Editing Canadas (section)

{{Short description|Historical geopolitical term}}
{{distinguish|United Canadas}}
{{other uses|Canada (disambiguation)|Canadas (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox former country
|conventional_long_name = Provinces of Upper Canada <br /> and Lower Canada
|common_name            = The Canadas
|iso3166code            = omit
|year_start             = 1791
|year_end               = 1841
|p1                     = Colony of Quebec
|flag_p1                = Flag of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg
|s1                     = Province of Canada
|flag_s1                = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
|flag_type              = [[Union Jack#Canada|Union Flag]] (1801 version)<ref name="Canada.ca">{{cite web |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/flag-canada-history.html#a2 |title=Early flags |work=Government of Canada |access-date=2021-01-15}}</ref><ref name="Union Flag">{{cite web |url=http://fraser.cc/FlagsCan/Nation/Union.html |title=Royal Union Flag |work=The Flags of Canada |access-date=2021-01-15}}</ref>
|image_flag             = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
|flag_alt               = Royal Union Flag
|national_anthem        = "[[God Save the King|God Save the King/Queen]]" <div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">[[File:Rufst du, mein Vaterland (1938).oga]]</div>
|image_map              = Canada upper lower map.PNG
|image_map_alt          = Map of the Canadas
|image_map_caption      = The Canadas, [[Upper Canada]] (orange) and [[Lower Canada]] (green) prior to 1809, with contemporary [[Canada]] in pink surrounding it
}}
The '''Canadas''' is the collective name for the provinces of [[Lower Canada]] and [[Upper Canada]], two [[British colonization of the Americas|historical British colonies]] in present-day [[Canada]].<ref name="Turner2011">{{cite book|author=Wesley B. Turner|title=The Astonishing General: The Life and Legacy of Sir Isaac Brock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugrSHwy1wysC&pg=PA12|date=4 July 2011|publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd.|isbn=978-1-55488-777-4|page=12}}</ref> The two colonies were formed in 1791, when the [[British Parliament]] passed the ''[[Constitutional Act 1791|Constitutional Act]]'', splitting the colonial [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Province of Quebec]] into two separate colonies. The [[Ottawa River]] formed the border between Lower and Upper Canada.

The Canadas were merged into a single entity in 1841, shortly after [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Lord Durham]] published his ''[[Report on the Affairs of British North America]]''. His report held several recommendations, most notably union of the Canadas. Acting on his recommendation, the British Parliament passed the ''[[Act of Union 1840]]''. The Act went into effect in 1841, uniting the Canadas into the [[Province of Canada]]. 

The terms "Lower" and "Upper" refer to the colony's position relative to the headwaters of the [[St. Lawrence River]].
* Lower Canada covered the southeastern portion of the present-day province of [[Quebec]], Canada, and (until 1809) the [[Labrador]] region of [[Newfoundland and Labrador]].<ref name="Turner2011" />
* Upper Canada covered what is now the southern portion of the province of [[Ontario]] and the lands bordering [[Georgian Bay]] and [[Lake Superior]].<ref name="Turner2011" />