LESSONS IN GKOORAI'IIY. 



THE CHIEF DIVISIONS or NORTH AMERICA, THEIR CAPITALS, 

 POPULATION, ARIA, ETC. 



Divisions. 



Capital* or Chief 

 OHM, 



Brit. N. America Ottawa . 

 (.iivunluuil. . Julianshiuib 



Unit.-,l StuU-s 

 Mexico 



Washington 

 Mexico 



1 America Now Guatemala. 

 W.I.lsluuils.etc. Havauua . 



Rivers, etc., 

 on which 



the Capitals in Square 



t;ui.t. 



Ottawa 



S,a I'.ust 

 Potomac , 

 L. Tezcuoo 



C. of Cuba, 



Approxi- 



m.it.-.ir.-.i 



M.U-s. 



3,620,000 4,750,000 

 380.000] 10,000 



3,603,880 57,000,000 



751,180 10,007,000 



175,865 2.900,000 



98,000 4,195,000 



Prom the above table it will be seen that the great territorial 

 divisions are few in number ; but these are subdivided into a 

 number of lesser districts, as will be shown presently. Leaving 

 Greenland out of the question, the reader will be struck at once 

 with the scanty population of British North America, when 

 viewed in comparison with its immense extent, which is larger 

 even than that of the United States. It speaks volumes about 

 the defenceless state of by far the greater part of the British 

 territory, should the jealous and restless people of the United 

 States bo inflamed by a furious desire for annexation ; and it 

 ells a sad story of the negligence and indifference of the 

 ithorities at home, who, by the judicious use of emigration, 

 light have settled the rich acres of the Fertile Belt a track 

 of rich woodland and meadows, stretching westward from 

 Canada to the Eocky Mountains with families who are wearily 

 dragging out a cheerless existence at home, thus stocking it 

 with men who would be ready and willing to defend their own, 

 ad whose labour would soon render the country an abundant 

 onrce of food, both animal and vegetable, to those they have 

 left behind in the old mother-land in the distant east. 



Greenland, or Danish America, is a barren, snow-covered 

 country, with a coast broken by deep inlets of the sea, on some 

 which a few fishing towns and villages have been founded, 

 is, in all probability, an island, though no man as yet has 

 en able to reach its northern limits, or even proceed to any 

 stance into the interior. Its inhabitants ore chiefly Esquimaux, 

 rho live on seals and whale-blubber. About 500 Danes are 

 9und in the fishing-towns of Julianshaab, Christianshaab, 

 Jpernavik, Jacobshavn, and Frederickshoab, who work the 

 rhale fisheries and obtain copper on Discoe Islands, and an 

 ferior coal on some parts of the coast. 



British North America is divided from the United States by 

 de parallel of 49 north latitude and the chain of great lakes in 

 the upper part of the river St. Lawrence. It is separated from 

 ska on the west by the meridian of 141 west longitude, from 

 ie Arctic Ocean to Mount St. Elias, whore the remainder of 

 the line of demarcation from this mountain to the top of 

 Observatory Inlet, one of the branches of the great strait that 

 divides Queen Charlotte Islands from the mainland, is formed 

 by the coast range of the Rocky Mountains. The following 

 i the principal divisions of British North America : 



DIVISIONS. CHIEF TOWNS. DIVISIONS CHIEF TOWNS. 



ludson Bay Ter. Fort York. Stickeen 



. Ottawa. Brit. Columbia New Westminster. 



Newfoundland ) .,. _ . , Vancouver Is. Victoria, 



ad Labrador, f St Jobns - 



Of these the Hudson Bay territory, lying round Hudson Bay 

 and stretching westward to the Rooky Mountains, a tract 

 abounding in large lakes and rivers, is chiefly remarkable for 

 the Fertile Belt, which is intersected by Lakes Winnipeg and 

 Winnipegoos, and traversed by the Saskatchewan river. This 

 belt is a fine wheat-producing country, and, abounding in wood, 

 water, and fine pastures, offers considerable advantages to 

 settlers proceeding thither from the United Kingdom. The 

 Dominion of Canada, which was formed in 1867, consists of the 

 provinces of Ontario and Quebec, formerly known as Upper and 

 Lower Canada, or Canada East and Canada West, New Bruns- 

 wick and Nova Scotia, to which last belongs Cape Breton Island. 

 Ottawa, the capital, is in the province of Ontario. Newfound- 

 land is famous for its fisheries. The governor of this island 

 includes Labrador, with its bleak, iron-bound coast, within his 

 jurisdiction. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence is also found the 

 little colony of Prince Edward Island. 



