Alberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces located in western Canada. It has a population of over 3.5 million people concentrated in its two largest cities, Edmonton and Calgary. Alberta has a diverse economy based around oil, natural gas, and coal extraction and farming. The province has a long history of indigenous inhabitation and fur trade before becoming a province in 1905. It has diverse geography ranging from mountains and forests to prairies and badlands.

1. Alberta B.C FactsBy Sierra Rhoda Faith Bennett

2. Alberta FactsFacts -Alberta is one of the three prairie provinces

3. It is the fourth largest province

4. Saskatchewan is east of Alberta; British Columbia is west

5. The Northwest Territories are north of Alberta

6. The state of Montana is south

7. Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.

8. Edmonton (capital city) and Calgary are the largest cities

9. Alberta's flower - Wild Rose, tree - Lodgepole Pine, bird - Great Horned OwlAlberta’s PeopleAlberta is home to over 3.5 million people.(April, 2007)

10. The largest cities are Edmonton (capital) and Calgary

11. More than half of the people live in these two cities

12. Immigrants came from Britain, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the East and Southeast Asia

13. Ethnic backgrounds - British (44 percent), German, Ukrainian, French, Scandinavian, Dutch, HistoryThe first people settled in the area about 8000 years agoIn the woodland areas the Woodland Cree and Chipewyan tribes hunted moose, caribou and deer, fished and gathered plants and berries.They used bark canoes to travel up and down the streamsOn the plains the Blackfoot, Blood, and Peigan hunted the bison and lived in tipis

14. HistoryAnthony Henday ( European explorer and fur trader ) came to Alberta in 1754.Fur traders built trading posts on the Athabasca River and North Saskatchewan RiverForts were built to keep law and orderThe First Nations traded furs and received guns, blankets and metal goodsIn 1874 The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) established their first post in Alberta at Fort Macleod

15. Alberta grew when the railroad was built in 1883Early settlers were ranchers from England and the United StatesImmigrants came from Ukraine, Germany, Romania and many parts of Europe to farmAlberta became a province on September 1, 1905