proto-Germanic language *Aþalaberhtaz (compound of "noble" + "bright/famous"). |
Alberta | Geography | Geography
thumb|400px|A topographic map of Alberta, showing cities, towns, municipal district (county) and rural municipality borders, and natural features
Alberta, with an area of , is the fourth-largest province after Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia.
Alberta's southern border is the 49th parallel north, which separates it from the U.S. state of Montana. The 60th parallel north divides Alberta from the Northwest Territories. The 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Saskatchewan; while on the west its boundary with British Columbia follows the 120th meridian west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains, and from that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a generally southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana border at 49°N.
The province extends north to south and east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast.
With the exception of the semi-arid climate of the steppe in the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous rivers and lakes in Alberta used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire () in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake (), and Lake Athabasca (), which lies in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. The longest river in the province is the Athabasca River, which travels from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca.
The largest river is the Peace River with an average flow of . The Peace River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows through northern Alberta and into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River.
Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, is at about the geographic centre of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Canada and serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Canada. With its proximity to Canada's largest oil fields, the region has most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity. Calgary is about south of Edmonton and north of Montana, surrounded by extensive ranching country. Almost 75% of the province's population lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The land grant policy to the railways served as a means to populate the province in its early years.
thumb|Moraine Lake at Banff National Park. The Alberta Mountain forests makes up the southwestern boundary of Alberta.
Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary are largely temperate coniferous forests of the Alberta Mountain forests and Alberta–British Columbia foothills forests. The southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Calgary, north to Edmonton, and then east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population. Much of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain farming or cattle ranching, with mixed farming more common in the north and centre, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south.
The Alberta badlands are in southeastern Alberta, where the Red Deer River crosses the flat prairie and farmland, and features deep canyons and striking landforms. Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, and remnants from Alberta's past when dinosaurs roamed the then lush landscape. |
Alberta | Climate | Climate
thumb|300px|Köppen climate types in Alberta
Alberta extends for over from north to south; its climate, therefore, varies considerably. Average high temperatures in January range from in the southwest to in the far north. The presence of the Rocky Mountains also influences the climate to the southwest, which disrupts the flow of the prevailing westerly winds and causes them to drop most of their moisture on the western slopes of the mountain ranges before reaching the province, casting a rain shadow over much of Alberta. The northerly location and isolation from the weather systems of the Pacific Ocean cause Alberta to have a dry climate with little moderation from the ocean. Annual precipitation ranges from in the southeast to in the north, except in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where total precipitation including snowfall can reach annually.
thumb|Southeastern Alberta features a semi-arid steppe climate.
Northern Alberta is mostly covered by boreal forest and has a subarctic climate. The agricultural area of southern Alberta has a semi-arid steppe climate because the annual precipitation is less than the water that evaporates or is used by plants. The southeastern corner of Alberta, part of the Palliser Triangle, experiences greater summer heat and lower rainfall than the rest of the province, and as a result, suffers frequent crop yield problems and occasional severe droughts. Western Alberta is protected by the mountains and enjoys the mild temperatures brought by winter Chinook winds. Central and parts of northwestern Alberta in the Peace River region are largely aspen parkland, a biome transitional between prairie to the south and boreal forest to the north.
Alberta has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The province is open to cold Arctic weather systems from the north, which often produce cold winter conditions. As the fronts between the air masses shift north and south across Alberta, the temperature can change rapidly. Arctic air masses in the winter produce extreme minimum temperatures varying from in northern Alberta to in southern Alberta, although temperatures at these extremes are rare.
In the summer, continental air masses have produced record maximum temperatures from in the mountains to over in southeastern Alberta. Alberta is a sunny province. Annual bright sunshine totals range between 1,900 up to just under 2,600 hours per year. Northern Alberta gets about 18 hours of daylight in the summer. The average daytime temperatures range from around in the Rocky Mountain valleys and far north, up to around in the dry prairie of the southeast. The northern and western parts of the province experience higher rainfall and lower evaporation rates caused by cooler summer temperatures. The south and east-central portions are prone to drought-like conditions sometimes persisting for several years, although even these areas can receive heavy precipitation, sometimes resulting in flooding.
In the winter, the Alberta clipper, a type of intense, fast-moving winter storm that generally forms over or near the province and, pushed with great speed by the continental polar jetstream, descends over the rest of southern Canada and the northern tier of the United States. In southwestern Alberta, the cold winters are frequently interrupted by warm, dry Chinook winds blowing from the mountains, which can propel temperatures upward from frigid conditions to well above the freezing point in a very short period. During one Chinook recorded at Pincher Creek, temperatures soared from in just one hour. The region around Lethbridge has the most Chinooks, averaging 30 to 35 Chinook days per year. Calgary has a 56% chance of a white Christmas, while Edmonton has an 86% chance.
After Saskatchewan, Alberta experiences the most tornadoes in Canada with an average of 15 verified per year. Thunderstorms, some of them severe, are frequent in the summer, especially in central and southern Alberta. The region surrounding the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor is notable for having the highest frequency of hail in Canada, which is caused by orographic lifting from the nearby Rocky Mountains, enhancing the updraft/downdraft cycle necessary for the formation of hail.
+Climate averages for communities in AlbertaCommunityRegionJuly dailymaximumJanuary dailymaximumAnnualprecipitationPlanthardinesszoneMedicine Hat Southern Alberta 4bBrooks Southern Alberta 4aLethbridge Southern Alberta 4bFort McMurray Northern Alberta 3aWetaskiwin Central Alberta 3bEdmonton Edmonton Metropolitan Region 4aCold Lake Northern Alberta 3aCamrose Central Alberta 3bFort Saskatchewan Edmonton Metropolitan Region 3bLloydminster Central Alberta 3aRed Deer Central Alberta 4aGrande Prairie Northern Alberta 3bLeduc Edmonton Metropolitan Region 3bCalgary Calgary Metropolitan Region 4aChestermere Calgary Metropolitan Region 3bSt. Albert Edmonton Metropolitan Region 4aLacombe Central Alberta 3b |
Alberta | Ecology | Ecology |
Alberta | Flora | Flora
thumb|The wild rose is the provincial flower of Alberta.
In central and northern Alberta the arrival of spring is marked by the early flowering of the prairie crocus (Pulsatilla nuttalliana) anemone; this member of the buttercup family has been recorded flowering as early as March, though April is the usual month for the general population.Prairie Crocus Information Alberta Plant Watch. Author Annora Brown. Published: no date given. Retrieved August 28, 2013. Other prairie flora known to flower early are the golden bean (Thermopsis rhombifolia) and wild rose (Rosa acicularis). Members of the sunflower (Helianthus) family blossom on the prairie in the summer months between July and September. The southern and east central parts of Alberta are covered by short prairie grass, which dries up as summer lengthens, to be replaced by hardy perennials such as the prairie coneflower (Ratibida), fleabane, and sage (Artemisia). Both yellow and white sweet clover (Melilotus) can be found throughout the southern and central areas of the province.
The trees in the parkland region of the province grow in clumps and belts on the hillsides. These are largely deciduous, typically aspen, poplar, and willow. Many species of willow and other shrubs grow in virtually any terrain. North of the North Saskatchewan River, evergreen forests prevail for thousands of square kilometres. Aspen poplar, balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) or in some parts cottonwood (Populus deltoides), and paper birch (Betula papyrifera) are the primary large deciduous species. Conifers include jack pine (Pinus banksiana), Rocky Mountain pine, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), both white and black spruce, and the deciduous conifer tamarack (Larix laricina). |
Alberta | Fauna | Fauna
thumb|left|A bighorn sheep in Kananaskis Country. The bighorn sheep is the provincial mammal of Alberta.
The four climatic regions (alpine, boreal forest, parkland, and prairie) of Alberta are home to many different species of animals. The south and central prairie was the homeland of the American bison, also known as buffalo, with its grasses providing pasture and breeding ground for millions of buffalo. The buffalo population was decimated during early settlement, but since then, buffalo have made a comeback, living on farms and in parks all over Alberta.
Herbivores are found throughout the province. Moose, mule deer, elk, and white-tailed deer are found in the wooded regions, and pronghorn can be found in the prairies of southern Alberta. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats live in the Rocky Mountains. Rabbits, porcupines, skunks, squirrels, and many species of rodents and reptiles live in every corner of the province. Alberta is home to only one venomous snake species, the prairie rattlesnake.
