UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Canada

UNESCO's Description

At the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, the remains of an 11th-century Viking settlement are evidence of the first European presence in North America. The excavated remains of wood-framed peat-turf buildings are similar to those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Before the Norse arrived in Newfoundland, there is evidence of occupations by five Indigenous groups at the site of L'Anse aux Meadows, the oldest dated to roughly 6,000 years ago. None were contemporaneous with the Norse occupation. The most prominent earlier occupation was by the Dorset people, who occupied the site about 300 years before the Norse. Radiocarbon date ranges for these groups are c. 4000 – c. 1000 BCE for the Maritime Archaic tradition, c. 1000 – c. 500 BCE for the Groswater tradition, c. 400 – c. 750 for the Middle Dorset, c. 800 – c. 850 for the Cow Head Group and Beaches traditions, and c. 1200 – c. 1500 CE (after the Norse) for the Little Passage tradition.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q189113 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Located along the South Nahanni River, one of the most spectacular wild rivers in North America, this park contains deep canyons and huge waterfalls, as well as a unique limestone cave system. The park is also home to animals of the boreal forest, such as wolves, grizzly bears and caribou. Dall's sheep and mountain goats are found in the park's alpine environment.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Geography

There are several different landforms in the park that have taken millions of years to form, giving it a topographical diversity not seen in any other national park in Canada. Sediments, left by an ancient inland sea present some 500–200 million years ago, have since become pressed into coloured layers of rock. These layers, stacked about 6 km (3.7 mi) deep, are peppered with fossilised remnants of the varied organisms that once swam the ancient seas, beginning well before the time of the dinosaurs. As the continents shifted, the North American and Pacific Plates collided, the force of which forced layers of rock upwards. Ridges of rock thus bent and broke, leaving behind the mountain ranges seen today.

History

The Dene, sometimes called Slavey peoples, have used the lands around Nahanni National Park Reserve for thousands of years. The first human occupation of the area is estimated to have occurred 9,000-10,000 years ago. Evidence of prehistoric human use has been found at Yohin Lake and a few other sites within the park. The local oral history contains many references to the Naha tribe, a mountain-dwelling people who used to raid settlements in the adjacent lowlands. These people are said to have rather quickly and mysteriously disappeared.

First contact with European fur traders expanding into the region occurred in the 18th century, and was increased with Alexander Mackenzie's exploration of the Mackenzie River (Deh Cho), and building of trading posts at Fort Simpson and Fort Liard.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q391391 (CC0).

Visiting Nahanni National Park Reserve

Nahanni National Park Reserve is a national park reserve in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site to protect the South Nahanni River, one of the most spectacular wild rivers in North America.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Nahanni National Park Reserve (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

In addition to its particularly beautiful scenery, Dinosaur Provincial Park – located at the heart of the province of Alberta's badlands – contains some of the most important fossil discoveries ever made from the 'Age of Reptiles', in particular about 35 species of dinosaur, dating back some 75 million years.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Established on June 27, 1955 as part of Alberta's 50th Jubilee Year with the goal of protecting the fossil beds, the first warden was Roy Fowler (1902–1975), a farmer and amateur fossil hunter.

The park was established as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on October 26, 1979 both for its nationally significant badlands and riverside riparian habitats, and for the international importance of the fossils found there.

Until 1985, discoveries made in the park had to be shipped to museums throughout the world for scientific analysis and display, including the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in Ontario, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa in Ontario, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, New York State, and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q289466 (CC0).

Visiting Dinosaur Provincial Park

Dinosaur Provincial Park is a provincial park near Brooks, in Southern Alberta. It has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the 58 unique dinosaur species have been discovered at the park and for its badlands landscape. It's one of only eleven palaeontological UNESCO World Heritage Sites (as of 2021) in the world. It is an important site for Palaeontology in Canada.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Dinosaur Provincial Park (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

These parks comprise an impressive complex of glaciers and high peaks on both sides of the border between Canada (Yukon Territory and British Columbia) and the United States (Alaska). The spectacular natural landscapes are home to many grizzly bears, caribou and Dall's sheep. The site contains the largest non-polar icefield in the world.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q604604 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

