The Canadas

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Image:Canada upper lower map.PNG The Canadas were two British colonies, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, now part of modern-day Canada.

The region (formerly known as the Province of Quebec) was first divided into these colonies at the Ottawa River by the Constitutional Act of 1791 in response to the desire of recently arrived American settlers for British institutions and laws, especially British laws of land tenure, and to agitation by the English merchants of Montreal for representative government. Upper Canada corresponds to modern-day southern Ontario plus the shoreline of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior, while Lower Canada corresponds to modern-day southern Quebec and Labrador; the northern majority of the current land area of these provinces was still part of Rupert's Land. The territory of Lower Canada which is now recognized as part of Labrador, was disputed between Quebec and Newfoundland for sometime.

The structure of "the Canadas" was changed after Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839) recommended they be merged into the Province of Canada.

Lower Canada, Upper Canada and their legislatures were abolished with the Act of Union passed on July 23, 1840. The act abolished the legislatures of both Lower and Upper Canada and united them as one political entity, the Province of Canada.