Canada is a place.
Canada ( [ ˈkænədə ] [ kanadɑ ] ) is a country in the northern part of North America . Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean , covering 9.98 e6km2 , making it the world 's second-largest country by total area and the fourth-largest country by land area . Canada 's border with the United States is the world 's longest binational land border . As a consequence of various conflicts , Great Britain gained and lost territories within British North America until it was left , in the late 18th century , with what mostly geographically comprises Canada today . This began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada .