Canadian Shield: The Rocks that Made Canada

by Nick Eyles

Being a Canadian carries with it a tangible sense of living on the edge of a vast barren interior. Only named as such in 1883, the Canadian Shield is an empty immensity of lakes, bogs, rivers, forest and protruding ribs of hard Precambrian crystalline rock that covers more than half of the total land area of Canada. This book traces the geologic evolution of the Shield, its first tentative exploration by humans starting 11,000 years ago as the last great ice sheets withdrew, its changing economic fortunes as Europeans penetrated its remote rocky vastnesses for furs and metals, and its transformation in the twentieth century into a national icon to Canadians. Regarded as 'barren' and of no value, much of the Shield was given away in 1670 to a single London-based fur trading company, the Hudson Bay Company, who jealously guarded its northern domain until 1867. This two hundred year long monopoly created a virtual government over a huge piece of North America. Without the HBC, much of it would have passed into American hands and there would have been no 'Canadian' Shield or country called Canada. As a nation, we are indebted to hard rock.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Geophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs, and equal parts history and geology of the Canadian Shield. An enjoyable read.

[JennLynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful photographic portrait of the Canadian Shield with information on the geology and history of this massive region - half of Canada's territory. Fascinating to realize this is the one of the oldest land masses on earth and that without the Hudson Bay Company's control of the territory for some 200 years, Canada as an independent country likely would not even exist!