Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is the largest city in Alberta and the largest metro area within the three Prairie Provinces region. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Calgary is situated at the confluence of the Bow River and the Elbow River in the southwest of the province, in the transitional area between the Rocky Mountain Foothills and the Canadian Prairies, about east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies, roughly south of the provincial capital of Edmonton and approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The city anchors the south end of the Statistics Canada-defined urban area, the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Calgary's economy includes activity in the energy, financial services, film and television, transportation and logistics, technology, manufacturing, aerospace, health and wellness, retail, and tourism sectors. The Calgary Metropolitan Region is home to Canada's second-largest number of corporate head offices among the country's 800 largest corporations. In 2015, Calgary had the largest number of millionaires per capita of any major Canadian city. In 2022, Calgary was ranked alongside Zürich as the third most livable city in the world, ranking first in Canada and in North America. In 1988, it became the first Canadian city to host the Olympic Winter Games. Etymology Calgary was named after Calgary Castle on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. Colonel James Macleod, the Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police, had been a frequent summer guest there. In 1876, shortly after returning to Canada, he suggested its name for what became Fort Calgary. The Scottish Calgary, in turn, originates from a compound of and , Old Norse words, meaning "cold" and "garden". This was likely used by the Vikings who inhabited the Inner Hebrides. A competing, though less attested, etymology cites the Gaelic , which means "beach of the meadow (or pasture)", or Gaelic for either "clear running water" or "bay farm". The first possibility, "beach of the meadow", has some relevance to local geography. The town of Calgary, such as it is, has a large meadow to its east and this meadow leads to Calgary beach.