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 Rouille 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. The city steadily grew during the nineteenth century, becoming one of the main destinations of immigrants to Canada. In the second half of the twentieth century, Toronto surpassed Montreal as the economic capital of Canada and as its largest city. PRE-EUROPEAN PERIOD Toronto is located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and was originally a term of indeterminate geographical location, designating the approximate area of the future city of Toronto on maps dating to the late 17th and early 18th century. Eventually the name was anchored to the mouth of the Humber River, the end of the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail portage route from Georgian Bay; this is where the city of Toronto is located today. The source and meaning of the name remains a matter of debate. Most common definitions claim that the origin is the Seneca word "Giyando", meaning on the other side, which was the place where the Humber River narrows at the foot of the pass to the village of Taiaiagon. However, it is much more likely that the term is from the Mohawk word tkaronto meaning "where there are trees standing in the water," a reference to a specific location at the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, then known as "Lake Toronto". The portage route up the Humber River eventually leads past this well-known landmark. As the portage route grew in use, the name became more widely used and was eventually attached to a French trading fort just inland from Lake Ontario on the Humber. Part of this confusion can be attributed to the succession of peoples who lived in the area during the seventeenth century and before: the Neutral, Seneca, Mohawk, Cayuga and Wendat nations. The Mississaugas arrived in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, driving out the occupying Iroquois[1][2] later lending their name to Toronto's modern-day western suburb. Until the beginning of British colonization, there was limited permanent occupation, though both native peoples and the French did try, including the construction of a small fort near the mouth of the Humber, currently buried on the grounds of the Exhibition Place. EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT European settlement in central Canada was quite limited before 1788, amounting to only a few families, but it began growing quickly in the aftermath of the American Revolution. The first European to set foot on the shores of Lake Ontario in the vicinity of what is now Toronto was French explorer Etienne Brule. Toronto was very crucial for its series of trails and water routes that led from northern and western Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the "Toronto Passage", it followed the Humber River, as an important overland shortcut between Lake Ontario and the upper Great Lakes. For this reason Toronto became a hot spot for French fur traders. The French established a trading fort, Fort Rouille, on the current Exhibition Grounds around 1750, but it was abandoned in 1759, and by 1760 the British had defeated the French who withdrew from North America. From 1776 to 1783, United Empire Loyalists, American colonists who refused to accept being divorced from the United Kingdom after the American Revolution, or who felt unwelcome in the new republic of the United States of America, fled the newly formed United States to the unsettled lands north of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario; some had fought in the British army and were paid with land in the region. In 1787, the British negotiated the purchase of more than a quarter million acres (1,000 km?) of land in the area of Toronto with the Mississaugas of New Credit. The site was then chosen by Governor John Graves Simcoe on July 29, 1793 as the new capital of the newly organized province of Upper Canada, moving from Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) on February 1, 1796: given the political volatility of the times, one strong motivation for the move was the former capital being within cannon range of the American Fort Niagara, just across the Niagara River. Specifically the town, then known as York, was built within a large protected bay formed by the Toronto Islands, which — at the time — was a long sandy peninsula which formed a large natural harbour, featuring a great wetland marsh - fed by the Don River - at the eastern end (long since filled in), with the only opening to the lake at the western end (it was only later, in 1858, that the "Eastern Gap", was punched through the peninsula

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 Rouille 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. The city steadily grew during the nineteenth century, becoming one of the main destinations of immigrants to Canada. In the second half of the twentieth century, Toronto surpassed Montreal as the economic capital of Canada and as its largest city. PRE-EUROPEAN PERIOD Toronto is located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and was originally a term of indeterminate geographical location, designating the approximate area of the future city of Toronto on maps dating to the late 17th and early 18th century. Eventually the name was anchored to the mouth of the Humber River, the end of the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail portage route from Georgian Bay; this is where the city of Toronto is located today. The source and meaning of the name remains a matter of debate. Most common definitions claim that the origin is the Seneca word "Giyando", meaning on the other side, which was the place where the Humber River narrows at the foot of the pass to the village of Taiaiagon. However, it is much more likely that the term is from the Mohawk word tkaronto meaning "where there are trees standing in the water," a reference to a specific location at the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, then known as "Lake Toronto". The portage route up the Humber River eventually leads past this well-known landmark. As the portage route grew in use, the name became more widely used and was eventually attached to a French trading fort just inland from Lake Ontario on the Humber. Part of this confusion can be attributed to the succession of peoples who lived in the area during the seventeenth century and before: the Neutral, Seneca, Mohawk, Cayuga and Wendat nations. The Mississaugas arrived in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, driving out the occupying Iroquois[1][2] later lending their name to Toronto's modern-day western suburb. Until the beginning of British colonization, there was limited permanent occupation, though both native peoples and the French did try, including the construction of a small fort near the mouth of the Humber, currently buried on the grounds of the Exhibition Place. EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT European settlement in central Canada was quite limited before 1788, amounting to only a few families, but it began growing quickly in the aftermath of the American Revolution. The first European to set foot on the shores of Lake Ontario in the vicinity of what is now Toronto was French explorer Etienne Brule. Toronto was very crucial for its series of trails and water routes that led from northern and western Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the "Toronto Passage", it followed the Humber River, as an important overland shortcut between Lake Ontario and the upper Great Lakes. For this reason Toronto became a hot spot for French fur traders. The French established a trading fort, Fort Rouille, on the current Exhibition Grounds around 1750, but it was abandoned in 1759, and by 1760 the British had defeated the French who withdrew from North America. From 1776 to 1783, United Empire Loyalists, American colonists who refused to accept being divorced from the United Kingdom after the American Revolution, or who felt unwelcome in the new republic of the United States of America, fled the newly formed United States to the unsettled lands north of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario; some had fought in the British army and were paid with land in the region. In 1787, the British negotiated the purchase of more than a quarter million acres (1,000 km?) of land in the area of Toronto with the Mississaugas of New Credit. The site was then chosen by Governor John Graves Simcoe on July 29, 1793 as the new capital of the newly organized province of Upper Canada, moving from Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) on February 1, 1796: given the political volatility of the times, one strong motivation for the move was the former capital being within cannon range of the American Fort Niagara, just across the Niagara River. Specifically the town, then known as York, was built within a large protected bay formed by the Toronto Islands, which — at the time — was a long sandy peninsula which formed a large natural harbour, featuring a great wetland marsh - fed by the Don River - at the eastern end (long since filled in), with the only opening to the lake at the western end (it was only later, in 1858, that the "Eastern Gap", was punched through the peninsul