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With so much to explore, Ontario is as difficult to cover in one vacation as it is to describe in one sentence. It manages to include both Canada's most populous city (Toronto) and areas so remote that polar bears outnumber humans. It has tranquil farm country in the south, but in the midst of that rural landscape are Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake, two small towns that stage some of the finest theater in North America.

There's an incredible wealth of water in Ontario—four of the five Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers and 250,000 inland lakes with hundreds of them linked together by the Trent-Severn Waterway, the country's largest engineering marvel when it was finally completed in 1920. And, of course, there's Niagara Falls, the most famous water spectacle of them all.

Geography

History

Much of Ontario's natural splendor can be traced to the Ice Age, when glaciers carved the Great Lakes and the melting ice left the province a watery land. Paleo-Indians populated the region while hunting for large game.

At the time of European contact, there were various tribes who spoke the Iroquois language—Iroquois, Huron, Petun, Neutral, Erie and Susquehannock—living along the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. They supported themselves by farming, fishing and hunting and lived primarily in permanent, densely populated villages of bark longhouses.

Farther north, the Ottawa lived along the Ottawa River Valley. The Cree, Ojibway, Nippissing, Mississauga and Algonquin inhabited northerly parts of the province. Because it was too cold to cultivate crops, they depended on trapping, fishing, foraging and hunting.

French explorer Samuel de Champlain traveled up the Ottawa River in 1613, opening the principal fur-trade route to the upper Great Lakes. The presence of European trade changed the Native Americans' lifestyle and aggravated tensions between the Algonquin tribes and the Iroquois. In the mid-1600s, a massive Iroquois offensive drove the Algonquins out of southern Ontario and disrupted the fur trade for a time, though the French were able to re-establish trading posts and forts in the late 1660s.

When France ceded its dominion over Canada to Great Britain in 1763, Ontario quickly became one of the Canadian provinces most closely tied to England. In the 1770s and 1780s, loyalists fled to Ontario from the 13 rebellious American colonies. They were later joined by more immigrants from the U.S., who came to claim some of Ontario's plentiful land. The province's location on the Great Lakes made it a flashpoint in the War of 1812, when Britain and the young U.S. went to war a second time.

As immigrants (especially from England, Scotland and Ireland) poured into Ontario in the 1800s, the pressure mounted for political reform and some sort of clear status for the region: Until then, Ontario and Quebec were divided into a vague pairing of Upper (English) and Lower (French) Canada, respectively. The newspaper editor and firebrand William Lyon Mackenzie successfully focused attention on the problems—his short-lived rebellions were a key factor in the ultimate confederation of Canada in 1867.

Toward the end of the 1920s, Ontario suffered its own Great Depression that did not let up until the end of the Second World War. Following the war, an influx of immigration increased the province's population considerably. This in turn sent the economy on a quick upswing.

Since that time, Ontario has emerged as one of the most important areas of the country: Ottawa serves as the nation's capital, Toronto is Canada's largest city, and until recently the province has amassed great wealth from its mineral resources, heavy industrialization, forestry, agriculture and fishing. These days, the changing economies have morphed the province from a heavily industrialized frontier to an information economy in banking, health care, education and tourism with only fragments of industry still visible.

Snapshot

Ontario's main attractions include Canadian history, Toronto, the CN Tower, outdoor sports, rivers and lakes, islands, wineries, Niagara Falls, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, museums and cultural events.

With both urban attractions and varied outdoor activities, Ontario has something for just about everyone. Those who crave rugged mountain scenery might be disappointed, but high elevations are one of very few things that can't be found in Ontario.

Potpourri

Thunder Bay is the only place in the world where you can buy a "Persian," a squished doughy bun laced with streams of cinnamon and topped with strawberry icing. For close to 100 years, they've been baked and sold at just about every bakery in Thunder Bay.

The world's highest lift-lock is in Peterborough. It has held this distinction since 1904 when the engineering marvel was completed.

In order to create the seaway along the St. Lawrence River (near Long Sault and Cornwall) in the 1950s, entire villages had to be completely flooded. People from these communities relocated, leaving their belongings and homes, which to this day remain under water.

Serpent Mounds National Historic Site on Rice Lake is home to nine burial mounds that contain the ceremonial graves of native people. The largest mound has a zigzag appearance and is the only one of its kind in Canada.

One out of every three Canadian citizens lives in Ontario.

Toronto's Yonge Street is purported to be the longest street in the world: It runs 1,190 mi/1,900 km through the city and west to the border with Minnesota.

Quetico Provincial Park (west of Lake Superior on Ontario's southern border) preserves one of the greatest concentrations of Native American rock paintings on the continent. There are more than 28 sites in and around the park. More ancient artwork is on display at Petroglyphs Provincial Park (northeast of Peterborough), which contains hundreds of ancient rock carvings. The well-preserved images went unnoticed by anthropologists until 1954.

Famous Ontarians include Justin Bieber, Dan Aykroyd, Margaret Atwood, Paul Shaffer, John Kenneth Galbraith, Wayne Gretzky, Peter Jennings, Morley Safer, Robertson Davies, Shania Twain, Hume Cronyn, Mike Myers, Martin Short, Alex Trebek, Neil Young, Alanis Morissette, Frederick Banting and Alexander Graham Bell.

The Muskoka lakes area is a playground for the rich and famous. Celebrities' multimillion-dollar summer homes are located around Lake Joseph, Lake Muskoka and Lake Rosseau.

The original Uncle Tom's Cabin (yes, there really is one) is in Dresden. It was the home of Josiah Henson, a slave who escaped to freedom in Ontario and told his story to Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Jumbo, the famous circus elephant, was struck and killed by a train in St. Thomas in 1885. The town erected a statue in his honor.

Brantford is home to Her Majesty's Chapel of the Mohawks, the only designated Royal Indian chapel in the British Commonwealth. The town is also known for its spectacular horticulture.