In south-west Alberta, the remains of marked trails and an aboriginal camp, and a tumulus where vast quantities of buffalo (American Bison) skeletons can still be found, are evidence of a custom practised by aboriginal peoples of the North American plains for nearly 6,000 years. Using their excellent knowledge of the topography and of buffalo behaviour, they killed their prey by chasing them over a precipice; the carcasses were later carved up in the camp below.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The buffalo jump was used for 5,500 years by the indigenous peoples of the plains to kill bison by driving them off the 11-metre-high (36-foot) cliff. Before the late introduction of horses, the Blackfoot drove the bison from a grazing area in the Porcupine Hills about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the site to the "drive lanes", lined by hundreds of cairns, by dressing up as coyotes and wolves. These specialized "buffalo runners" were young men trained in animal behavior to guide the bison into the drive lanes. Then, at full gallop, the bison would fall from the weight of the herd pressing behind them, breaking their legs and rendering them immobile.

The cliff itself is about 300 metres (980 feet) long, and at its highest point drops 10 metres (33 feet) into the valley below.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q683110 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The village of Ninstints (Nans Dins) is located on a small island off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). Remains of houses, together with carved mortuary and memorial poles, illustrate the Haida people's art and way of life. The site commemorates the living culture of the Haida people and their relationship to the land and sea, and offers a visual key to their oral traditions.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Archaeological evidence shows that Haida Gwaii has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years, with territories of the Haida extending North into Southern Alaska. The village site dates back to at least 360 CE.

The people of SG̱ang Gwaay llnagaay are sometimes referred to as the Kunghit Haida. The Kunghit Haida occupied the southern portion of the archipelago of Haida Gwaii, with territory stretching from Lyell Island to the farthest southern tip of the archipelago. They had approximately two dozen permanent villages, as well as other smaller seasonal settlements located near major resource areas. Early records of Haida testimony recorded by John R. Swanton place the number of long houses at twenty.

UNESCO's Description

Situated on the plains in the north-central region of Canada, the park (which covers 44,807 km2) is home to North America's largest population of wild bison. It is also the natural nesting place of the whooping crane. Another of the park's attractions is the world's largest inland delta, located at the mouth of the Peace and Athabasca rivers.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Climate

In the park, summers are very short, but days are long. Temperatures range between 10 and 30 °C (50.0 and 86.0 °F) during this season. On average, summers are characterized by warm and dry days; in some years, there may be a pattern of cool and wet days. The mean high in July is 22.5 °C (72.5 °F) while the mean low is 9.5 °C (49.1 °F). Fall tends to have cool, windy and dry days, and the first snowfall usually occurs in October. Winters are cold with temperatures that can drop below −40 °C (−40.0 °F) in January and February, the coldest months. The mean high in January is −21.7 °C (−7.1 °F) while the mean low is −31.8 °C (−25.2 °F). In spring, temperatures gradually warm up as the days become longer.

History

This region has been inhabited by human cultures since the end of the last ice age. Aboriginal peoples in this region have followed variations on the subarctic lifeway, based around hunting, fishing, and gathering. Situated at the junction of three major rivers used as canoe routes for trade: the Athabasca, Peace and Slave rivers, the region that later was defined as the national park was well travelled by indigenous peoples for millennia.

In recorded times, the Dane-zaa (historically called the Beaver tribe), the Chipewyan people, the South Slavey (Dene Thaʼ), and Woods Cree people inhabited the region, where they sometimes competed for resources and trade. The Dane-zaa, Chipewyan, and South Slavey speak (or spoke) languages from the Northern Athabaskan family.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q391338 (CC0).

Visiting Wood Buffalo National Park

Wood Buffalo National Park is a vast, protected wilderness in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. The park has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its bison population (the largest in North America) and the largest inland delta.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Wood Buffalo National Park (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

The contiguous national parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho, as well as the Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber provincial parks, studded with mountain peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, canyons and limestone caves, form a striking mountain landscape. The Burgess Shale fossil site, well known for its fossil remains of soft-bodied marine animals, is also found there.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q72895 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Québec was founded by the French explorer Champlain in the early 17th century. It is the only North American city to have preserved its ramparts, together with the numerous bastions, gates and defensive works which still surround Old Québec. The Upper Town, built on the cliff, has remained the religious and administrative centre, with its churches, convents and other monuments like the Dauphine Redoubt, the Citadel and Château Frontenac. Together with the Lower Town and its ancient districts, it forms an urban ensemble which is one of the best examples of a fortified colonial city.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q2114279 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Situated on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland, the park provides a rare example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth's mantle lie exposed. More recent glacial action has resulted in some spectacular scenery, with coastal lowland, alpine plateau, fjords, glacial valleys, sheer cliffs, waterfalls and many pristine lakes.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Geology

The park's rock formations, made famous by Robert Stevens and Harold Williams, include oceanic crust and mantle rock exposed by the obduction process of plate tectonics, as well as sedimentary rock formed during the Ordovician, Precambrian granite and Palaeozoic igneous rocks. The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Tremadocian stage and the all Ordovician system is defined in the Green Point section within this park.

