During the 17th and 18th centuries, the British and French rivalry for Canada led to several wars. Those wars ended with the 1763 Treaty of Paris by which France lost Canada and other North American territory to Britain. In 1867 Canada became a self-governing dominion while retaining ties to the British crown. The government of the new country was based on the British parliamentary system, with a governor general as the Crown's representative. Separatist aspirations in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec remain a major domestic issue. With the second largest land mass in the world after Russia and a population of just about 34 million, Canada is distinguished among the leading industrial nations by its extremely low population density and vast wealth of natural resources. Canada’s economy is highly integrated with the economy of the United States, and the two countries share the world’s largest trading relationship.