History of Alberta

What is today the province of Alberta, Canada has a history and prehistory stretching back thousands of years. Recorded or written history begins with the arrival of Europeans. The rich soil was ideal for growing wheat, and the coming of the railroads in the late 19th century led a to large-scale migration of farmers from Eastern Canada, the United States, and Europe. Wheat remains important, but the farms are much larger and the rural population much smaller. Alberta has urbanized and its economic base has expanded from the export of wheat but the export of oil as well.

The ancestors of today's First Nations in Alberta arrived in the area at least 8,000 years BC, according to the Bering land bridge theory. Southerly tribes, the Plain Indians, such as the Blackfoot, Blood, and Peigans eventually adapted to semi-nomadic Plains Bison hunting, originally without the aid of horses, but later with horses Europeans had introduced. More northerly tribes, like the Woodland Cree and the Chipewyan also hunted, trapped, and fished for other types of game in the aspen parkland and boreal forest regions.

Later, the mixture of these native peoples with French fur traders created a new cultural group, the Métis. The Métis established themselves to the east of Alberta, but after being displaced by white settlement, many migrated to Alberta.

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