Alberta is home to many large carnivores such as wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, and mountain lions, which are found in the mountains and wooded regions. Smaller carnivores of the canine and feline families include coyotes, red foxes, Canada lynx, and bobcats. Wolverines can also be found in the northwestern areas of the province.
thumb|Alberta Department of Public Health rat poster (1948)
Central and northern Alberta and the region farther north are the nesting ground of many migratory birds. Vast numbers of ducks, geese, swans and pelicans arrive in Alberta every spring and nest on or near one of the hundreds of small lakes that dot northern Alberta. Eagles, hawks, owls, and crows are plentiful, and a huge variety of smaller seed and insect-eating birds can be found. Alberta, like other temperate regions, is home to mosquitoes, flies, wasps, and bees. Rivers and lakes are populated with pike, walleye, whitefish, rainbow, speckled, brown trout, and sturgeon. Native to the province, the bull trout, is the provincial fish and an official symbol of Alberta. Turtles are found in some water bodies in the southern part of the province. Frogs and salamanders are a few of the amphibians that make their homes in Alberta.
Alberta is the only province in Canada — as well as one of the few places in the world — that is free from Norwegian rats. Since the early 1950s, the Government of Alberta has operated a rat-control program, which has been so successful that only isolated instances of wild rat sightings are reported, usually of rats arriving in the province aboard trucks or by rail. In 2006, Alberta Agriculture reported zero findings of wild rats; the only rat interceptions have been domesticated rats that have been seized from their owners. It is illegal for individual Albertans to own or keep Norwegian rats of any description; the animals can only be kept in the province by zoos, universities and colleges, and recognized research institutions. In 2009, several rats were
found and captured, in small pockets in southern Alberta, putting Alberta's rat-free status in jeopardy. A colony of rats was subsequently found in a landfill near Medicine Hat in 2012 and again in 2014. |
Alberta | Paleontology | Paleontology
thumb|upright=1.7|Specimens at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation at Dinosaur Provincial Park. Some of the specimens, from left to right, are Hypacrosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Gorgosaurus (both in the background), Tyrannosaurus, and Triceratops.
Alberta has one of the greatest diversities and abundances of Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossils worldwide. Taxa are represented by complete fossil skeletons, isolated material, microvertebrate remains, and even mass graves. At least 38 dinosaur type specimens were collected in the province. The Foremost Formation, Oldman Formation and Dinosaur Park Formations collectively comprise the Judith River Group and are the most thoroughly studied dinosaur-bearing strata in Alberta.
Dinosaur-bearing strata are distributed widely throughout Alberta. The Dinosaur Provincial Park area contains outcrops of the Dinosaur Park Formation and Oldman Formation. In Alberta's central and southern regions are intermittent Scollard Formation outcrops. In the Drumheller Valley and Edmonton regions there are exposed Horseshoe Canyon facies. Other formations have been recorded as well, like the Milk River and Foremost Formations. The latter two have a lower diversity of documented dinosaurs, primarily due to their lower total fossil quantity and neglect from collectors who are hindered by the isolation and scarcity of exposed outcrops. Their dinosaur fossils are primarily teeth recovered from microvertebrate fossil sites. Additional geologic formations that have produced only a few fossils are the Belly River Group and St. Mary River Formations of the southwest and the northwestern Wapiti Formation, which contains two Pachyrhinosaurus bone beds. The Bearpaw Formation represents strata deposited during a marine transgression. Dinosaurs are known from this formation, but represent specimens washed out to sea or reworked from older sediments.Ryan, M. J., and Russell, A. P., 2001. Dinosaurs of Alberta (exclusive of Aves): In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 279–297. |
Alberta | History | History
thumb|Blackfoot Confederacy warriors in Macleod in 1907
Paleo-Indians arrived in what would later be Alberta at least 10,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age. They are thought to have migrated from Siberia to Alaska on a land bridge across the Bering Strait and then possibly moved south along the east side of the Rocky Mountains through Alberta, settling along the way or moving on to settle other parts of the Americas. Others may have travelled south along the west coast and then moved inland. Over time they differentiated into various First Nations peoples, including the Plains Indians of southern Alberta such as those of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Plains Cree, who generally lived by hunting buffalo, and the more northerly tribes such as the Woodland Cree and Chipewyan who hunted and trapped other types of animals, and fished for a living.
The first Europeans to visit Alberta were French Canadian fur traders in the early 18th century. The first British subject to visit Alberta was Anthony Henday, in 1754. French Canadians integrated with local First Nations creating the Metis nation, with elements across the Prairies. French was the predominant European language in Alberta and was used in some early fur trading forts in the region, such as the first Fort Edmonton (in present-day Fort Saskatchewan), operated by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). After the British arrival in Canada, approximately half of Alberta's current territory, south of the Athabasca River drainage, became part of Rupert's Land, which consisted of all land drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay. This area was granted by King Charles II of England to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, and rival fur trading companies were not allowed to trade in it.
The Athabasca River and the rivers north of it were not in HBC territory, because they drained into the Arctic Ocean instead of Hudson Bay. The north part of Alberta was a prime habitat for fur-bearing animals and was targeted by the HBC and other fur trading companies.
The first European explorer of the Athabasca region was fur trader Peter Pond, who learned of the Methye Portage, a convenient route to travel from rivers in the Hudson Bay watershed to rivers north of Rupert's Land. He and other Canadian fur traders formed the North West Company (NWC) of Montreal in 1779, to compete with the HBC. The NWC built posts at many points across the northern part of Alberta territory. Peter Pond built Fort Athabasca on Lac la Biche in 1778. Roderick Mackenzie built Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca ten years later in 1788. His cousin, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, followed the North Saskatchewan River to its northernmost point near Edmonton, then trekked on foot to the Athabasca River, which he followed downstream to Lake Athabasca. It was there he discovered the mighty outflow river that bears his name the Mackenzie River which he followed to its outlet in the Arctic Ocean. Returning to Lake Athabasca, he followed the Peace River upstream and crossed the Rockies, eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean, and so he became the first European to cross the North American continent north of Mexico.
The extreme southernmost portion of Alberta was part of the French (and Spanish) territory of Louisiana, which was sold to the United States in 1803. In the Treaty of 1818, the portion of the Louisiana territory north of the Forty-Ninth Parallel was ceded to the United Kingdom. The area was grouped with Rupert's Land to make the North-Western Territory.
thumb|Fort Chipewyan, a trading post and regional headquarters for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1820
Fur trade expanded in the north, but there was intense friction and competition between the rival HBC and NWC. In 1821 the British government forced them to merge to stop the hostilities. After amalgamation, the Hudson's Bay Company dominated the economy of Alberta until 1870, when HBC control of Rupert's Land was ended and the territory was transferred to the newly federated Canada. Southern Alberta, Northern Alberta, other parts of the Northland and Rupert's land became Canada's North-West Territories.
thumb|left|Downtown Calgary was one of several areas afflicted during the 2013 Alberta floods.
First Nations and representatives of the Crown negotiated the Numbered Treaties, in which the Crown gained title to the land that would later become Alberta, and the Crown committed to the ongoing support of the First Nations and guaranteed their hunting and fishing rights. The most significant treaties for Alberta are Treaty 6 (1876), Treaty 7 (1877) and Treaty 8 (1899).
The District of Alberta was created as part of the North-West Territories in 1882. As settlement increased, local representatives to the North-West Legislative Assembly and the House of Commons were elected, and senators appointed, to represent Alberta. After a long campaign for autonomy, in 1905, the District of Alberta was enlarged and given provincial status, with the election of a Liberal majority with Alexander Cameron Rutherford as the first premier. At first the economy was very active, then around 1912, Alberta suffered a recession. The First World War presented special challenges to the new province as an extraordinary number of working-age men volunteered for active service, leaving relatively few workers to maintain services and production. Over 50% of Alberta's doctors volunteered for service overseas.
In 1918 Albertans experienced the 1918 flu epidemic.
Alberta voters sought innovation, electing a Farmers government in 1921, then the world's first Social Credit government in 1935.
Alberta's economy stayed sluggish, especially during the Depression. But discovery of oil at Leduc in 1946 opened a new era of prosperity and wealth for the province.
On June 21, 2013, during the 2013 Alberta floods Alberta experienced heavy rainfall that triggered catastrophic flooding throughout much of the southern half of the province along the Bow, Elbow, Highwood and Oldman rivers and tributaries. A dozen municipalities in Southern Alberta declared local states of emergency on June 21 as water levels rose and numerous communities were placed under evacuation orders.