The moat important colony on the wort aid* of British North 

 America is Vancouver Island, which, from its rich coal and iron 

 mine*, Menu destined to become the seat of aaafaaOiies of 

 all kinds, and the focus in which will be centred a large trade 

 between our North American eoloniee and Eastern Asia and 

 Australia, when the Fertile Belt is traversed by a railway 

 running from Canada to British Colombia. The last-named 

 colony, yet in its infancy, yields timber, coal, and gold; while of 

 Stickeon, which lies to the north, and was constituted a British 

 colony in 1862, little is known at present, or will be known 

 while more desirable localities for emigration are found in 

 Vancouver Island and British Columbia. 



As regards the United States, which ha* completed its 

 first century of existence as an independent nation, we 

 can only give a list of the states of which it is composed, 

 distinguishing the states from the territories and territorial 

 districts, and the free states from the former slave states. At 

 the present time the republic of the United States, which 

 stretches from the southern limits of British North America to 

 the head of the Gulf of California and the Bio Grande del 

 Norte, the chief part of the boundary line that separates it 

 from Mexico, consists of one federal district, thirty-eight states, 

 eight territories, and two territorial districts, including Alaska, 

 which was formerly called Russian America. The federal district 

 is Columbia, a small piece of land lying around the capital, 

 Washington, which stands on the Potomac river. Of the states, 

 territories, and territorial districts, there are four groups, sup- 

 posing the whole country to be divided into two parts by the 

 Mississippi, and each of these parts to be again sub-divided 

 into two portions, the eastern moiety into the north-eastern and 

 south-eastern states by the rivers Ohio and Potomac, and the 

 western half into the north-western and south-western states. 

 It will be as well to state at once that the dates preceding the 

 names of each state show the period at or about which it was 

 formed or settled, or admitted into the Union after the Declara- 

 tion of Independence in 1776. The states in italics are the- 

 former slave states, and those to which the letters c. s. are 

 added conjointly formed the federal union of the Confederate 

 States from 1861 to 1865. The letters T. and T. D. affixed to 

 the territories and territorial districts will serve to distinguish 

 the former from the latter. 



1. NORTH-EASTERN STATES (16). 



1830 Maine. Augusta. 



1623 New Hampshire (1). .Concord. 

 1791 Vermont. Montpelier. 



1620 Massachusetts (2). ... Boston. 

 1635 Rhode Island (3) . Newport.etc. 

 1635 Connecticut (4). Hartford, etc. 

 1614 New York (5). Albany. 

 1644 New Jersey (6). Trenton. 



1627 C4awar (7). Dover. 

 1632 Maryland (8). Annapolis. 

 1682 Pennsylvania (9). . Harrisburg. 



1802 Ohio. 

 1816 Indiana. 

 1818 Illinois. 

 1848 Wisconsin. 



!<;: Michigan. 



Columbus. 



Indianopolis. 



Springfield. 



Madison. 



Lansing. 



2. SOUTH-EASTERN STATES (10). 



1607 Virginia (10) c.s. Richmond. 

 1863 West Virginia. Wheeling. 

 1792 Kentucky. Frankfort. 



1796 Tenntttu, c.s. Nashville. 

 1669 North Carolina (11) C.s. Raleigh. 



3. NORTH-WESTERN 

 1846 Iowa. Des Moines. 

 1858 Minnesota. St. Paul. 



Dakotah (T.) Yankton. 

 1867 Nebraska. Omaha. 



Wyoming (T.) 



4. SOUTH- WESTERN 



1850 California. Sacramento. 



1865 Nevada. Virginia City. 



Utah (T.) Filmore City. 



Arizona (T.) Prescott. 



New Mexico (T.) Santa Fe. 

 1867 Colorado. Denver City. 



1669 S. Carolina (12)c.8.... Columbia. 

 1732 Goryia(13)c.S....Milledgvillft. 

 1845 Florida, c.s. Tallahassee. 

 1819 Alabama, c.s. ..Montgomery. 

 1817 KtMtttippi, c.s. Jackson. 



STATES, ETC. (10). 



Montana (T.) Virginia. 



Idaho (T.) Lewiston. 



1859 Oregon. Salem. 



Washington (T.) Olympis. 



Alaska (T.D.) Sitka. 



STATES, ETC. (12). 



Indian Territory (T.D.) 

 1861 Kansas. Topeka, 



1821 Jfuwmri. J. :T. nso^City. 



1836 Xrfcaiuo* (c.*.) LitUerock. 

 1812 Louisiana (c.a.) Baton Rouge. 

 1845 To* (c.s.) Austin. 



It should be stated that the territories send only one delegate 

 to Congress, while the districts are unrepresented. The states 

 send members in proportion to their population. Several of the 

 present states were separated from the thirteen states that ori- 

 ginally entered the Union in 1776 : thus Maine was included in 

 Massachusetts^ and Vermont in New York ; West Virginia and 

 Kentucky were portions of Virginia ; Tennessee belonged to 

 South Carolina, and Alabama and Mississippi to Georgia. The 



