Welcome to Alberta!
Alberta spans great, contrasting sceneries of mountains, forests, and prairies. It offers the visitor six UNESCO World Heritage sites, preserving mountain vistas, the Wood Buffalo National Park (the world's largest inland delta and largest protected boreal forest), Dinosaur Provincial Park (one of the world's great dinosaur fossil beds), historic Indigenous rock art (at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park), and buffalo hunting sites (Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump). And for sports fans, this is the home of one of the world's greatest rodeos every July in Calgary, two famous professional ice hockey teams, and one of the longest ski seasons in the northern hemisphere. Like colder versions of other oil towns (Houston comes to mind), the burgeoning cities of Edmonton and Calgary are adding new skyscrapers, museums, art galleries, concert venues, and libraries as these cities are still very much in their youth.
Alberta, Canada's fourth largest province by size and population, stretches from British Columbia at the Rocky Mountains in the west, to Saskatchewan in the east and from the Northwest Territories in the north, to Montana, U.S.A. in the south.
Alberta is a huge province, about three times the size of the United Kingdom (from where many of its people can trace a heritage) or nearly as large as Texas (with which is shares a historic connection though the cattle and petroleum industries). In this huge expanse of territory, only four million Albertans reside, and about half of those live in just the two main cities of Calgary and Edmonton, with most of the rest of the population clustered near the main highways. The rest of the province has a tiny population, but is far from empty: on this land, you will find Indigenous cultures that have survived here for thousands of years, rural settlements with a proud pioneering history, and new immigrants arriving daily from all corners of the world in one of the developed world's wealthiest and fastest-growing regions (despite an economic downturn in the 2010s).
Alberta is not well known by non-Canadians, but if you do know much about it you might associate the province with the Rocky Mountains (which in truth are only found along Alberta's western boundary), perhaps the 1988 Winter Olympics which were held in Calgary, the cowboy country of Southern Alberta, or the controversial "oil sands" and "tar sands" of Fort McMurray.
In a province as large and dynamic as Alberta, there shouldn't be any problem finding enough to see and do, no matter what your travel style is.
Alberta is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories (NWT) to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south. It is one of the only two landlocked provinces in Canada. 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 6th largest province by area at 661,848 square kilometers, and the 4th most populous is home to 4,067,175 people. Alberta's capital is Edmonton, while Calgary is its largest city. The two are Alberta's largest census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and both exceed one million people. 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.The oil and gas industry is also a part of the province's identity. Alberta's economy is based on hydrocarbons, petrochemical industries, livestock, agriculture, and frontier technologies. The oil industry has been a pillar of Alberta's economy since 1947 when substantial oil deposits were discovered at Leduc No. 1 well. Since Alberta is the province most rich in hydrocarbons, it provides 70% of the oil and natural gas exploited on Canadian soil. In 2018, Alberta's output was CDN$338.2 billion, 15.27% of Canada's GDP. In the past, Alberta's political landscape hosted parties like the left-wing 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 center-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.
Before becoming part of Canada, Alberta was home to several First Nations and was a territory used by fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company. Canada acquired the lands that would become Alberta as part of the NWT on July 15, 1870. On September 1, 1905, Alberta was separated from the NWT as a result of the Alberta Act and designated the 8th province of Canada. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, many immigrants arrived, the biggest wave of which was pushed by Wilfrid Laurier, to prevent the prairies from being annexed by Americans. Massive oil resources were discovered in Alberta in 1947. Alberta is renowned for its natural beauty, richness in fossils, and for housing important nature reserves. Alberta is home to six UNESCO World Heritage Sites: The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Dinosaur Provincial Park, the 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, Canmore, Drumheller, Jasper, Sylvan Lake, and Lake Louise.