In 2016, the Fort McMurray wildfire resulted in the largest fire evacuation of residents in Alberta's history, as more than 80,000 people were ordered to evacuate.
Like the rest of the world, Alberta was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020. The last restrictions were lifted in 2022. |
Alberta | Demographics | Demographics
thumb|upright=1.3|Population density of Alberta
The 2021 Canadian census reported Alberta had a population of 4,262,635 living in 1,633,220 of its 1,772,670 total dwellings, an 4.8% change from its 2016 population of 4,067,175. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Statistics Canada estimated the province to have a population of 4,931,601 in Q4 of 2024.
Since 2000, Alberta's population has experienced a relatively high rate of growth, mainly because of its burgeoning economy. Between 2003 and 2004, the province had high birthrates (on par with some larger provinces such as British Columbia), relatively high immigration, and a high rate of interprovincial migration compared to other provinces.
In 2016, Alberta continued to have the youngest population among the provinces with a median age of 36.7 years, compared with the national median of 41.2 years. Also in 2016, Alberta had the smallest proportion of seniors (12.3%) among the provinces and one of the highest population shares of children (19.2%), further contributing to Alberta's young and growing population.
About 81% of the population lives in urban areas and only about 19% in rural areas. The Calgary–Edmonton Corridor is the most urbanized area in the province and is one of the most densely populated areas of Canada. Many of Alberta's cities and towns have experienced very high rates of growth in recent history. Alberta's population rose from 73,022 in 1901 to 3,290,350 according to the 2006 census.
According to the 2016 census Alberta has 779,155 residents (19.2%) between the ages of 0–14, 2,787,805 residents (68.5%) between the ages of 15–64, and 500,215 residents (12.3%) aged 65 and over.
Additionally, as per the 2016 census, 1,769,500 residents hold a postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree, 895,885 residents have obtained a secondary (high) school diploma or equivalency certificate, and 540,665 residents do not have any certificate, diploma or degree. |
Alberta | Municipalities | Municipalities
+ Largest metro areas and municipalities by population as of 2016 Census metropolitan areas: 2016 2011 2006 2001 1996 Calgary CMA1,392,609 1,214,839 1,079,310 951,395 821,628 Edmonton CMA1,321,426 1,159,869 1,034,945 937,845 862,597Lethbridge CMA117,394105,99995,19687,38882,025 Urban municipalities (10 largest): 2016 2011 2006 2001 1996 Calgary1,239,220 1,096,833 988,193 878,866 768,082 Edmonton932,546 812,201 730,372 666,104 616,306 Red Deer100,418 90,564 82,772 67,707 60,080 Lethbridge92,729 83,517 78,713 68,712 64,938 St. Albert (included in Edmonton CMA)65,589 61,466 57,719 53,081 46,888 Medicine Hat63,260 60,005 56,997 51,249 46,783 Grande Prairie63,166 55,032 47,076 36,983 31,353 Airdrie (included in Calgary CMA)61,581 42,564 28,927 20,382 15,946 Spruce Grove (included in Edmonton CMA)34,066 26,171 19,496 15,983 14,271 Leduc (included in Edmonton CMA)29,993 24,304 16,967 15,032 14,346 Specialized/rural municipalities (5 largest): 2016 2011 2006 2001 1996 Strathcona County (included in Edmonton CMA)98,044 92,490 82,511 71,986 64,176 Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (includes Fort McMurray)71,589 65,565 51,496 42,581 35,213 Rocky View County (included in Calgary CMA)39,407 36,461 34,171 29,925 23,326 Parkland County (included in Edmonton CMA)32,097 30,568 29,265 27,252 24,769 Municipal District of Foothills No. 3122,766 21,258 19,736 16,764 13,714 |
Alberta | Language | Language
As of the 2021 Canadian Census, the ten most spoken languages in the province included English (4,109,720 or 98.37%), French (260,415 or 6.23%), Tagalog (172,625 or 4.13%), Punjabi (126,385 or 3.03%), Spanish (116,070 or 2.78%), Hindi (94,015 or 2.25%), Mandarin (82,095 or 1.97%), Arabic (76,760 or 1.84%), Cantonese (74,960 or 1.79%), and German (65,370 or 1.56%). The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.
As of the 2016 census, English is the most common mother tongue, with 2,991,485 native speakers. This is followed by Tagalog, with 99,035 speakers, German, with 80,050 speakers, French, with 72,150 native speakers, and Punjabi, with 68,695 speakers.
The 2006 census found that English, with 2,576,670 native speakers, was the most common mother tongue of Albertans, representing 79.99% of the population. The next most common mother tongues were Chinese with 97,275 native speakers (3.02%), followed by German with 84,505 native speakers (2.62%) and French with 61,225 (1.90%). Other mother tongues include: Punjabi, with 36,320 native speakers (1.13%); Tagalog, with 29,740 (0.92%); Ukrainian, with 29,455 (0.91%); Spanish, with 29,125 (0.90%); Polish, with 21,990 (0.68%); Arabic, with 20,495 (0.64%); Dutch, with 19,980 (0.62%); and Vietnamese, with 19,350 (0.60%). The most common aboriginal language is Cree 17,215 (0.53%). Other common mother tongues include Italian with 13,095 speakers (0.41%); Urdu with 11,275 (0.35%); and Korean with 10,845 (0.33%); then Hindi 8,985 (0.28%); Persian 7,700 (0.24%); Portuguese 7,205 (0.22%); and Hungarian 6,770 (0.21%).
According to Statistics Canada, Alberta is home to the second-highest proportion (2%) of Francophones in western Canada (after Manitoba). Despite this, relatively few Albertans claim French as their mother tongue. Many of Alberta's French-speaking residents live in the central and northwestern regions of the province, after migration from other areas of Canada or descending from Métis. |
Alberta | Ethnicity | Ethnicity
Alberta has considerable ethnic diversity. In line with the rest of Canada, many Albertans are descended from immigrants of Western European nations, notably England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France, but large numbers later came from other regions of Europe, notably Germany, Ukraine and Scandinavia. More recently, Africans, Asians and South Americans in larger numbers have also contributed to Alberta's mosaic.
Many Alberta families today can trace their ethnicity in many directions. In the 2006 Canadian census, the most commonly reported ethnic origins among Albertans were: 885,825 English (27.2%); 679,705 German (20.9%); 667,405 Canadian (20.5%); 661,265 Scottish (20.3%); 539,160 Irish (16.6%); 388,210 French (11.9%); 332,180 Ukrainian (10.2%); 172,910 Dutch (5.3%); 170,935 Polish (5.2%); 169,355 North American Indian (5.2%); 144,585 Norwegian (4.4%); and 137,600 Chinese (4.2%). (Each person could choose as many ethnicities as were applicable so the percentages add up to much more than 100.)
Amongst those of British heritage, the Scots have had a particularly strong influence on place-names. Many cities and towns have names of Scottish origins, such as Calgary, Airdrie, Canmore, and Banff.
Both Edmonton and Calgary have historic Chinatowns, and Calgary has Canada's third-largest Chinese community. The Chinese presence began with workers employed in the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s.
In 2021, 27.8% of the population consisted of visible minorities and 6.8% of the population was Indigenous, mostly of First Nations and Métis descent. A small number of Inuit live in the province. The Indigenous population has been growing at a faster rate than the population of Alberta as a whole. Some of this increase is due to Albertans who are only now embracing their Metis lineage. |
Alberta | Religion | Religion
thumb|St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Edmonton
According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Alberta included:
Christianity (2,009,820 persons or 48.1%)
Irreligion (1,676,045 persons or 40.1%)
Islam (202,535 persons or 4.8%)
Sikhism (103,600 persons or 2.5%)
Hinduism (78,520 persons or 1.9%)
Buddhism (42,830 persons or 1.0%)
Indigenous Spirituality (19,755 persons or 0.5%)
Judaism (11,390 persons or 0.3%)
Other (33,220 persons or 0.8%)
As of the 2011 National Household Survey, the largest religious group was Roman Catholic, representing 24.3% of the population. Alberta had the second-highest percentage of non-religious residents among the provinces (after British Columbia) at 31.6% of the population. Of the remainder, 7.5% of the population identified themselves as belonging to the United Church of Canada, while 3.9% were Anglican. Lutherans made up 3.3% of the population while Baptists comprised 1.9%.
