Calgary is a city in the province of Alberta in western Canada. With 1,306,784 residents and a metro population of 1,481,806 as of 2021, the city was the third-largest and fourth metropolitan region in Canada is located at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in the southern part of the province, in the area that separates the Canadian Prairies from the Rocky Mountain Foothills, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of the Canadian Rockies’ front ranges, about 299 kilometres (186 miles) south of Edmonton, and about 150 kilometres (240 km) north of the U.S. border. As defined by Statistics Canada, the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor has the city as its southernmost anchor.
Calgary is active in the energy, banking sectors, film and television, logistics, transportation, technology, manufacturing, aviation, health and wellness, retail, and tourism. Among the 800 largest firms in Canada, the Calgary Metro Region is home to the second-highest number of company head offices. Of all the major Canadian cities in 2015, Calgary had the greatest per-capita number of millionaires. As the first Canadian city that hold the Olympic Winter Games, it did so in 1988.
1. The city is still known as Cow Town because of its extensive grassland. You can still picture the Wild West from it.
2. The Calgary Rodeo, which lasts for ten days each year, is the biggest outdoor gathering on the planet. First Nations Exhibits, the biggest rodeo in the world, concerts, stage events, a midway, chuck waggon racing, agricultural competitions, and a parade are among its highlights. More than one million people attend the event.
3. Calgary residents are 35.7 years old on average. As in all young cities, you may anticipate lots of partying, sports, romance, and a hot entertainment scene.
4. The city has the greatest diversity of any metropolis. There are 120 different languages spoken in the city.
Initial settling
Pre-Clovis people, whose existence has been documented for at least 11,000 years, lived in the Calgary area. The Blackfoot, Blood, Peigan, and Tsuu T’ina First Nations communities, who were all a part of the Blackfoot Confederacy, lived in the region before European settlers arrived. David Thompson, a cartographer, spent the winter of 1787 with a group of Peigan camping beside the Bow River. He was the first known European to enter the region and a trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company. In the Calgary region, John Glenn became the first known European settler in 1873.
On November 7, 1886, the Calgary Burn 1886 took place. $14,200 in losses were attributed to the destruction of 14 buildings. Although nobody was hurt or killed, city council members created legislation mandating the use of Paskapoo sandstone in the construction of all significant downtown structures to avoid a repeat of the incident.
The Dominion Government began leasing pasture land at a low cost (up to 100,00 acres (400 km2) with one cent of each acre per year) following the introduction of the railway. Large ranching enterprises were formed due to this approach in the remote region close to Calgary. Calgary, already a major hub for transportation and distribution, swiftly emerged as the nation’s meat-processing and cattle-marketing hub.
Naheed Nenshi, a 39-year-old Muslim who won the election with 28,000 more votes than his nearest rival, became Canada’s first Muslim mayor.
Calgary enjoys 2600 hours of sunshine on average each year. As a result, it is Canada’s sunniest city. If you don’t enjoy the cold, you might choose to move to Calgary or another city. Additionally, since 26% of people in Calgary were not born in Canada, you will not be alone.
Calgary is 3,800 feet above sea level. This is far higher than the national average for Canadian cities. This indicates that the town is not excessively hot or cold.
Oil boom
Although oil was initially found in Alberta around 1902, the province’s oil industry did not take off until 1947, when quantities were found close to Leduc. Calgary soon became the epicentre of the accompanying oil boom. The 1973 Arab Oil Embargo raised oil prices, which led to a growth in the city’s economy. From 1971 (403,000) and 1989 (675,000), a period of eighteen years, the population expanded by 272,000 and by another 345,000 in the following 18 years (to 1,020,000 in 2007). During these years of growth, skyscrapers were built, and the previously low-rise downtown was suddenly filled with tall structures.
The recent past
The early 1980s economic collapse had a big impact on Calgary, which employed a sizable number of people in the oil sector, and the jobless rate shot through the roof. But the economy was recovering by the decade’s close. Calgary swiftly concluded that it could not continue to place such a strong emphasis on oil and gas. As a result, the city has grown significantly more economically and culturally diversified. During this recession, Calgary’s transformation from a medium-sized, unremarkable prairie city to a significant, multicultural hub occurred. Due to this shift, the city hosted the first Winter Games in Canada in 1988. The city practically entered the global stage due to the success of these Games.
Calgary street map of geography
Purple denotes industrial zones on a map of Calgary. Calgary is situated at the Canadian Prairies’ meeting point and the Canadian Rockies’ foothills. The Parkland Nature Region and the Grasslands Natural Region are next to the city. The height of the airport and downtown Calgary, respectively, is 1,076 metres (3,428 feet) (3,531 ft). The city had a land area of 825.29 km2 in 2011. (318.65 sq mi).
Two rivers traverse the city. The Bow River flows from the west to the south and is the bigger of the two. The Elbow River originates in the south and runs north until joining the Bow River close to downtown at the old Fort Calgary site.
Neighbourhoods
Eau Claire (including the Festivals District), the Downtown West End, the Downtown Commercial Core, Chinatown, and the Downtown East Village make up the city’s downtown area (also part of the Rivers District). Stephen Avenue Retail Core, Entertainment District, Arts District, and Government District are just a few of the districts that make up the commercial core. Calgary’s highest-density neighbourhood, The Beltline, can be found south of 9th Avenue and from the downtown area. Connaught, Victoria Crossing, and a section of the Rivers District are among the towns in the region. The city government is concentrating its primary planning and revitalization efforts on the Beltline to boost the density and vibrancy of Calgary’s downtown.