Calgary

Sister cities

• Daejeon
• Phoenix
• Sarajevo
• Quebec City
• Mazkeret Batya
• Daqing
• Naucalpan
• Jaipur

History

The Calgary area was inhabited by pre-Clovis people whose presence traces back at least 11,000 years. The area has been inhabited by multiple First Nations, the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy; Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), îyârhe Nakoda, Tsuutʼina peoples and, under the Otipemisiwak Métis Government Constitution, the Calgary Nose Hill Métis and Calgary Elbow Métis Districts (previously known as Métis Nation, Region 3). In 1787, David Thompson, a 17-year-old cartographer with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), spent the winter with a band of Piikani Nation encamped along the Bow River. He was also a fur trader and surveyor and the first recorded European to visit the area. John Glenn was the first documented European settler in the Calgary area, in 1873. In spring 1875, three priests Lacombe, Remus, and Scollen built a small log cabin on the banks of the Elbow River. In the fall of 1875, the site became a post of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP). The NWMP detachment was assigned to protect the western plains from US whisky traders, and to protect the fur trade, and Inspector Éphrem-A. Brisebois led fifty Mounties as part of F Troop north from Fort Macleod to establish the site. The I. G. Baker Company of Fort Benton, Montana, was contracted to construct a suitable fort, and after its completion, the Baker company built a log store next to the fort. The NWMP fort remained officially nameless until construction was complete, although it had been referred to as "The Mouth" by people at Fort Macleod. At Christmas dinner NWMP Inspector Éphrem-A. Brisebois christened the unnamed Fort "Fort Brisebois", a decision which caught the ire of his superiors Colonel James Macleod and Major Acheson Irvine. Major Irvine cancelled the…

Geography

Calgary is in southwestern Alberta and also next to the Rocky Mountains, lying in the transition zone between the Canadian Rockies Foothills and the Canadian Prairies. The city lies within the foothills of the Parkland Natural Region and the Grasslands Natural Region. Calgary is about east of the Canadian Rockies themselves, south of Edmonton, approximately north of the border with the United States, northwest of Medicine Hat, and northeast of Spokane, the second-largest city in the U.S. state of Washington. The city is at the southern end of the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor, a Statistics Canada-defined urban region. Downtown Calgary is about above sea level, and the airport is . In 2016, the city covered a land area of . Two rivers and two creeks run through the city. The Bow River is the larger, and it flows from the west to the south. The Elbow River flows northwards from the south until it converges with the Bow River at the historic site of Fort Calgary near downtown. Nose Creek flows into Calgary from the northwest, then south to join the Bow River several kilometres east of the Elbow-Bow confluence. Fish Creek flows into Calgary from the southwest and converges with the Bow River near McKenzie Lake. The City of Calgary consists of an inner city surrounded by suburban communities of various density. The city is immediately surrounded by two municipal districts – Foothills County to the south and Rocky View County to the north, west and east. Proximate urban communities beyond the city within the Calgary Metropolitan Region include: the City of Airdrie to the north; the City of Chestermere, the Town of Strathmore and the Hamlet of Langdon to the east; the towns of Okotoks and High River to the south; and the Town of Cochrane to the northwest. Numerous rural…

Most-observed species

• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  93,071
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  82,263
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  68,270
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  67,555
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  57,324
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  55,439
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  53,355
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  51,037

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2002-07-28
  29 km SSE of Canmore, Canada