Members of LDS Church are mostly concentrated in the extreme south of the province. Alberta has a population of Hutterites, a communal Anabaptist sect similar to the Mennonites, and has a significant population of Seventh-day Adventists. Alberta is home to several Byzantine Rite Churches as part of the legacy of Eastern European immigration, including the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada's Western Diocese which is based in Edmonton. Muslims made up 3.2% of the population, Sikhs 1.5%, Buddhists 1.2%, and Hindus 1.0%. Many of these are immigrants, but others have roots that go back to the first settlers of the prairies. Canada's oldest mosque, the Al-Rashid Mosque, is in Edmonton, whereas Calgary is home to Canada's largest mosque, the Baitun Nur Mosque. Alberta is also home to a growing Jewish population of about 15,400 people who constituted 0.3% of Alberta's population. Most of Alberta's Jews live in the metropolitan areas of Calgary (8,200) and Edmonton (5,500). |
Alberta | Economy | Economy
thumb|upright=1.3|Petroleum resources in Alberta
Alberta's economy, historically weak during the early period of Confederation, experienced a postwar boom supported by the burgeoning petroleum industry and to a lesser extent, agriculture and technology. In 2013, Alberta's per capita GDP exceeded that of the United States, Norway, or Switzerland, and was the highest of any province in Canada at $84,390. This was 56% higher than the national average of $53,870 and more than twice that of some of the Atlantic provinces. In 2006, the deviation from the national average was the largest for any province in Canadian history. According to the 2006 census, the median annual family income after taxes was $70,986 in Alberta (compared to $60,270 in Canada as a whole). In 2014, Alberta had the second-largest economy in Canada after Ontario, with a GDP exceeding $376 billion. The GDP of the province calculated at basic prices rose by 4.6% in 2017 to $327.4 billion, which was the largest increase recorded in Canada, and it ended two consecutive years of decreases.
Alberta's debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to peak at 12.1% in fiscal year 2021–2022, falling to 11.3% the following year.
The Calgary-Edmonton Corridor is the most urbanized region in the province and one of the densest in Canada. The region covers a distance of roughly north to south. In 2001, the population of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor was 2.15 million (72% of Alberta's population). It is also one of the fastest-growing regions in the country by population. A 2003 study by TD Bank Financial Group found the corridor to be the only Canadian urban centre to amass a United States level of wealth while maintaining a Canadian style quality of life, offering universal health care benefits. The report found that GDP per capita in the corridor was 10% above average United States metropolitan areas and 40% above other Canadian cities at that time.
The Fraser Institute states that Alberta also has very high levels of economic freedom and rates Alberta as the freest economy in Canada, and second-freest economy amongst U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
In 2014, merchandise exports totalled US$121.4 billion. Energy revenues totalled $111.7 billion and Energy resource exports totalled $90.8 billion. Farm Cash receipts from agricultural products totalled $12.9 billion. Shipments of forest products totalled $5.4 billion while exports were $2.7 billion. Manufacturing sales totalled $79.4 billion, and Alberta's information and communications technology (ICT) industries generated over $13 billion in revenue. In total, Alberta's 2014 GDP amassed $364.5 billion in 2007 dollars, or $414.3 billion in 2015 dollars. In 2015, Alberta's GDP grew unstably despite low oil prices, with growth rates as high 4.4% and as low as 0.2%. |
Alberta | Agriculture and forestry | Agriculture and forestry
thumb|Cows in Rocky View. Nearly one-half of Canadian beef is produced here.
Agriculture has a significant position in the province's economy. The province has over three million head of cattle, and Alberta beef has a healthy worldwide market. Forty percent of all Canadian beef is produced in Alberta. The province also produces the most bison meat in Canada. Sheep for wool and mutton are also raised.
Wheat and canola are primary farm crops, with Alberta leading the provinces in spring wheat production; other grains are also prominent. Much of the farming is dryland farming, often with fallow seasons interspersed with cultivation. Continuous cropping (in which there is no fallow season) is gradually becoming a more common mode of production because of increased profits and a reduction of soil erosion. Across the province, the once common grain elevator is slowly being lost as rail lines are decreasing; farmers typically truck the grain to central points.
Alberta is the leading beekeeping province of Canada, with some beekeepers wintering hives indoors in specially designed barns in southern Alberta, then migrating north during the summer into the Peace River valley where the season is short but the working days are long for honeybees to produce honey from clover and fireweed. Hybrid canola also requires bee pollination, and some beekeepers service this need.
thumb|Canola field, Edmonton
Forestry plays a vital role in Alberta's economy, providing over 15,000 jobs and contributing billions of dollars annually. Uses for harvested timber include pulpwood, hardwood, engineered wood and bioproducts such as chemicals and biofuels. |
Alberta | Industry | Industry
Alberta is the largest producer of conventional crude oil, synthetic crude, natural gas and gas products in Canada. Alberta is the world's second-largest exporter of natural gas and the fourth-largest producer. Two of the largest producers of petrochemicals in North America are in central and north-central Alberta. In both Red Deer and Edmonton, polyethylene and vinyl manufacturers produce products that are shipped all over the world. Edmonton's oil refineries provide the raw materials for a large petrochemical industry to the east of Edmonton.
The Athabasca oil sands surrounding Fort McMurray have estimated unconventional oil reserves approximately equal to the conventional oil reserves of the rest of the world, estimated to be . Many companies employ both conventional strip mining and non-conventional in situ methods to extract the bitumen from the oil sands. As of late 2006, there were over $100 billion in oil sands projects under construction or in the planning stages in northeastern Alberta.
Another factor determining the viability of oil extraction from the oil sands is the price of oil. The oil price increases since 2003 have made it profitable to extract this oil, which in the past would give little profit or even a loss. By mid-2014, rising costs and stabilizing oil prices threatened the economic viability of some projects. An example of this was the shelving of the Joslyn North project in the Athabasca region in May 2014.
With concerted effort and support from the provincial government, several high-tech industries have found their birth in Alberta, notably patents related to interactive liquid-crystal display systems.Interactive display system—US Patent U.S. Patent No. 5,448,263; —SMART Technologies With a growing economy, Alberta has several financial institutions dealing with civil and private funds. |
Alberta | Tourism | Tourism
alt=|left|thumb|The Three Sisters at Bow Valley Provincial Park in Canmore
Alberta has been a tourist destination from the early days of the 20th century, with attractions including outdoor locales for skiing, hiking, and camping, shopping locales such as West Edmonton Mall, Calgary Stampede, outdoor festivals, professional athletic events, international sporting competitions such as the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, as well as more eclectic attractions. According to Alberta Economic Development, Calgary and Edmonton both host over four million visitors annually. Banff, Jasper and the Rocky Mountains are visited by about three million people per year. Alberta tourism relies heavily on Southern Ontario tourists, as well as tourists from other parts of Canada, the United States, and many other countries.
There are also natural attractions like Elk Island National Park, Wood Buffalo National Park, and the Columbia Icefield. Alberta's Rockies include well-known tourist destinations Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. The two mountain parks are connected by the scenic Icefields Parkway. Banff is located west of Calgary on Highway 1, and Jasper is located west of Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway. Five of Canada's fourteen UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located within the province: Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Wood Buffalo National Park, Dinosaur Provincial Park and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. A number of these areas hold ski resorts, most notably Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise, Marmot Basin, Norquay and Nakiska.
thumb|Bronco riding at the Calgary Stampede. The event is one of the world's largest rodeos.
About 1.2 million people visit the Calgary Stampede, a celebration of Canada's own Wild West and the cattle ranching industry. About 700,000 people enjoy Edmonton's K-Days (formerly Klondike Days and Capital EX). Edmonton was the gateway to the only all-Canadian route to the Yukon gold fields, and the only route which did not require gold-seekers to travel the exhausting and dangerous Chilkoot Pass.
Another tourist destination that draws more than 650,000 visitors each year is the Drumheller Valley, located northeast of Calgary. Drumheller, known as the "Dinosaur Capital of The World", offers the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Drumheller also had a rich mining history being one of Western Canada's largest coal producers during the war years. Another attraction in east-central Alberta is Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions, a popular tourist attraction operated out of Stettler, that offers train excursions into the prairie and caters to tens of thousands of visitors every year. |
Alberta | Government and politics | Government and politics
thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Locations of Alberta's specialized and rural municipalities|Distribution of Alberta's 6 specialized municipalities (red) and 74 rural municipalities, which include municipal districts (often named as counties) (orange), improvement districts (dark green) and special areas (light green) (2020)
The Government of Alberta is organized as a parliamentary democracy with a unicameral legislature. Its unicameral legislature—the Legislative Assembly—consists of 87 members elected first past the post (FPTP) from single-member constituencies. Locally municipal governments and school boards are elected and operate separately. Their boundaries do not necessarily coincide.
