Toronto is located in southeastern Canada. The city has an area of 630 km² and is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Toronto’s closest neighbors are Mississauga and Brampton in the municipality of Peel, Vaughan and Markham in York, and Pickering in Durham.
Toronto contains numerous hills and valleys formed during the last ice age; the landscape has been compared to the famous hilly topography of San Francisco.
Where did the city’s name come from? According to the two most realistic theories, the word came from the lexicon of the Huron Indians, who by it meant “meeting place” or from the Mohawk adverb, calling “clothonto” a place where trees grew right out of the water.
The name “Toronto” was originally used in the late seventeenth century for an area without clear boundaries near the north shore of Lake Ontario.
On July 29, 1793 the Viceroy of Upper Canada chose the area of Toronto as the site for the future capital of Upper Canada.
York City then developed on the site of present-day Toronto, which appeared near the Toronto Islands and grew inland. The year 1834 is a significant date for the history of the city. It was at this time that York was renamed Toronto. William Mackenzie was appointed as mayor.
The city grew rather slowly, and at the end of the 19th century it was still a small undeveloped town. Nevertheless, it already had several electric streetcar lines, as well as a developed road network. Suburban railway connection covered all areas of the city and nearby settlements.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Toronto was a transport and industrial hub with a policy loyal to immigrants.
Toronto’s growing importance increased as the other Canadian metropolis, Montreal, lost its economic clout. Due to separatist sentiments in the province of Quebec in the 1970s, the English-speaking population began to move to other cities, in particular to Toronto. This coincided with the displacement of people from eastern Atlantic Canada and an increased flow of immigration from various parts of the world.
January 1, 1998 is an important date in the city’s history. It was at this point that six separate communities – North City, Toronto, Etobicoke, York, East York and Scarborough – were amalgamated into a single municipality. The merger eliminated six city councils and introduced a unified fire system throughout the city.