The Gateway to the North — Alberta's capital sits at the last major city before the wilderness stretches to the Arctic, hosts the largest mall in North America, the longest stretch of urban parkland in North America along the North Saskatchewan River, and a Fringe Festival that is the largest in North America
Edmonton is the capital of Alberta and the northernmost major city in North America — a city of 1.1 million (metro 1.4 million) at 53°N latitude on the North Saskatchewan River, the economic capital of Canada's oil sands industry and the supply hub for northern Canada's resource extraction and Indigenous communities. West Edmonton Mall — 5.3 million square feet, 800 stores, an indoor waterpark, NHL-sized ice rink, 7 amusement rides, a submarine fleet, and a hotel — was the largest shopping mall in the world from 1981 to 2004 and remains the largest in North America. The river valley parks sys…
The Edmonton area was home to the Cree, Blackfoot, and Nakoda peoples and was a key site on the fur trade routes. Fort Edmonton was established by the North West Company in 1795 at the junction of the North Saskatchewan River and the fur trade route west. The fort was rebuilt by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1830 and became the hub of the HBC's northern operations. Edmonton was incorporated as a town in 1892 following the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway's branch line. The discovery of oil at Leduc in 1947, 30km south of Edmonton, transformed Alberta's economy and funded Edmonton's growt…