As King of Canada, Charles III is the head of state of Alberta. His duties concerning the Government of Alberta are carried out by Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani. The King and lieutenant governor are figureheads whose actions are highly restricted by custom and constitutional convention. The lieutenant governor handles numerous honorific duties in the name of the King. The government is headed by the premier. The premier is normally a member of the Legislative Assembly, and draws all the members of the Cabinet from among the members of the Legislative Assembly. The City of Edmonton is the seat of the provincial government—the capital of Alberta. The current premier is Danielle Smith, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022.
thumb|left|The Alberta Legislative Building is the meeting place for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Alberta's elections have tended to yield much more conservative outcomes than those of other Canadian provinces. From the 1980s to the 2010s, Alberta had three main political parties, the Progressive Conservatives ("Conservatives" or "Tories"), the Liberals, and the social democratic New Democrats. The Wildrose Party, a more libertarian party formed in early 2008, gained much support in the 2012 election and became the official opposition, a role it held until 2017 when it was dissolved and succeeded by the new United Conservative Party created by the merger of Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives. The strongly conservative Social Credit Party was a power in Alberta for many decades, but fell from the political map after the Progressive Conservatives came to power in 1971.
For 44 years the Progressive Conservatives governed Alberta. They lost the 2015 election to the NDP (which formed their own government for the first time in provincial history, breaking almost 80 consecutive years of right-wing rule), suggesting at the time a possible shift to the left in the province, also indicated by the election of progressive mayors in both of Alberta's major cities. Since becoming a province in 1905, Alberta has seen only five changes of government—only six parties have governed Alberta: the Liberals, from 1905 to 1921; the United Farmers of Alberta, from 1921 to 1935; the Social Credit Party, from 1935 to 1971; the Progressive Conservative Party, from 1971 to 2015; from 2015 to 2019, the Alberta New Democratic Party; and from 2019, the United Conservative Party, with the most recent transfer of power being the first time in provincial history that an incumbent government was not returned to a second term. |
Alberta | Administrative divisions | Administrative divisions
The province is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities, towns, villages and summer villages), specialized municipalities, rural municipalities (including municipal districts (often named as counties), improvement districts, and special areas), Métis settlements, and Indian reserves. All types of municipalities are governed by local residents and were incorporated under various provincial acts, with the exception of improvement districts (governed by either the provincial or federal government), and Indian reserves (governed by local band governments under federal jurisdiction). |
Alberta | Law enforcement | Law enforcement
thumb|left|Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in St. Albert. The RCMP provides municipal policing throughout most of Alberta.
Policing in the province of Alberta upon its creation was the responsibility of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. In 1917, due to pressures of the First World War, the Alberta Provincial Police was created. This organization policed the province until it was disbanded as a Great Depression-era cost-cutting measure in 1932. It was at that time the, now renamed, Royal Canadian Mounted Police resumed policing of the province, specifically RCMP "K" Division. With the advent of the Alberta Sheriffs Branch, the distribution of duties of law enforcement in Alberta has been evolving as certain aspects, such as traffic enforcement, mobile surveillance and the close protection of the Premier of Alberta have been transferred to the Sheriffs. In 2006, Alberta formed the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) to combat organized crime and the serious offences that accompany it. ALERT is made up of members of the RCMP, Sheriffs Branch, and various major municipal police forces in Alberta. |
Alberta | Military | Military
Military bases in Alberta include Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Cold Lake, CFB Edmonton, CFB Suffield and CFB Wainwright. Air force units stationed at CFB Cold Lake have access to the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range. CFB Edmonton is the headquarters for the 3rd Canadian Division. CFB Suffield hosts British troops and is the largest training facility in Canada. |
Alberta | Taxation | Taxation
According to Alberta's 2009 budget, government revenue in that year came mainly from royalties on non-renewable natural resources (30.4%), personal income taxes (22.3%), corporate and other taxes (19.6%), and grants from the federal government primarily for infrastructure projects (9.8%). In 2014, Alberta received $6.1 billion in bitumen royalties. With the drop in the price of oil in 2015 it was down to $1.4 billion. In 2016, Alberta received "about $837 million in royalty payments from oil sands Royalty Projects". According to the 2018–2021 fiscal plan, the two top sources of revenue in 2016 were personal income tax at $10,763 million and federal transfers of $7,976 million with total resource revenue at $3,097 million. Alberta is the only province in Canada without a provincial sales tax. Alberta residents are subject to the federal sales tax, the Goods and Services Tax of 5%.
+ 2018–2021 fiscal plan Revenue source in millions of dollarspersonal income tax 10,763federal transfers 7,976Other tax revenue 5,649Corporate income tax 3,769Premiums, fees and licenses 3,701Investment income 3,698Resource revenue – other 1,614Resource revenue – Bitumen royalties1,483Net income from business enterprises 543Total revenue 42,293
From 2001 to 2016, Alberta was the only Canadian province to have a flat tax of 10% of taxable income, which was introduced by Premier, Ralph Klein, as part of the Alberta Tax Advantage, which also included a zero-percent tax on income below a "generous personal exemption".
In 2016, under Premier Rachel Notley, while most Albertans continued to pay the 10% income tax rate, new tax brackets 12%, 14%, and 15% for those with higher incomes ($128,145 annually or more) were introduced. Alberta's personal income tax system maintained a progressive character by continuing to grant residents personal tax exemptions of $18,451, in addition to a variety of tax deductions for persons with disabilities, students, and the aged. Alberta's municipalities and school jurisdictions have their own governments who usually work in co-operation with the provincial government. By 2018, most Albertans continued to pay the 10% income tax rate.
According to a March 2015 Statistics Canada report, the median household income in Alberta in 2014 was about $100,000, which is 23% higher than the Canadian national average.
Based on Statistic Canada reports, low-income Albertans, who earn less than $25,000 and those in the high-income bracket earning $150,000 or more, are the lowest-taxed people in Canada. Those in the middle income brackets representing those that earn about $25,000 to $75,000According to a 2018 CBC article, Albertans whose annual income is less than $25,000 pay the least income tax in Canada; those that earn about $50,000 "pay more than both Ontarians and British Columbians". Residents of British Columbia who earn about $75,000 pay $1,200 less in provincial taxes than those in Alberta. Albertans who earn about $100,000, "pay less than Ontarians but still more than people in B.C." Alberta taxpayers who earn $250,000 a year or more, pay $4,000 less in provincial taxes than someone with a similar income in B.C. and "about $18,000 less than in Quebec." pay more in provincial taxes than residents in British Columbia and Ontario. In terms of income tax, Alberta is the "best province" for those with a low income because there is no provincial income tax for those who earn $18,915 or less. Even with the 2016 progressive tax brackets up to 15%, Albertans who have the highest incomes, those with a $150,000 annual income or more—about 178,000 people in 2015, pay the least in taxes in Canada. — About 1.9 million Albertans earned between $25,000 and $150,000 in 2015.
Alberta also privatized alcohol distribution. By 2010, privatization had increased outlets from 304 stores to 1,726; 1,300 jobs to 4,000 jobs; and 3,325 products to 16,495 products. Tax revenue also increased from $400 million to $700 million.
In 2017/18 Alberta collected about $2.4 billion in education property taxes from municipalities. Alberta municipalities raise a significant portion of their income through levying property taxes. The value of assessed property in Alberta was approximately $727 billion in 2011. Most real property is assessed according to its market value. The exceptions to market value assessment are farmland, railways, machinery and equipment and linear property, all of which is assessed by regulated rates. Depending on the property type, property owners may appeal a property assessment to their municipal 'Local Assessment Review Board', 'Composite Assessment Review Board,' or the Alberta Municipal Government Board. |
Alberta | Culture | Culture
thumb|Highland dancers performing at the CSIO Spruce Meadows 'Masters' Tournament
Calgary is famous for its Stampede, dubbed "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth". The Stampede is Canada's biggest rodeo festival and features various races and competitions, such as calf roping and bull riding. In line with the western tradition of rodeo are the cultural artisans that reside and create unique Alberta western heritage crafts.
Summer brings many festivals to Alberta, especially in Edmonton. The Edmonton Fringe Festival is the world's second-largest after the Edinburgh Festival. Both Calgary and Edmonton host many annual festivals and events, including folk music festivals. The city's "heritage days" festival sees the participation of over 70 ethnic groups. Edmonton's Churchill Square is home to a large number of the festivals, including A Taste of Edmonton and The Works Art & Design Festival throughout the summer months.
