Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Singapore

7 Education The History Of Toronto Begins Approximately 12,500 Years Ago When The Laurentide Ice Sheet A Continental Glacier That Covered Northeastern North America Retreated From The Area Of Present-day Toronto Soon Afterward Small Groups Of Indigenous People Moved Into The Area To Hunt Animals Such As Caribou Archaeological Finds In The Area Have Included Artifacts Of First Nations Dating Back Several Thousand Years Prior To 1000 AD The Wyandot People Were Likely The First Group To Live In The Area Followed By The Iroquois When Europeans First Came To Toronto They Found A Small Village Known As Teiaiagon On The Banks Of The Humber River Between Visits By European Explorers The Village Was Abandoned By The Iroquois Who Moved South Of Lake Ontario And The Mississaugas A Branch Of The Ojibwa Settled Along The North Shore Of The Lake The French First Set Up Trading Posts In The Area Including Fort Rouill� In 1720 Which They Abandoned As The British Conquered French North America In 1786 Lord Dorchester Arrived In Quebec City As Governor-in-Chief Of British North America His Mission Was To Solve The Problems Of The Newly Landed Loyalists From The United States After The US War Of Independence At First Dorchester Suggested Opening The New Canada West As Districts Under The Quebec Government But The British Government Made Known Its Intention To Split Canada Into Upper And Lower Canada Dorchester Began Organizing For The New Province Of Upper Canada Including A Capital Dorchester's First Choice Was Kingston But Was Aware Of The Number Of Loyalists In The Bay Of Quinte And Niagara Areas And Chose Instead The Location North Of The Bay Of Toronto Midway Between The Settlements And 30 Miles (48 Km) From The US Under The Imperial Policy Of The Time Namely The Royal Proclamation Of 1763 Which Was Rooted In Roman Law Dorchester Arranged To Purchase The Lands From The Mississaugas A Provisional Upper Canada Government Was Set Up In Newark (today's Niagara-on-the-Lake) In 1791 In 1793 Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe Moved The Capital Of Upper Canada To Toronto Which He Named York Not Wanting An Aboriginal Name Simcoe Originally Planned For York To Be A City And Military Outpost And To Set Up A Capital In The Area Of London Ontario But He Abandoned The Plan And York Was Named The Permanent Capital In 1796 The Mississaugas Set Up A Settlement Reserve In The Area Of Port Credit To The West Of York And Eventually Moved Further To The West Simcoe Only Lived In York For Three Years But He Directed Its Initial Settlement On A Gridiron Layout Near The Mouth Of The Don River In 1797 The Garrison Which Became Fort York Was Built At The Entrance To Toronto Harbour Tensions Between The British And Americans Persisted And War Broke Out In 1812 In 1813 The Garrison Was Attacked And Overrun By The Americans Forcing The British To Retreat In A Parting Blow General Roger Sheaffe Ordered The Grand Magazine A Timber Structure On The Shore Of Lake Ontario Packed With 30,000 Pounds Of Gunpowder 30,000 Cartridges 10,000 Cannonballs And Numerous Musket Balls Be Torched To Prevent It Falling Into American Hands The Blast Powerful Enough To Perforate Eardrums And Hemorrhage The Lungs Of Some American Soldiers Massed Outside The Fort Was Said To Have Rattled Windows 50 Kilometres Across The Lake In Niagara The Americans Who Lost Their Commanding Officer In The Explosion Proceeded To Sack The Town And Burn Down The Government Buildings But Did Not Take Possession Of York Peace Came After Only Two Years Of The War Which Ended In A Stalemate During Peacetime York Steadily Grew In Population Although Its Infrastructure Lagged Leading To The Nickname Of "Muddy York" As The Village Grew Tensions Grew Between The Ruling Class In York And Growing Merchant And Worker Classes Who Advocated For Reforms York Was Incorporated And Renamed Toronto In 1834 Leading To The First Toronto Elections Toronto's First Mayor William Lyon Mackenzie A Reformer Persisted In His Efforts To Reform Upper Canada Culminating In His Organization Of A Rebellion In 1837 Upper Canada Forces Defeated The Rebels And Mackenzie And Others Fled To The United States Peace Again Returned To Toronto And The City Steadily Grew During The 19th Century A Major Port Of Distribution As Upper Canada Was Settled Toronto Businesses Grew Including The Meat Packing Business Leading To The Nickname Of "Hogtown" Toronto Continued To Grow By Annexing Outlying Villages Up Until The Early 1900s After World War II Another Major Influx Of Immigrants Came To The Region Leading To The Growth Of Numerous Suburban Villages However The Suburban Villages Did Not Have The Tax Base To Build The Infrastructure To Support The Growth In Population To Support The Suburban Growth The Government Of Ontario Set Up Metropolitan Toronto A Regional Government Encompassing Toronto And Its Suburbs In 1954 The Regional Government Built Roads Water Treatment And Highways In Toronto Although The Central City Remained The Largest Municipality And Occasionally Defeated Regional Projects Such As The Spadina Expressway And Other Expressways And The Clearing Of The Toronto Islands In The Second Half Of The 20th Century Toronto Surpassed Montreal As Canada's Largest City And Became The Economic Capital Of The Country In 1998 The "megacity" Of Toronto Was Formed By The Dissolution Of The Regional Government And The Amalgamation Of The Toronto Municipalities Into One Municipality In The 21st Century Toronto Has Integrated The Core And The Suburbs Under One Government Although Many Bylaws Enacted By The Former Municipalities Remain In Effect A Division Has Persisted Between The Interests Of Those Who Live In The Former Suburbs And Those Of The Central Core The Central Core Has Seen Unprecedented Office Growth And Residential Growth Particularly Of Condominium Apartments While The Former Suburbs And Further Outlying Suburbs Have Seen The Bulk Of New Industrial Investment A Major Metropolis Of Just Over 2.8 Million People Toronto Is Also One Of The Most Ethnically Diverse In The World All Of This Growth Took Place On The Lands Of The Original Toronto Purchase Of Which Final Agreement Was Only Finally Reached Between The Mississaugas And The Government Of Canada In 2010 Contents