Tkaronto

On the north shore of Lake Ontario, Tkaronto stands at the southern end of routes connecting the lake with the waters of the interior. Rivers and carrying places led north towards Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay, linking communities across the Great Lakes. Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples used and inhabited this country long before a colonial town grew beside its sheltered harbour.

French traders built Fort Rouillé on the lakeshore in 1750 to trade with Indigenous visitors. They burned and abandoned it in 1759 as French positions on the lakes fell during the Seven Years' War. British officials later sought land from the Mississaugas through the Toronto Purchase; the terms and extent of the earlier agreement became a matter of dispute. In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe ordered a garrison built at the harbour and laid out the town of York nearby, choosing it as the capital of Upper Canada.

In April 1813 an American force landed west of York and advanced on the fort. British, Canadian and Indigenous defenders resisted the landing and the advance, but the town was captured and public buildings were burned. York recovered and continued to grow around its harbour; in 1834 it was incorporated as the city of Toronto, restoring a name that had long been associated with the region.