Ottawa
The capital of Canada is Ottawa, named after a Native American group that once lived in the region. Queen Victoria of England chose the city to be Canada's capital in 1857.
Ottawa lies where the Gatineau, Ottawa, and Rideau rivers meet. The city is in the province of Ontario in eastern Canada. Around the city are farmland, rocky hills, forests, and many lakes, streams, and major rivers. Across the Ottawa River is the province of Quebec.
Ottawa is a city of parks and rivers. Bicycle paths crisscross the city. It also has museums, art galleries, and universities. In the winter, when the Rideau Canal freezes over, it is the site of the world's longest skating rink. The Central Experimental Farm has large fields, botanical and ornamental gardens, and an arboretum.
Notable among Ottawa's historic sites is the Château Laurier, named after Sir Wilfrid Laurier, prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. This hotel is built like a French château, or castle. Ottawa's oldest park, Major's Hill Park, is right behind the hotel.
Another well-known building is the Government House, known as Rideau Hall. It is the official residence of the governor-general, the representative of the British monarch. The prime minister of Canada has lived at 24 Sussex Drive since 1951.
Only a few of Ottawa's inhabitants have ancestors who were Canadian. The rest of the people trace their roots to more than 100 countries. They speak some 50 languages and follow many different religions. The city's many ethnic groups include Italians, Germans, Dutch, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Arabs, as well as some Spanish-speaking people.
The Rideau Canal divides Ottawa into Upper Town, whose residents traditionally speak English, and Lower Town, whose residents traditionally speak French. Ottawa is one of the largest French-speaking cities in Canada. Over half of the residents speak the language.
Ottawa's cultural and recreational life is varied. Theater and dance are presented at the National Arts Centre. It also is the home of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Ottawa's many public and private art galleries include the National Gallery of Canada. Among the city's museums are the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the Canadian War Museum.
Ottawa is a city of festivals. Every February it has a nine-day festival called Winterlude. It is held on the frozen Rideau Canal and includes sports activities, entertainment, fireworks, and ice sculpture. In May the city celebrates spring. The Canadian Tulip Festival includes concerts, flower shows, and a colorful parade of boats.
In the 19th century Ottawa was a small city whose main industry was lumbering. By the end of the century plans were underway to turn it into an elegant city of fine parks and beautiful buildings. By 1940 the lumber industry began to be less and less important, and tourism began to emerge as one of the capital's largest industries. Government is also a very important industry.
Since the early 1970s Ottawa has been a major contributor to research and development in microelectronics. The city has also become a center for manufacturing high-technology products. Hundreds of companies devoted to this industry can be found around the city.
The first descriptions of the Ottawa area were written in 1613 by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain. Over the next 200 years the area's rivers served as transportation routes for explorers and traders. Then Britain and France went to war. The Napoleonic Wars increased Britain's need for timber to build ships, and the Ottawa River valley had those resources. In 1800 a group of Massachusetts colonists settled on the north shore of the Ottawa River. The site of their settlement was that of present-day Hull, Quebec. The colonists began cutting down timber in the Hull area.
During the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States, the Rideau River provided the British with a safe shipping route from the Ottawa River to Kingston, on Lake Ontario. This encouraged people to settle in the region. In 1826 the British military engineer John By was sent to Canada. His job was to build a canal to join Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River. He began construction near the place where the Ottawa and Rideau rivers join. A settlement that became known as Bytown grew up there. In 1850 it became a town.
It took six years to build the canal. The jobs created by the project brought a flood of people looking for work. Scottish stonemasons, Irish workers, British engineers, Montreal contractors, and lumbermen came to Bytown.
Bytown might have stayed a modest city if other cities had not been feuding with each other. Quarrels between Quebec City and Toronto and between Montreal and Kingston were so bad that leaders in Canada asked Queen Victoria to name a capital for Canada. In 1855 Bytown was renamed Ottawa, after the Ottawa Indians. In 1857 Ottawa officially became the capital. Population (1996 census), city, 323,340; metropolitan area, 1,010,498.
