Prairies.biz

The word prairie usually to a type of grassland, and true prairies occur only in the far southern reaches of Alberta and Saskatchewan ... However "the prairie" may also refer to all of the Interior Plains region within Canada ... may also refer to all of the farmland in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, or the prairies may also include the entire area of all three of those provinces — a region known as the Prairie Provinces.

Primary industries include agriculture (wheat, barley, canola, brassica, oats), and cattle and sheep ranching. Also, natural resources such as tar sands (Fort McMurray, Alberta) and other forms of oil production can be found on the plains. Secondary industries consist of the refinement of oils and agriculture processing.

The Prairies are distinguished from the rest of Canada by unique cultural and political traits. The oldest influence on Prairie culture are the First Nations, who have lived in the area for centuries. The first Europeans to see the Prairies were fur traders and explorers from eastern Canada (mainly present-day Quebec) and Great Britain via Hudson Bay. Not until the Canadian Pacific Railway was built did widespread agricultural settlement occur. During their settlement, the prairies were settled in distinct ethnic block settlements giving certain areas distinctively Ukrainian, German, French, or Scandinavian Canadian cultures. Wikipedia