The park is located in the Great Northern Peninsula of Western Newfoundland. This peninsula is referred to as the Humber Zone, a Miogeocline, the Highlands of which contain the largest external basement massif of the Grenville Orogeny in the Appalachian Orogen.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q257598 (CC0).

Visiting Gros Morne National Park

Gros Morne National Park is a Canadian national park on the west coast of Newfoundland. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Gros Morne National Park protects an area of impressive natural beauty, rural Newfoundland culture, and unique geological wonders.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Gros Morne National Park (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a 689 ha palaeontological site along the coast of Nova Scotia (eastern Canada), have been described as the “coal age Galápagos” due to their wealth of fossils from the Carboniferous period (354 to 290 million years ago). The rocks of this site are considered to be iconic for this period of the history of Earth and are the world’s thickest and most comprehensive record of the Pennsylvanian strata (dating back 318 to 303 million years) with the most complete known fossil record of terrestrial life from that time. These include the remains and tracks of very early animals and the rainforest in which they lived, left in situ, intact and undisturbed. With its 14.7 km of sea cliffs, low bluffs, rock platforms and beach, the site groups remains of three ecosystems: estuarine bay, floodplain rainforest and fire prone forested alluvial plain with freshwater pools. It offers the richest assemblage known of the fossil life in these three ecosystems with 96 genera and 148 species of fossils and 20 footprint groups. The site is listed as containing outstanding examples representing major stages in the history of Earth.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The area was known to the Mi'kmaq as "Chegoggins" meaning place of the large fish weir, a name modified by French and English settlers to Joggins. Situated on the Cumberland Basin, a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy, Joggins was a long established coal mining area. Its coal seams which are exposed along the shore of the Cumberland Basin were exploited as early as 1686 by local Acadian settlers and by the British garrison at Annapolis Royal in 1715.

The first commercial mine was set up by Major Henry Cope in 1731, but was destroyed by the Mi'kmaq in November 1732. In 1819 Samuel McCully opened a mine with much of his production being shipped by sea to Saint John, New Brunswick and other markets, but the mine went out of business in 1821 having mined less than 600 tons.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q1070033 (CC0).

Visiting Joggins Fossil Cliffs

Joggins is a small town in the Minas Basin region of Nova Scotia. It is known for its fossil cliffs, which date to more than 310 million years ago and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Joggins (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

Situated in the southern Minas Basin of Nova Scotia, the Grand Pré marshland and archaeological sites constitute a cultural landscape bearing testimony to the development of agricultural farmland using dykes and the aboiteau wooden sluice system, started by the Acadians in the 17th century and further developed and maintained by the Planters and present-day inhabitants. Over 1,300 ha, the cultural landscape encompasses a large expanse of polder farmland and archaeological elements of the towns of Grand Pré and Hortonville, which were built by the Acadians and their successors. The landscape is an exceptional example of the adaptation of the first European settlers to the conditions of the North American Atlantic coast. The site – marked by one of the most extreme tidal ranges in the world, averaging 11.6 m – is also inscribed as a memorial to Acadian way of life and deportation, which started in 1755, known as the Grand Dérangement.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Grand-Pré was founded around 1680 by Pierre Melanson and Pierre Terriot. Pierre Melanson came from the principal Acadian settlement at Port Royal. He was an Acadian of French Huguenot and English extraction, having arrived at Port Royal with Sir Thomas Temple in the 1650s when Acadia was under English control. Pierre Terriot was the son of Jehan born in Port Royal around 1654. Pierre Melanson was responsible for founding the parish of Saint-Charles des Mines while his friend, Pierre Terriot founded the parish of Saint-Joseph de la rivière aux Canards. The fertility of the soils and wealth of other resources in the area had been known to the French since the early part of the century when Samuel de Champlain, de Mons's cartographer, had surveyed the region.

