Capital of Canada and seat of
Carleton County, southeastern Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa,
Gatineau, and Rideau rivers. Its metropolitan area lies astride the
Ontario-Quebec border.
The first descriptions of
Ottawa's future site were written by the founder of New France, Samuel de
Champlain, in 1613. The rivers served as passageways for explorers and traders
over the following two centuries. The Napoleonic Wars increased Britain's need
for shipbuilding timber, and the Ottawa Valley offered just such resources. In
1800 an American, Philemon Wright, had begun timbering across the Ottawa River
in what became the city of Hull. During the War of 1812 between Britain and the
United States, the Rideau provided the British with a safe shipping route from
the Ottawa River to Kingston, on Lake Ontario, thus spurring settlement of
Ottawa. It was hastened by the arrival in 1826 of Lt. Col. John By of the Royal
Engineers to work on canalizing the river, and the town became
Bytown.
Ottawa might still be a modest
city had not political quarrels between Quebec city and Toronto and between
Montreal and Kingston induced leaders to call upon Queen Victoria to designate a
capital for United Canada. In 1855 Bytown was incorporated and rechristened
Ottawa after the Indian tribe. It became the fastest growing metropolis in
eastern Canada, a development due largely to the presence of the national
government. In 1937 Prime Minister William L. Mackenzie King brought the
architect Jacques Gréber from France to begin the redevelopment of the national
capital district.
The fur trade and lumbering
have diminished in importance, and industry now employs only a small fraction of
the labour force. The federal government is the major employer. Many commercial
and financial associations from around the country as well as embassies and
trade associations are also located there.
Ottawa is served by both of
Canada's major railroads and several airlines. There is bus service throughout
the city. Navigation on the Ottawa and Rideau rivers, except for pleasure craft,
is a thing of the past.
The major cultural centres
remain the city's three universities. The University of Ottawa and St. Paul
University are bilingual institutions, whereas instruction at Carleton
University is entirely in English. A large community college, Algonquin,
provides technical training. Ottawa also houses the National Arts Centre,
which
includes an opera house and two
theatres, the National Library and Public Archives Building, the National Museum
of Science and Technology, and the National Gallery of Canada. Pop. (1991) city,
313,987; Ottawa-Hull metropolitan area, 920,857.