The history of Toronto spans a few centuries. The Toronto area was home to a number of First Nations groups who lived on the shore of Lake Ontario. At various times, the Neutral, Seneca, Mohawk and Cayuga nations were living in the vicinity of Toronto. The first permanent European presence was the French trading fort Fort Rouillé, which was established in 1750, south of the village site of Teiaiagon. However, the first large influx of Europeans was by United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution. In 1793, Toronto, then known as York, was named capital of the new colony of Upper Canada, was the site of a major battle during the War of 1812, when it was burned by Americans. York was incorporated and renamed Toronto in 1834. The city steadily grew during the 19th century, becoming one of the main destinations of immigrants to Canada. In the second half of the 20th century, Toronto surpassed Montreal as the economic capital of Canada and as its largest city.
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Famous quotes containing the words history of and/or history:
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)