In 2019, Minister of Culture and Tourism Ricardo Miranda announced the Alberta Artist in Residence program in conjunction with the province's first Month of the Artist to celebrate the arts and the value they bring to the province, both socially and economically, The artist is selected each year via a public and competitive process is expected to do community outreach and attend events to promote the arts throughout the province. The award comes with $60,000 funding which includes travel and materials costs. On January 31, 2019, Lauren Crazybull was named Alberta's first artist in residence. Alberta is the first province to launch an artist in residence program in Canada. |
Alberta | Sports | Sports
+ Sports teams in Alberta Team City LeagueStadium/arenaCapacity Edmonton Oilers Edmonton National Hockey LeagueRogers Place 18 347 Calgary Flames Calgary National Hockey LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289 Edmonton Elks Edmonton Canadian Football LeagueCommonwealth Stadium 60 081 Calgary Stampeders Calgary Canadian Football LeagueMcMahon Stadium 40 000Calgary WranglersCalgaryAmerican Hockey LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289Calgary HitmenCalgaryCanadian Hockey LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289Edmonton Oil KingsEdmontonCanadian Hockey LeagueRogers Place 18 347 Lethbridge Hurricanes Lethbridge Canadian Hockey LeagueEnmax Centre 5 479 Medicine Hat Tigers Medicine Hat Canadian Hockey LeagueCanalta Centre 7 100Red Deer RebelsRed DeerCanadian Hockey LeaguePeavey Mart Centrium 7 111Cavalry FCCalgaryCanadian Premier LeagueATCO Field 6 000Calgary SurgeCalgaryCanadian Elite Basketball LeagueWinsport Event Centre 2 900Edmonton StingersEdmontonCanadian Elite Basketball LeagueEdmonton Expo Centre 4 000Calgary RoughnecksCalgaryNational Lacrosse LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289Edmonton StormEdmontonWestern Women's Canadian Football LeagueClarke Stadium 5 100Calgary RageCalgaryWestern Women's Canadian Football LeagueShouldice Athletic Park 1 000Lethbridge SteelLethbridgeWestern Women's Canadian Football LeagueUniversity of Lethbridge Community Stadium 2 000Edmonton RiverhawksEdmontonWest Coast LeagueRE/MAX Field 9 200 |
Alberta | Education | Education
As with any Canadian province, the Alberta Legislature has (almost) exclusive authority to make laws respecting education. Since 1905, the Legislature has used this capacity to continue the model of locally elected public and separate school boards which originated prior to 1905, as well as to create and regulate universities, colleges, technical institutions, and other educational forms and institutions (public charter schools, private schools, homeschooling). |
Alberta | Elementary and secondary | Elementary and secondary
There are forty-two public school jurisdictions in Alberta, and seventeen operating separate school jurisdictions. Sixteen of the operating separate school jurisdictions have a Catholic electorate, and one (St. Albert) has a Protestant electorate. In addition, one Protestant separate school district, Glen Avon, survives as a ward of the St. Paul Education Region. The City of Lloydminster straddles the Albertan/Saskatchewan border, and both the public and separate school systems in that city are counted in the above numbers: both of them operate according to Saskatchewan law.
For many years, the provincial government has funded the greater part of the cost of providing K–12 education. Prior to 1994, public and separate school boards in Alberta had the legislative authority to levy a local tax on property as supplementary support for local education. In 1994, the government of the province eliminated this right for public school boards, but not for separate school boards. Since 1994, there has continued to be a tax on property in support of K–12 education; the difference is that the provincial government now sets the mill rate, the money is collected by the local municipal authority and remitted to the provincial government. The relevant legislation requires that all the money raised by this property tax must go to support K–12 education provided by school boards. The provincial government pools the property tax funds from across the province and distributes them, according to a formula, to public and separate school jurisdictions and Francophone authorities.
Public and separate school boards, charter schools, and private schools all follow the Program of Studies and the curriculum approved by the provincial department of education (Alberta Education). Homeschool tutors may choose to follow the Program of Studies or develop their own Program of Studies. Public and separate schools, charter schools, and approved private schools all employ teachers who are certificated by Alberta Education, they administer Provincial Achievement Tests and Diploma Examinations set by Alberta Education, and they may grant high school graduation certificates endorsed by Alberta Education. |
Alberta | Post-secondary | Post-secondary
thumb|The University of Alberta in 2005. The institution is the oldest, and largest university in Alberta.
Several publicly funded post-secondary institutions are governed under the province's Post-secondary Learning Act. This includes four comprehensive research universities that provides undergraduate and graduate degrees, Athabasca University, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge; and three undergraduate universities that primarily provide bachelor's degrees, the Alberta University of the Arts, Grant MacEwan University, and Mount Royal University.
Nine comprehensive community colleges offer primarily offer diploma and certificate programs, Bow Valley College, Keyano College, Lakeland College, Lethbridge College, Medicine Hat College, NorQuest College, Northern Lakes College, Olds College, and Portage College. In addition, there are also four polytechnic institutes that provide specific career training and provides apprenticeships and diplomas, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Northwestern Polytechnic, and Red Deer Polytechnic. The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a specialized arts and cultural institution that is also empowered to provide diploma programs under the Post-secondary Learning Act.
Alberta is also home to five independent postsecondary institutions that provide diplomas/degrees for approved programming, Ambrose University, Burman University, Concordia University of Edmonton, The King's University, and St. Mary's University. Although the five institutions operate under their own legislation, they remain partly governed by the province's Post-secondary Learning Act. In addition to these institutions, there are also 190 private career colleges in Alberta.
There was some controversy in 2005 over the rising cost of post-secondary education for students (as opposed to taxpayers). In 2005, Premier Ralph Klein made a promise that he would freeze tuition and look into ways of reducing schooling costs. |
Alberta | Health care | Health care
Alberta provides a publicly funded, fully integrated health system, through Alberta Health Services (AHS)—a quasi-independent agency that delivers health care on behalf of the Government of Alberta's Ministry of Health. The Alberta government provides health services for all its residents as set out by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984. Alberta became Canada's second province (after Saskatchewan) to adopt a Tommy Douglas-style program in 1950, a precursor to the modern medicare system.
Alberta's health care budget was $22.5 billion during the 2018–2019 fiscal year (approximately 45% of all government spending), making it the best-funded health-care system per-capita in Canada. Every hour the province spends more than $2.5 million, (or $60 million per day), to maintain and improve health care in the province.
Notable health, education, research, and resources facilities in Alberta, all of which are located within Calgary or Edmonton. Health centres in Calgary include:
thumb|Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary is the largest hospital in Alberta.
Alberta Children's Hospital
Foothills Medical Centre
Grace Women's Health Centre
Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta
Peter Lougheed Centre
Rockyview General Hospital
South Health Campus
Tom Baker Cancer Centre
University of Calgary Medical Centre (UCMC)
Health centres in Edmonton include:
Alberta Diabetes Institute
Cross Cancer Institute
Edmonton Clinic
Grey Nuns Community Hospital
Lois Hole Hospital for Women
Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute
Misericordia Community Hospital
Rexall Centre for Pharmacy and Health Research
Royal Alexandra Hospital
Stollery Children's Hospital
University of Alberta Hospital
The Edmonton Clinic complex, completed in 2012, provides a similar research, education, and care environment as the Mayo Clinic in the United States.
All public health care services funded by the Government of Alberta are delivered operationally by Alberta Health Services. AHS is the province's single health authority, established on July 1, 2008, which replaced nine regional health authorities. AHS also funds all ground ambulance services in the province, as well as the province-wide Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) air ambulance service. |
Alberta | Transportation | Transportation |
Alberta | Air | Air
alt=|thumb|Calgary International Airport, the province's largest airport by passenger traffic.
Alberta is well-connected by air, with international airports in both Calgary and Edmonton. Calgary International Airport and Edmonton International Airport are the fourth- and fifth-busiest in Canada, respectively. Calgary's airport is a hub for WestJet Airlines and a regional hub for Air Canada, primarily serving the prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) for connecting flights to British Columbia, eastern Canada, fifteen major United States centres, nine European airports, one Asian airport and four destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. Edmonton's airport acts as a hub for the Canadian north and has connections to all major Canadian airports as well as airports in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and the Caribbean . |
Alberta | Public transit | Public transit
Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge have substantial public transit systems. In addition to buses, Calgary and Edmonton operate light rail transit (LRT) systems. Edmonton LRT, which is underground in the downtown core and on the surface outside the downtown core was the first of the modern generation of light rail systems to be built in North America, while the Calgary CTrain has one of the highest numbers of daily riders of any LRT system in North America. |
Alberta | Rail | Rail
thumb|A Via Rail passenger train passing by freight trains in the background, at Jasper station
There are more than of operating mainline railway in Alberta. The vast majority of this trackage is owned by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Canadian National Railway (CN) companies, which operate freight transport across the province. Additional railfreight service in the province is provided by two shortline railways: the Battle River Railway and Forty Mile Rail.