Economy and culture

Today, Grand-Pré is the home the Grand-Pré National Historic Site which is now a national park administered by Parks Canada to commemorate the Acadian people and their deportation. The Covenanter Church at Grand-Pré is the oldest existing Presbyterian church in Nova Scotia. One of Nova Scotia's best known wineries, Domaine de Grand-Pré, is located in the community. Grand-Pré is also Canada's first designated Historic Rural District. The Just Us! coffee company headquarters is located in the village and is something of a tourist attraction. Evangeline Beach is a famous stopover for thousands of migrating shore birds and is also a fine vantage point for watching the ebb and flow of the world's highest tides.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q1100749 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Red Bay, established by Basque mariners in the 16th century at the north-eastern tip of Canada on the shore of the Strait of Belle Isle is an archaeological site that provides the earliest, most complete and best preserved testimony of the European whaling tradition. Gran Baya, as it was called by those who founded the station in 1530s, was used as a base for coastal hunting, butchering, rendering of whale fat by heading to produce oil and storage. It became a major source of whale oil which was shipped to Europe where it was used for lighting. The site, which was used in the summer months, includes remains of rendering ovens, cooperages, wharves, temporary living quarters and a cemetery, together with underwater remains of vessels and whale bone deposits. The station was used for some 70 years, before the local whale population was depleted.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Geography

Red Bay is located approximately 530 km as the crow flies from St. John's. It is located north of the strait of Belle Isle, which separates the island of Newfoundland and the continental portion, Labrador. Red Bay is accessible by Route 510 and situated 80 km from Blanc-Sablon.

Red Bay, strictly speaking, is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Saddle Island, making it the ideal natural harbour.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q3238270 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

This fossil site is located at the south-eastern tip of the island of Newfoundland, in eastern Canada. It consists of a narrow, 17 km-long strip of rugged coastal cliffs. Of deep marine origin, these cliffs date to the Ediacaran Period (580-560 million years ago), representing the oldest known assemblages of large fossils anywhere. These fossils illustrate a watershed in the history of life on earth: the appearance of large, biologically complex organisms, after almost three billion years of micro-dominated evolution.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The first fossil to be found in the area, Fractofusus misrai, was discovered in June 1967 by Shiva Balak Misra, an Indian graduate student studying geology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In the mid-1980s, the site quickly became recognized as an important location containing possibly the oldest metazoan fossils in North America, and the most ancient deep-water marine fossils in the world. A five-kilometre stretch of coastline was first established provisionally as a reserve by the provincial government in 1984 and was permanently designated in 1987. It was later expanded in 2009 after further fossil discoveries.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q3301928 (CC0).

Visiting Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve

Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Eastern Newfoundland of Newfoundland and Labrador. The fossils here are some of the oldest known remnants of multicellular life on Earth. It is an important site for palaeontology in Canada.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

The property is located on the northern edge of the semi-arid Great Plains of North America, on the border between Canada and the United States of America. The Milk River Valley dominates the topography of this cultural landscape, which is characterized by a concentration of pillars or hoodoos – columns of rock sculpted by erosion into spectacular shapes. The Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksikáíítsitapi) left engravings and paintings on the sandstone walls of the Milk River Valley, bearing testimony to messages from Sacred Beings. Dated in situ archaeological remains cover a period between ca. 4,500 BP - 3,500 years BP and the Contact Period. This landscape is considered sacred to the Blackfoot people, and their centuries-old traditions are perpetuated through ceremonies and in enduring respect for the places.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

There is evidence that the Milk River Valley was inhabited by First Nations people as early as 9,000 years ago. First Nations tribes such as the Blackfoot probably created many of the rock carvings (petroglyphs) and paintings (pictographs). Other First Nations groups such as the Shoshone also travelled through the valley and may have also created some of the art.

The cliffs and hoodoos held spiritual significance for the Blackfoot, who regarded them as the homes of powerful spirits. The shelter of the coulees and the abundance of game and berries made the area that is now the park an excellent location for these nomadic people to stop on their seasonal migrations.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q8038519 (CC0).

Visiting Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, also known as the Áísínai'pi National Historic Site is in Southern Alberta. It has the greatest concentration of rock art on the North American Great Plains, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park (CC BY-SA 4.0).