Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. state of Montana to its south. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two landlocked provinces. The eastern part of the province is occupied by the Great Plains, while the western part borders the Rocky Mountains. The province has a predominantly continental climate, but seasonal temperatures tend to swing rapidly due to its aridity. Those swings are less pronounced in western Alberta because of its occasional Chinook winds.
Alberta is Canada's fourth-largest province by area, at 661,848 square kilometres (255,541 sq mi), and the fourth-most populous, with 4,262,635 residents. Alberta's capital is Edmonton; its largest city is Calgary. The two cities are Alberta's largest census metropolitan areas. More than half of Albertans live in Edmonton or Calgary, which encourages a continuing rivalry between the two cities. English is the province's official language. In 2016, 76.0% of Albertans were anglophone, 1.8% were francophone, and 22.2% were allophone.
Alberta's economy is advanced, open, market-based, and characterized by a highly educated workforce, strong institutions and property rights, and sophisticated financial markets. The service sector employs 80% of Albertans, in fields like healthcare, education, professional services, retail, tourism and financial services. The industrial base includes manufacturing, construction, and agriculture (10%, 5%, and 2% of employment respectively), while the knowledge economy includes about 3000 tech companies employing an estimated 60,000 people, mainly in Calgary and Edmonton. The energy sector employs 5% of Albertans but significantly impacts exports and GDP. Alberta's exports, primarily US-bound, consist of 70% oil and gas, 13% food products, and 12% industrial products. Oil and gas are culturally influential, having shaped politics, generated "striking it rich" narratives, and created boom-and-bust cycles. In 2023, Alberta's output was $350 billion, 15% of Canada's GDP.
Until the 1930s, Alberta's political landscape consisted of two major parties: the centre-left Liberals and the agrarian United Farmers of Alberta. Today, Alberta is generally perceived as a conservative province. The right-wing Social Credit Party held office continually from 1935 to 1971 before the centre-right Progressive Conservatives held office continually from 1971 to 2015, the latter being the longest unbroken run in government at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history. The United Conservative Party has held office since 2019.
Since before it became part of Canada, Alberta has been home to several First Nations, such as Plains Indians and Woodland Cree. It was historically also a territory used by fur traders of the rival companies Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company. The Dominion of Canada bought the lands that would become Alberta as part of the NWT in 1870. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, many immigrants arrived in an effort to prevent the prairies from being annexed by the United States. Growing wheat and cattle ranching became very profitable during this period. In 1905, the Alberta Act was passed, creating the province of Alberta. Massive oil reserves were discovered in 1947. The exploitation of oil sands began in 1967.
Alberta is renowned for its natural beauty and is home to important nature reserves. It is also well known as a rich source of fossils. It is home to six UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Wood Buffalo National Park and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. Other popular sites include Banff National Park, Elk Island National Park, Jasper National Park, Waterton Lakes National Park, and Drumheller.
Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise was the wife of John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada (1878–83). Lake Louise and Mount Alberta were also named in her honour.
The name "Alberta" is a feminine Latinized form of Albert, the name of Princess Louise's father, the Prince Consort (cf. Medieval Latin: Albertus, masculine) and its Germanic cognates, ultimately derived from the Proto-Germanic language *Aþalaberhtaz (compound of "noble" + "bright/famous").
Alberta, with an area of 661,848 km2 (255,541 sq mi), is the fourth-largest province after Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia.
Alberta's southern border is the 49th parallel north, which separates it from the U.S. state of Montana. The 60th parallel north divides Alberta from the Northwest Territories. The 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Saskatchewan. On the west, its boundary with British Columbia follows the 120th meridian west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains. From that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a generally southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana border at 49°N.
The province extends 1,223 kilometres (760 mi) north to south and 660 km (410 mi) east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is 3,747 metres (12,293 ft) at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is 152 m (499 ft) on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast.
With the exception of the semi-arid climate of the steppe in the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous rivers and lakes in Alberta used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire (1,436 km2 [554 sq mi]) in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake (1,168 km2 or 451 sq mi), and Lake Athabasca (7,898 km2 or 3,049 sq mi), which lies in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. The longest river in the province is the Athabasca River, which travels 1,538 km (956 mi) from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca.
The largest river is the Peace River with an average flow of 2,100 cubic metres per second (74,000 cu ft/s). The Peace River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows through northern Alberta and into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River.
Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, is located roughly at the geographic centre of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Canada and serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Canada. With its proximity to Canada's largest oil fields, the region has most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity. Calgary is about 280 km (170 mi) south of Edmonton and 240 km (150 mi) north of Montana by highway, surrounded by extensive ranching country. Almost 75% of the province's population lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The land grant policy to the railways served as a means to populate the province in its early years.
Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary are largely temperate coniferous forests of the Alberta Mountain forests and Alberta–British Columbia foothills forests. The southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Calgary, north to Edmonton, and then east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population. Much of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain farming or cattle ranching, with mixed farming more common in the north and centre, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south.