Edmonton

Sister cities

• Harbin
• Wonju
• Nashville
• Austin
• Bergen op Zoom
• Gatineau

History

The earliest known inhabitants arrived in the area that is now Edmonton around 3,000 BC and perhaps as early as 12,000 BC when an ice-free corridor opened as the last glacial period ended and timber, water, and wildlife became available in the region. The site of present-day Edmonton was home to several First Nations peoples, including the Cree, Nakota Sioux, Blackfoot, Tsuut'ina, Ojibwe, and Denesuline. The valley of the North Saskatchewan River, in particular the area of Edmonton, was settled to varying degrees for thousands of years, and provided many essential resources, including fish, medicine, and materials for tool making, such as chert or quartzite, which are abundant in the area around the modern city and which can be easily knapped into tools such as axes, knives, and arrowheads. The city was also a historic site for the Métis, who held many narrow lots along the North Saskatchewan which gave access to resources in the area. By 1882, these lots numbered about 44, after which they were displaced and integrated into the expanding city of Edmonton. In 1754, Anthony Henday, an explorer for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), may have been the first European to enter the Edmonton area. His expeditions across the Prairies of Rupert's Land were mainly to seek contact with the Indigenous population for establishing the fur trade, as the competition was fierce between the HBC and the North West Company (NWC). By 1795, Fort Edmonton was established on the river's north bank as a major trading post for the HBC, near the mouth of the Sturgeon River close to present-day Fort Saskatchewan. Fort Edmonton was built within "musket-shot range" of the rival NWC's Fort Augustus. Although both forts were initially successful, declines in beaver pelt hauls and firewood…

Geography

Edmonton is on the North Saskatchewan River, at an elevation of . The terrain in and around Edmonton is generally flat to gently rolling, with ravines and deep river valleys, such as the North Saskatchewan River valley. The Canadian Rockies are west of Edmonton and are about to the southwest. The North Saskatchewan River originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and bisects the city. It sometimes floods Edmonton's river valley, most notably in the North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915. It empties via the Saskatchewan River, Manitoba's Lake Winnipeg, and the Nelson River into Hudson Bay. It runs from the southwest to the northeast and is fed by numerous creeks throughout the city, including Mill Creek, Whitemud Creek and Blackmud Creek; these creeks have created ravines, some of which are used for urban parkland. Edmonton is within the Canadian Prairies Ecozone, southeast of Grande Prairie, west of Lloydminster and the Saskatchewan border, and is roughly 290 kilometres north of Calgary. Aspen parkland surrounds the city and is a transitional area between the prairies in the south and boreal forest in the north. The aspen woods and forests in and around Edmonton have long since been reduced by farming and residential and commercial developments including oil and natural gas exploration. Edmonton has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb, Trewartha climate classification Dcbc) with typically cold, dry winters and warm, sunny summers, prone to extremes and large swings at all times of the year. It falls into the NRC 4a Plant Hardiness Zone. Summer in Edmonton lasts from June until early September, while winter lasts from November until March and in common with all of Alberta varies greatly in length and severity. Spring and autumn are both short…

Most-observed species

• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  46,278
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  39,605
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  30,875
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  30,600
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  24,794
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  23,500
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  23,339
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  21,923

Most recent

• M 3.9 — 2026-05-09
  15 km SSW of Smoky Lake, Canada
• M 4.3 — 2026-04-01
  10 km N of Bon Accord, Canada