Ontario+History


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Ontario History

First Nations Artifacts and archaeological excavation that show human habitation of what is today Ontario date back at least 7,000 years. Many distinct native cultures and languages flourished. In the north, Algonquin, Cree and Ojibwa people fished and hunted. The first farmers in the south were the Huron, Tobacco (Petun), Neutrals (Attiwandaron), and Iroquois.

The Iroquois Five Nations included the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk. The Tuscarora joined the Five Nations in 1722 and henceforth they were known as the Six Nations. The Iroquois lived mostly in northern New York State until after the American Revolution when many of them moved to Ontario as Loyalists. Distinct native cultures and languages have continued and evolve to this day.

Europeans Explore and Trade

The first Europeans to visit Ontario arrived by boat. French explorers Etienne Brulé and Samuel de Champlain followed the St. Lawrence River into Lake Ontario in 1610 and 1615, respectively. Henry Hudson sailed in to Ontario from the north and claimed the Hudson Bay area for Britain in 1611. Both the French and the British were keenly interested in Ontario’s commercial possibilities particularly the fur trade. Both built fortifications to protect their interests. The first settlers set up their base in the south, where the climate and land supported farming and the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence offered a natural transportation route.

 ﻿ ﻿ Struggle for Domination

The French and British were rivals in the New World as well as in the Old World and fought each other in North America intermittently beginning in the early 1600's. The final war for what is now Canada fought between the French and British (the Seven Years War) began in 1754. When it ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France ceded its claims for this land to Great Britain. British settlement was bolstered by the American Revolution which began in 1775. The revolutionary war ended in 1783, but colonists there who wanted to remain loyal to Britain (United Empire Loyalists) flocked to Ontario. Lines are Drawn

Until 1791, all the lands north of the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes were simply known as "Quebec." In 1791, the Constitutional Act divided and renamed this vast territory. The Ontario area was called Upper Canada, and the remainder of old Quebec was called Lower Canada. The first capital of Upper Canada was Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake), near the Canada-U.S. border. The capital was moved in 1793 to York (now Toronto) which was less vulnerable to raids from the new republic to the south. Upper Canada's first Lieutenant Governor was General John Graves Simcoe. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At the time, there were about 15,000 people in Upper Canada. Over the next 20 years various groups arrived, including German settlers from New York State, Mennonites who settled in the Grand River Valley, and the Catholic Highlanders who settled in Glengarry County. By the time war broke out in 1812, the population had swelled to about 90,000. <span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">War of 1812

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">In 1812 the United States, angered by British harassment on the Atlantic Ocean, trade problems, and wanting to add Britain’s North American colonies to the United States, declared war on Great Britain and invaded <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Upper Canada. The Americans were beaten back in 1812. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">However, the Legislative Buildings, in Toronto, were burned by the Americans in 1813. The British retaliated in 1814 by invading Washington and burning the Capitol and the president’s house. The war ended in a stalemate and the Treaty of Ghent was signed that year. <span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">Laura Secord <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Laura Ingersoll came to Upper Canada with her father in 1795 and settled in this area. About two years later she married James Secord, a United Empire Loyalist, and within seven years they moved to this site from nearby St. Davids. From here, during the War of 1812, Laura Secord set out on an arduous 19-mile journey to warn the local British commander, Lieutenant James FitzGibbon, of an impending American attack. The courage and tenacity displayed on this occasion in June 1813 places her in the forefront of the province's heroines. Mrs. Secord's house, a simple frame building, was restored (1971-72), and remains as a memorial to this exceptional act of patriotism.

<span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">Rebellion

<span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ontario’s population continued to grow rapidly throughout the 1820s. Trade and immigration were boosted by improving access: the Erie Canal was built in the U.S.A. to link the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, while the Welland Canal in Ontario allowed ships to bypass Niagara Falls and travel between Lakes Ontario and Erie. Settlers arrived from England, Scotland and Ireland. By 1830, the population of Canada was about 235,000. In 1834, Toronto was made the first city in Ontario. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In time, the legislative council that oversaw political affairs came to be seen as dominated by a few powerful people, called the Family Compact. The growing population began to demand a say in their own government. An uprising, led by William Lyon Mackenzie in 1837, produced few direct results, but set the stage for events to come. A similar popular uprising was taking place in Lower Canada. <span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">Federation and Confederation

<span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1841, on the advice of Lord Durham, the Union Act took effect, uniting Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. Upper Canada was renamed Canada West and Lower Canada was renamed Canada East. The union put the French of Quebec in a minority, and ultimately proved unworkable. At the time of the union, Upper Canada’s population was about 450,000. Kingston was the capital of the Province of Canada until 1843 when legislation was passed moving the capital to Montreal. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A railway boom in the 1850s made year-round transportation routes a reality, though the boom abruptly ended in 1857. When the American Civil War started in 1861, the population of Canada West was about 1.5 million. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1867, Ontario and Quebec again became separate provinces when they joined with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form a federal union, the Dominion of Canada, as declared in the British North America Act. The new nation’s capital was Ottawa, an Ontario town on the Quebec border, and the first prime minister was Sir John A. Macdonald. <span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">Sea to Sea

