Until this great work is completed, our dominion is little more than a geographical expression - Sir John A. Macdonald

Travel through the eras of  history and the development of the various nations that make up Canada today.

Sir Charles Tupper, Canada's sixth prime minister, was the last surviving Father of Confederation.

Descended from settlers who arrived in North America in 1635 and in Canada in 1763, he was born at Amherst, N.S., on July 2, 1821. After receiving his early education at Wolfville, N.S., he went to famed Edinburgh university and graduated as a medical doctor in 1843, returning to practise in his hometown. He was a doctor of more than usual renown and eventually became president of the Canadian Medical Association.

He entered political life by being elected to the Nova Scotia assembly in 1855. He became provincial secretary in 1857 and premier in 1864. He was elected to the federal parliament in 1867 and stayed there until 1884, then returned in 1887-88 and from 1896-1900. After standing aside from Canada's first federal cabinet he was at various times later president of the privy council, minister of inland revenue, of public works, of railways and canals, of finance and secretary of state. In addition, he was Canadian High Commissioner in London from 1884 until 1887, and from 1888 to 1896. That year he returned to Canada to take the secretary of state portfolio and eventually to become prime minister when Sir Mackenzie Bowell was forced out of office by  a "nest of traitors". In the election six months later his party was defeated. Sir Charles led the opposition until 1900 when he suffered a personal election defeat in Cape Breton and retired. He had been knighted in 1879 and created a baronet in 1888.

He died at Bexley Heath, Kent, England on Oct. 30, 1915