Passenger trains include Via Rail's Canadian (Toronto–Vancouver) and Jasper–Prince Rupert trains, which use the CN mainline and pass through Jasper National Park and parallel the Yellowhead Highway during at least part of their routes. The Rocky Mountaineer operates two sections: one from Vancouver to Banff over CP tracks, and a section that travels over CN tracks to Jasper.
In 2024 Alberta's premier, Danielle Smith, announced a 15-year master plan to expand passenger rail in Alberta. This plan envisions rail services to Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Banff, Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray, and most importantly an intercity rail service between Edmonton and Calgary, as well as a commuter rail systems in the respective cities. Ground-breaking was planned for 2027, according to Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen. |
Alberta | Road | Road
Alberta has over of highways and roads in its road network. The main north–south corridor is Highway 2, which begins south of Cardston at the Carway border crossing and is part of the CANAMEX Corridor. Beginning at the Coutts border crossing and ending at Lethbridge, Highway 4, effectively extends Interstate 15 into Alberta and is the busiest United States gateway to the province. Highway 3 joins Lethbridge to Fort Macleod and links Highway 2 to Highway 4. Highway 2 travels north through Fort Macleod, Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton.
alt=|left|thumb|Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada Highway) at Alberta Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail).
North of Edmonton, the highway continues to Athabasca, then northwesterly along the south shore of Lesser Slave Lake into High Prairie, north to Peace River, west to Fairview and finally south to Grande Prairie, where it ends at an interchange with Highway 43. The section of Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton has been named the Queen Elizabeth II Highway to commemorate the visit of the monarch in 2005. Highway 2 is supplemented by two more highways that run parallel to it: Highway 22, west of Highway 2, known as Cowboy Trail, and Highway 21, east of Highway 2. Highway 43 travels northwest into Grande Prairie and the Peace River Country. Travelling northeast from Edmonton, the Highway 63 connects to Fort McMurrayand the Athabasca oil sands.
Alberta has two main east–west corridors. The southern corridor, part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, enters the province near Medicine Hat, runs westward through Calgary, and leaves Alberta through Banff National Park. The northern corridor, also part of the Trans-Canada network and known as the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), runs west from Lloydminster in eastern Alberta, through Edmonton and Jasper National Park into British Columbia. One of the most scenic drives is along the Icefields Parkway, which runs for between Jasper and Lake Louise, with mountain ranges and glaciers on either side of its entire length. A third corridor stretches across southern Alberta; Highway 3 runs between Crowsnest Pass and Medicine Hat through Lethbridge and forms the eastern portion of the Crowsnest Highway. Another major corridor through central Alberta is Highway 11 (also known as the David Thompson Highway), which runs east from the Saskatchewan River Crossing in Banff National Park through Rocky Mountain House and Red Deer, connecting with Highway 12, west of Stettler. The highway connects many of the smaller towns in central Alberta with Calgary and Edmonton, as it crosses Highway 2 just west of Red Deer.
Urban stretches of Alberta's major highways and freeways are often called trails. For example, Highway 2, the main north–south highway in the province, is called Deerfoot Trail as it passes through Calgary but becomes Calgary Trail (southbound) and Gateway Boulevard (northbound) as it enters Edmonton and then turns into St. Albert Trail as it leaves Edmonton for the City of St. Albert. Calgary, in particular, has a tradition of calling its largest urban expressways trails and naming many of them after prominent First Nations individuals and tribes, such as Crowchild Trail, Deerfoot Trail, and Stoney Trail. |
Alberta | Friendship partners | Friendship partners
Alberta has relationships with many provinces, states, and other entities worldwide.
Gangwon-do, South Korea (1974)
Hokkaido, Japan (1980)
Heilongjiang, China (1981)
Montana, United States (1985)
Tyumen, Russia (1992)
Khanty–Mansi, Russia (1995)
Yamalo-Nenets, Russia (1997)
Jalisco, Mexico (1999)
Alaska, United States (2002)
Saxony, Germany (2002)
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (2004)
Lviv, Ukraine (2005)
California, United States (1997)
Guangdong, China (2017) |
Alberta | See also | See also
Index of Alberta-related articles
Outline of Alberta
Royal eponyms in Canada
Edmonton
Calgary
Banff National Park |
Alberta | Notes | Notes |
Alberta | References | References |
Alberta | Further reading | Further reading
|
Alberta | External links | External links
Alberta Encyclopedia
List of streets in Alberta with maps
Category:1905 establishments in Canada
Category:Canadian Prairies
Category:Provinces and territories of Canada
Category:States and territories established in 1905 |
Alberta | Table of Content | Short description, Etymology, Geography, Climate, Ecology, Flora, Fauna, Paleontology, History, Demographics, Municipalities, Language, Ethnicity, Religion, Economy, Agriculture and forestry, Industry, Tourism, Government and politics, Administrative divisions, Law enforcement, Military, Taxation, Culture, Sports, Education, Elementary and secondary, Post-secondary, Health care, Transportation, Air, Public transit, Rail, Road, Friendship partners, See also, Notes, References, Further reading, External links |
List of anthropologists | Short description | Anthropologist |
List of anthropologists | A | A
John Adair
B. R. Ambedkar
Giulio Angioni
Jon Altman
Arjun Appadurai
Talal Asad
Timothy Asch
Scott Atran
Marc Augé |
List of anthropologists | B | B
Nigel Barley
Fredrik Barth
Vasily Bartold
Keith H. Basso
Daisy Bates
Gregory Bateson
Mary Catherine Bateson
Richard Bauman
Ruth Behar
Ruth Benedict
Dorothy A. Bennett
Carl H. Berendt
Lee Berger
Brent Berlin
Catherine Helen Webb Berndt
Catherine L. Besteman
Theodore C. Bestor
Lewis Binford
Evelyn Blackwood
Wilhelm Bleek
Maurice Bloch
Anton Blok
Franz Boas
Tom Boellstorff
Paul Bohannan
Dmitri Bondarenko
Pere Bosch-Gimpera
Pierre Bourdieu
Philippe Bourgois
Charles L. Briggs
Paul Broca
Christian Bromberger
Kari Bruwelheide
Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hīroa) |
List of anthropologists | C | C
Julio Caro Baroja
Edmund Carpenter
Napoleon Chagnon
Pierre Clastres
Mabel Cook Cole
Malcolm Carr Collier
Harold C. Conklin
Carleton S. Coon
Frank Hamilton Cushing |
List of anthropologists | D | D
Regna Darnell
Raymond Dart
Emma Lou Davis
Wade Davis
Ernesto de Martino
Ella Cara Deloria
Raymond J. DeMallie
Philippe Descola
Stanley Diamond
Mary Douglas
Cora Du Bois
Eugene Dubois
Robin Dunbar
Ann Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Elizabeth Cullen Dunn
Émile Durkheim |
List of anthropologists | E | E
Mary Lindsay Elmendolf
Verrier Elwin
Matthew Engelke
Friedrich Engels
Arturo Escobar
E. E. Evans-Pritchard |
List of anthropologists | F | F
James Ferguson
Raymond Firth
Raymond D. Fogelson
Meyer Fortes
Gregory Forth
Dian Fossey
Kate Fox
Robin Fox
James Frazer
Lina Fruzzetti |
List of anthropologists | G | G
Clifford Geertz
Alfred Gell
Ernest Gellner
Herb Di Gioia
Max Gluckman
Maurice Godelier
Jane Goodall
Marjorie Harness Goodwin
Igor Gorevich
Harold A. Gould
David Graeber
Hilma Granqvist
J. Patrick Gray
Marcel Griaule
Jacob Grimm
Wilhelm Grimm |
List of anthropologists | H | H
Abdellah Hammoudi
Michael Harkin
Michael Harner
John P. Harrington
Marvin Harris
K. David Harrison
Kirsten Hastrup
Jacquetta Hawkes
Brian Douglas Hayden
Rose Oldfield Hayes
Stephen C. Headley
Thor Heyerdahl
Arthur Maurice Hocart
Ian Hodder
E. Adamson Hoebel
Earnest Hooton
Robin W.G. Horton
Aleš Hrdlička
Eva Verbitsky Hunt
Dell Hymes |
List of anthropologists | I | I
Miyako Inoue
Bill Irons |
List of anthropologists | J | J
Ira Jacknis
John M. Janzen
