On his way from Iceland to Greenland in the year 986, Viking Bjarni Herjolfsson was blown off course, becoming the first European to see Canada. He didn't land, but he did take back stories of this wild country and its rich forests.

Young Leif Ericsson heard Herjolfsson's stories. He bought the older Viking's ship and in 1000 set out to see for himself. He landed somewhere along Canada's Atlantic coast, but no one is exactly sure where. It was likely Newfoundland as the 1000 year old ruins of a Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows were found there in 1960.

In 1534, Jacques Cartier set sail from France in search of gold and a passage to Asia. Instead, he bumped into Canada. He made two more voyages and explored the St. Lawrence River as far as what is now Montreal.

What do Superman, the long-distance phone call, the baseball glove and synchronized swimming have in common? These Canadian inventions, discoveries and events are first in the world.

First Superman comic... Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Superman, first drawn by Canadian Joe Shuster in 1932 when he was 17 years old. Shuster's friend Jerome Siegel wrote the words. Superman went on to become a major hit and paved the way for many more action heroes.

First long-distance telephone call... .The distance wasn't very long - only 8km or 5 miles - but Alexander Graham Bell's telephone call still made history. It was the first time voices were transmitted long distance by Bell's new invention, the telephone.

First padded baseball glove... In the early days of baseball gloves without fingers were worn by catchers. In 1883, shortstop Art Irwin broke two fingers using the fingerless gloves. He then created a padded baseball glove, like the one.s in use today.

First basketball game... .James Naismith invented basketball while at a YMCA teacher's school in Massachusetts. The first basketball game was played on Dec 21, 1891 with peach baskets used for goals. The baskets gave the game its name.

First synchronized swimming... No wonder so many Canadian swimmers rack up gold medals in synchronized swimming... the sport is a Canadian invention! Originally called ornamental or scientific swimming, it was developed by Canadian Peg Seller for women who didn't want to speed swim. The first competition was held in 1924.

First to discover insulin... Before the 1920's, diabetes was a killer disease. Then Dr. Fredrick Banting and his assistant, Charles Best discovered insulin in 1922. Banting won Canada's first Nobel Prize, in 1923.

First electric cooking oven... Until 1892, the only way to cook something was on a wood stove. That year, Thomas Ahearn built an electric oven in Ottawa's Windsor Hotel and astounded a party of 50 by preparing and entire banquet on it.

First use of the Canadarm... What is 15m (50ft) long, cost $110 million to build and can grab satellites in space? It's the Canadarm, the six-jointed arm and hand that can be remotely manoeuvred to grasp and move huge objects with amazing precision. First used on the space shuttle Columbia in November 1981, the Canadarm has put Canada at the forefront of space robotics.

First flexible hard suit for divers... The Hardsuit, developed in Vancouver by Phil Nuytten in 1986 provides both safety and flexibility for commercial deep-sea divers.

First time zones... Today the world is divided into 24 time zones, but it wasn't always so. Each town and city used to set it's own time based on the sun. The result was chaos; people did not know what time it was when they moved from place to place. Then, in 1879, Canadian Sir Sandford Fleming proposed the 24 time zones, with each place within the zone having the same time. This system, called Standard Time, went into effect in 1884.

First to get computers and other electronic equipment "talking"... Want your cell phone to "talk" to your VCR and tell it to tape your favourite program? You need a computer language that lets electronic equipment communicate. In 1991, James Gosling began to work on a universal software language. Called Java, the software uses the Web and a common language to link electronic devices and get them talking and working together.

* Underwater baby photo's by Tricia Ann Roy (Australia)