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.
The Indigenous peoples of Southern Alberta refer to the Calgary area as "elbow", in reference to the sharp bend made by the Bow River and the Elbow River. In some cases, the area was named after the reeds that grew along the riverbanks, reeds that had been used to fashion bows. In the Blackfoot language (Siksiká) the area is known as , meaning "elbow many houses", reflecting its strong settler presence. The shorter form of the Blackfoot name, , simply meaning "elbow", is the popular Indigenous term for the Calgary area. In the Nakoda or Stoney language, the area is known as or , both meaning "elbow". In the Cree language, the area is known as () meaning "at the elbow" or meaning "elbow". In the Tsuutʼina language (Sarcee), the area is known as (older orthography, ) meaning "elbow". In Kutenai language, the city is referred to as . In the Slavey language, the area is known as meaning "many horse town", referring to the Calgary Stampede and the city's settler heritage.
There have been several attempts to revive the Indigenous names of Calgary. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, local post-secondary institutions adopted "official acknowledgements" of Indigenous territory using the Blackfoot name of the city, . In 2017, the Stoney Nakoda sent an application to the Government of Alberta, to rename Calgary as meaning "elbow town"; however, this was challenged by the Piikani Blackfoot.
History
Early history
The Calgary area was inhabited by pre-Clovis people whose presence traces back at least 11,000 years. The area has been inhabited by the multiple First Nations, the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy; Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), îyârhe Nakoda, the Tsuutʼina peoples and Métis Nation, Region 3. As Mayor Naheed Nenshi said in 2018, "There have always been people here. In Biblical times there were people here. For generations beyond number, people have come here to this land, drawn here by the water. They come here to hunt and fish; to trade; to live; to love; to have great victories; to taste bitter disappointment; but above all to engage in that very human act of building community."