Thomas Des Jean
F. Landa Jocano
Alfred E. Johnson
William Jones
Michal Josephy
Jeffrey S. Juris |
List of anthropologists | K | K
Sergei Kan
Jomo Kenyatta
David Kertzer
Alice Beck Kehoe
Anatoly Khazanov
Dolly Kikon
Richard G. Klein
Chris Knight
Eduardo Kohn
Dorinne K. Kondo
Andrey Korotayev
Conrad Kottak
Charles H. Kraft
Grover Krantz
Alfred L. Kroeber
Theodora Kroeber
Lars Krutak
Adam Kuper |
List of anthropologists | L | L
William Labov
George Lakoff
Harold E. Lambert
Edmund Leach
Eleanor Leacock
Murray Leaf
Louis Leakey
Mary Leakey
Richard Leakey
Richard Borshay Lee
Charles Miller Leslie
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Ellen Lewin
C. Scott Littleton
Albert Buell Lewis
Oscar Lewis
Phillip Harold Lewis
Roland Littlewood
Robert Lowie
Nancy Lurie |
List of anthropologists | M | M
Alan Macfarlane
Saba Mahmood
Bronisław Malinowski
George Marcus
Jonathan M. Marks
Karl Marx
John Alden Mason
Michael Atwood Mason
Marcel Mauss
Phillip McArthur
Irma McClaurin
Charles Harrison McNutt
Margaret Mead
Mervyn Meggitt
Josef Mengele
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay
Emily Martin
Horace Mitchell Miner
Sidney Mintz
Louis Molet
Ashley Montagu
James Mooney
Henrietta L. Moore
John H. Moore
Lewis H. Morgan
Desmond Morris
George Murdock
Yolanda Murphy |
List of anthropologists | N | N
Laura Nader
Moni Nag
Jeremy Narby
Raoul Naroll
Josiah Nott
Erland Nordenskiöld |
List of anthropologists | O | O
Gananath Obeyesekere
Kaori O'Connor
Aihwa Ong
Marvin Opler
Morris Opler
Sherry Ortner
Keith F. Otterbein
Evelia Edith Oyhenart |
List of anthropologists | P | P
Elsie Clews Parsons
Bronisław Piłsudski
Thomas J. Pluckhahn
Hortense Powdermaker
A.H.J. Prins
Harald E.L. Prins |
List of anthropologists | Q | Q
Buell Quain
James Quesada |
List of anthropologists | R | R
Paul Rabinow
Wilhelm Radloff
Laurence Ralph
Lucinda Ramberg
Roy Rappaport
Hans Ras
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown
Margaret Read
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
Kathy Reichs
Audrey Richards
W. H. R. Rivers
Paul Rivet
Uzma Z. Rizvi
Joel Robbins
Renato Rosaldo
Gayle Rubin
Robert A. Rubinstein |
List of anthropologists | S | S
Marshall Sahlins
Noel B. Salazar
Roger Sandall
Edward Sapir
Patricia Sawin
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Wilhelm Schmidt
Tobias Schneebaum
James C. Scott
Thayer Scudder
Elman Service
Afanasy Shchapov
Gerald F. Schroedl
Florence Connolly Shipek
Sydel Silverman
Audra Simpson
Cathy Small
Christen A. Smith
Jacques Soustelle
Melford Spiro
James Spradley
Julian Steward
Herbert Spencer
Marilyn Strathern
William Sturtevant
Niara Sudarkasa |
List of anthropologists | T | T
Michael Taussig
Sharika Thiranagama
Edward Burnett Tylor
Colin Turnbull
Victor Turner
Bruce Trigger |
List of anthropologists | V | V
Karl Verner
L. P. Vidyarthi
Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf |
List of anthropologists | W | W
Anthony F. C. Wallace
Lee Henderson Watkins
Camilla Wedgwood
Hank Wesselman
Kath Weston
Douglas R. White
Isobel Mary White
Leslie White
Tim White
Benjamin Whorf
Unni Wikan
Clark Wissler
Eric Wolf
Alvin Wolfe
Sol Worth |
List of anthropologists | Y | Y
Nur Yalman
Kim Yeshi |
List of anthropologists | Z | Z
Jarrett Zigon
R. Tom Zuidema |
List of anthropologists | Fictional anthropologists | Fictional anthropologists
Mary Albright (Jane Curtin) in the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun
Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) in the television series Bones
Temperance Brennan in the novel series Temperance Brennan by Kathy Reichs
Chakotay (Robert Beltran) in the television series Star Trek: Voyager
Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in the television series Star Trek: Discovery
Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks, James Spader) in the television series and film Stargate SG-1
Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) in the television series Lost
Korekiyo Shinguji |
List of anthropologists | See also | See also
List of female anthropologists
List of Black Anthropologists
List of Chinese sociologists and anthropologists |
List of anthropologists | References | References
Anthropologists
|
List of anthropologists | Table of Content | Short description, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, Y, Z, Fictional anthropologists, See also, References |
Actinopterygii | Short description | Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of skin supported by radially extended thin bony spines called lepidotrichia, as opposed to the bulkier, fleshy lobed fins of the sister clade Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish). Resembling folding fans, the actinopterygian fins can easily change shape and wetted area, providing superior thrust-to-weight ratios per movement compared to sarcopterygian and chondrichthyian fins. The fin rays attach directly to the proximal or basal skeletal elements, the radials, which represent the articulation between these fins and the internal skeleton (e.g., pelvic and pectoral girdles).
The vast majority of actinopterygians are teleosts. By species count, they dominate the subphylum Vertebrata, and constitute nearly 99% of the over 30,000 extant species of fish.(Davis, Brian 2010). They are the most abundant nektonic aquatic animals and are ubiquitous throughout freshwater and marine environments from the deep sea to subterranean waters to the highest mountain streams. Extant species can range in size from Paedocypris, at ; to the massive ocean sunfish, at ; and to the giant oarfish, at . The largest ever known ray-finned fish, the extinct Leedsichthys from the Jurassic, has been estimated to have grown to . |
Actinopterygii | Characteristics | Characteristics
thumb|300px|left|
A: dorsal fin, B: fin rays, C: lateral line, D: kidney, E: swim bladder, F: Weberian apparatus, G: inner ear, H: brain, I: nostrils, L: eye, M: gills, N: heart, O: stomach, P: gall bladder, Q: spleen, R: internal sex organs (ovaries or testes), S: ventral fins, T: spine, U: anal fin, V: tail (caudal fin). Possible other parts not shown: barbels, adipose fin, external genitalia (gonopodium)
Ray-finned fishes occur in many variant forms. The main features of typical ray-finned fish are shown in the adjacent diagram.
The swim bladder is a more derived structure and used for buoyancy. Except from the bichirs, which just like the lungs of lobe-finned fish have retained the ancestral condition of ventral budding from the foregut, the swim bladder in ray-finned fishes derives from a dorsal bud above the foregut. In early forms the swim bladder could still be used for breathing, a trait still present in Holostei (bowfins and gars). In some fish like the arapaima, the swim bladder has been modified for breathing air again, and in other lineages it has been completely lost.
The teleosts have urinary and reproductive tracts that are fully separated, while the Chondrostei have common urogenital ducts, and partially connected ducts are found in Cladistia and Holostei.Post-testicular sperm maturation in ancient holostean species
Ray-finned fishes have many different types of scales; but all teleosts have leptoid scales. The outer part of these scales fan out with bony ridges, while the inner part is crossed with fibrous connective tissue. Leptoid scales are thinner and more transparent than other types of scales, and lack the hardened enamel- or dentine-like layers found in the scales of many other fish. Unlike ganoid scales, which are found in non-teleost actinopterygians, new scales are added in concentric layers as the fish grows.
Teleosts and chondrosteans (sturgeons and paddlefish) also differ from the bichirs and holosteans (bowfin and gars) in having gone through a whole-genome duplication (paleopolyploidy). The WGD is estimated to have happened about 320 million years ago in the teleosts, which on average has retained about 17% of the gene duplicates, and around 180 (124–225) million years ago in the chondrosteans. It has since happened again in some teleost lineages, like Salmonidae (80–100 million years ago) and several times independently within the Cyprinidae (in goldfish and common carp as recently as 14 million years ago). |
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