Calgary

1. Calgary For: English class (ESLAO1-01)

2. Calgary… • Calgary (pronounced /ˈkælɡri, ˈkælɡəri/) is the largest city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately 80 km east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. The city is located in the Grassland region of Alberta.

3. …Calgary… • In 2006, the City of Calgary had a population of 988,193 making it the third-largest municipality in the country and largest in Alberta. The entire metropolitan area had a 2006 population of 1,079,310, making it the fifth-largestcensus metropolitan area (CMA) in Canada.In 2009, Calgary's metropolitan population was estimated at 1,230,248, raising its rank to fourth-largest CMA in Canada.

4. Calgary… • Located 294 km (183 mi) due south of Edmonton, statisticians define the narrow populated area between these cities as the "Calgary–Edmonton Corridor” Calgary is the largest Canadian metropolitan area between Toronto and Vancouver.

5. …Calgary… • Calgary is a destination for winter sports and ecotourism with a number of major mountain resorts near the city and metropolitan area. Economic activity in Calgary is mostly centered on the petroleum industry. Agriculture, tourism and high-tech industries also contribute to the city's economic growth. In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Olympic Winter Games.

6. History: First settlement • Before the Calgary area was settled by Europeans, it was inhabited by pre-Clovis people whose presence has been traced back at least 11,000 years.In 1787, cartographerDavid Thompson spent the winter with a band of Peigan encamped along the Bow River. He was the first recorded European to visit the area, and John Glenn was the first documented European settler in the Calgary area, in 1873.The native way of life remained relatively unchanged until the late 1870s, when Europeans, together with natives, hunted the buffalo to near-extinction.

7. The site became a post of the North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP). The NWMP detachment was assigned in 1875 to protect the western plains from U.S. whiskey traders, and to protect the fur trade. Originally named Fort Brisebois, after NWMP officer Éphrem-A. Brisebois, it was renamed Fort Calgary in 1876 by Colonel James Macleod. It was named after Calgary on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. While there is some disagreement on the naming of the town, the Museum on the Isle of Mull explains that kald and gart are similar Old Norse words, meaning 'cold' and 'garden', that were likely used when named by the Vikings who inhabited the Inner Hebrides.Alternatively, the name might come from the Gaelic, Calaghearraidh, meaning 'beach of the meadow (pasture)'.

8. History: The oil boom • Oil was first discovered in Alberta in 1902,but it did not become a significant industry in the province until 1947 when huge reserves of it were discovered. Calgary quickly found itself at the centre of the ensuing oil boom. The city's economy grew when oil prices increased with the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. The population increased by 272,000 in the eighteen years between 1971 (403,000) and 1989 (675,000) and another 345,000 in the next eighteen years (to 1,020,000 in 2007). During these boom years, skyscrapers were constructed and the relatively low-rise downtown quickly became dense with tall buildings,a trend that continues to this day.

9. Calgary's economy was so closely tied to the oil industry that the city's boom peaked with the average annual price of oil in 1981.The subsequent drop in oil prices were cited by industry as reasons for a collapse in the oil industry and consequently the overall Calgary economy. However, low oil prices prevented a full recovery until the 1990s.

10. History: Recent • With the energy sector employing a huge number of Calgarians, the fallout from the economic slump of the early 1980s was understandably significant, and the unemployment rate soared.[16] By the end of the decade, however, the economy was in recovery. Calgary quickly realized that it could not afford to put so much emphasis on oil and gas, and the city has since become much more diverse, both economically and culturally. The period during this recession marked Calgary's transition from a mid-sized and relatively nondescript prairie city into a major cosmopolitan and diverse centre. This transition culminated in February 1988, when the city hosted the XV Olympic Winter Games.The success of these gamesessentially put the city on the world stage.

11. Thanks in part to escalating oil prices, the economy in Calgary and Alberta was booming until the end of 2008, and the region of nearly 1.1 million people was home to the fastest growing economy in the country.While the oil and gas industry comprise an important part of the economy, the city has invested a great deal into other areas such as tourism and high-tech manufacturing. Over 3.1 million people now visit the city annually for its many festivals and attractions, especially the Calgary Stampede. The nearby mountain resort towns of Banff, Lake Louise, and Canmore are also becoming increasingly popular with tourists, and are bringing people into Calgary as a result. Other modern industries include light manufacturing, high-tech, film, e-commerce, transportation, and services. The city has ranked highly in quality of life surveys: 25th in 2006, 24th in 2007, 25th in 2008, 26th in 2009 and 28th in the 2010 Mercer Quality of Living Survey,and 5th best city to live in according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).Calgary ranked as the world's cleanest city by Forbes Magazine in 2007.Mercer also ranked the city as the world's first-placed eco-city for 2010.