Edmonton started off in 1795 as a fur trading fort established by the Hudson's Bay Company. It's kind of fitting therefore that the city is now home to North America's largest shopping centre, the West Edmonton Mall.
There's much more to this Alberta city than shopping however. It's a booming staging point for oil sands projects in northern Alberta and diamond mining operations in the Northwest Territories. On top of that it is a noted city of the arts. There are more live theatres per capita than anywhere else in Canada, theatre festivals dot the summer calendar, and the performing arts community spans opera, ballet, symphony orchestra and jazz.
In 2007 it chalked up a designation as Canada's Cultural Capital and its legendary hockey team, the Oilers, has collected five Stanley Cups so far.
Edmonton's greenness is legendary too. A green belt runs through the city and there are hundreds of kilometres of trails for walking, running, cycling and rollerblading. In the winter months, chances to skate, go cross-country skiing or downhill skiing, are all just minutes of downtown.
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