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">British Columbia entered the federation in 1871 on condition a railway link be built to the colony, west of the Rocky Mountains, with the rest of the country. In 1881, the Canadian Pacific Railway was given $25 million and 25 million acres of land to make the sea-to-sea link a reality. The railway was finished in 1885, and along the way, construction of this and other railways, including the Timiskaming/Ontario Northland Railway to northern Ontario, revealed huge deposits of silver, copper and nickel, opening up the north to development in the early 1900s. <span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">Economic Engine

<span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As the 1900s dawned, Ontario boasted a population of two million, half of whom lived on the land. All that was about to change. In 1903, Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company and the next year arranged for vehicles to be manufactured in Windsor for the British Empire. The same year, Fred LaRose threw his hammer at what he thought was a fox eyes and discovered the richest silver vein in the world, at Cobalt in northern Ontario. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Large-scale industry had come to Ontario. In 1906, the water power of Niagara Falls was harnessed with the launch of the Ontario Hydro-Electric Commission, which evolved into Ontario Hydro, which evolved into **<span style="border-bottom-color: #639000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3b5600; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Ontario Power Generation] **, one of the world's largest power utilities. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Between 1911 and 1913, one million people immigrated to Canada, most settling in Ontario. <span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">World Wars

<span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1914, World War I began. The world’s most famous war poem, "**<span style="border-bottom-color: #639000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3b5600; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|In Flanders Fields] **," would be written the following year by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a doctor from Guelph serving in France. An influenza epidemic killed thousands in 1918 (worldwide, at least 20 million). <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">After the war, the economy went boom, then bust. The stock market crash of 1929 heralded the beginning of the Great Depression. In 1933, one in five Canadians was unemployed; by 1935, one in 10 Canadians was on relief. The Depression only ended with the onset of World War II in 1939. Over the next six years, one million Canadians would fight and 42,000 would be killed. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1943, the Progressive Conservatives were elected to lead the Legislative Assembly and would be continually re-elected for the next 42 years. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">During and after the war, Canada and Ontario prospered. The population increased 40 per cent from 1945 to 1958, thanks to a "baby boom" and postwar immigration of more than 100,000 people per year through the 1950s. By 1961, immigrants accounted for one in five Ontarians. <span style="color: #a300ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">The Economic Powerhouse Evolves

<span style="border: 0px initial initial; color: #000000; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 1950s and 1960s were a period of enormous expansion, especially in terms of building infrastructure and developing the economy. In 1954, Canada’s first subway system opened in Toronto. In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway was completed, allowing shipping from the Atlantic Ocean to the uppermost reaches of Lake Superior. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; color: #000000; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The province built thousands of kilometres of highway, particularly in southern Ontario’s "Golden Horseshoe," the band of heavily-populated land curving around Lake Ontario’s western shore and leading down to the Canada-United States border. The provincial government also oversaw spending growth in health and education, including a new community college system. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; color: #000000; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">IIn 1965, the signing of the U.S.-Canada Autopact boosted Ontario’s biggest manufacturing industry. In 1968, the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, or Highway 401, opened. It stretched 800 kilometres across southern Ontario and would soon become Canada’s busiest highway. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; color: #000000; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Industrialization had changed Ontario forever. Back in 1901, almost 60 per cent of the population was rural. By 1981, less than 20 per cent lived outside of cities. In 1901, more than 80 per cent of Ontarians were native-born. By 1981, only 65 per cent can claim Ontario as their birthplace. <span style="border: 0px initial initial; color: #000000; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1989 between Canada and the United States (Mexico joined later), ends some opportunities and opens up others. Trade continues to shape Ontario's history, just as it did with the fur business 400 years ago. For more information, please visit these links:

All above information from [|Ontario History]
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 31px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The**<span style="border-bottom-color: #639000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3b5600; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Archives of Ontario] **provides a window on the past for all Ontarians, connecting us with our ancestors, our communities and our government. While our own memories fade or may be altered, the records held by the Archives are true testaments to our society’s actions, beliefs and principles.
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 31px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The**<span style="border-bottom-color: #639000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3b5600; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Ontario Heritage Trust] **administers the provincial plaque program. Since 1956, more than 1,100 plaques have been put up throughout Ontario to commemorate people, places and events. You can visit the**<span style="border-bottom-color: #639000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3b5600; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|plaque of the month] **archive.
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 31px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For an on-line guide to Ontario museums, plus links for kids, visit the**<span style="border-bottom-color: #639000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3b5600; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Ontario Museum Association] **website.
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px initial initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 31px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can take a floor-by-floor virtual tour of the**<span style="border-bottom-color: #639000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3b5600; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Canadian Museum of Civilization] **website. Topics include postal heritage, Canadian history, labour history, cultural traditions and a First Peoples’ Hall.