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International Polar Year (IPY), 1882-83, was the first worldwide co-ordinated scientific enterprise and the most significant single event in the founding of the science of geophysics.

Weights and measures are terms which traditionally referred to standards of mass (or weight), length and volume. Over the past few thousand years such standards have frequently been introduced throughout the world for trading and tax purposes.

Arpent, a French measure of length and area. Numerous regional variants of the arpent coexisted in 17th-century France; of these, the arpent de Paris came into use in Canada before 1636 as part of a system of measures. The arpent de superficie, or square arpent (equivalent to 0.

Metric conversion was the process of making metric units — such as metre, kilogram and degree Celsius — the common units of measurement in Canada, leaving the British imperial system (with units such as yard, gallon and pound) behind. The process was fraught with political interference and public resistance, and took place incrementally between 1970 and the early 1980s. Despite the shift, many Canadians still express certain measurements in imperial units, such as height (feet and inches).

The manufacture of clocks and watches in Canada may have begun as early as 1700; however, practising watch and clockmakers through the 18th and much of the 19th centuries did not make the movements.

The forty-ninth parallel is the line of latitude that forms the boundary between Canada and the US from Lake of the Woods to the Strait of Georgia.