INSIDE: Six natural regions Canada is a mosaic of natural regions, or ecozones, distinguished by their iconic features: the rain forest of the Pacific Coast, the flat-to-rolling horizon of the prairie, the evergreen wilderness of the Canadian Shield, and the polar barrens of the Arctic.

The Atlantic Maritime ecozone covers 2 percent of Canada’s area. Within its embrace are Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, bound together by fisheries and forests. This ecozone extends to parts of Quebec: the Appalachian highlands and the Gaspé Peninsula. A diversity of physical features — wooded uplands, fertile lowlands, and an 11,200-kilometres-long shoreline — endow this ecozone with incomparable beauty. Offshore lie the Atlantic and Northwest Atlantic Marine ecozones, which the Maritime provinces and Quebec share with Newfoundland. In the 20th century, the Atlantic provinces faltered with slow economic and population growth. Yet, as a new century dawns, offshore oil and gas development promises to quicken the economic pace.