Toronto

===Early history===
{{Main|History of Toronto}}
{{See also|Amalgamation of Toronto}}
The site of Toronto lay at the entrance to one of the oldest routes to the northwest, a route known and used by the Huron, Iroquois, and [[Ojibwe]]. Archaeological sites show evidence of human occupation dating back thousands of years. The site was of strategic importance from the beginning of Ontario's recorded history.{{sfn|Firth|1962|p=3}}

In the 1660s, the [[Iroquois settlement of the north shore of Lake Ontario|Iroquois established two villages]] within what is today Toronto, [[Bead Hill|Ganatsekwyagon]] (Bead Hill) on the banks of the [[Rouge River (Ontario)|Rouge River]] and [[Teiaiagon]] on the banks of the [[Humber River (Ontario)|Humber River]]. By 1701, the [[Mississaugas]] had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the [[Beaver Wars]], with most returning to their homeland in present-day New York state.{{sfn|Schmalz|1991|p=}}

French traders founded [[Fort Rouillé]] in 1750 (the current [[Exhibition Place|Exhibition grounds]] were later developed there), but abandoned it in 1759 during the [[Seven Years' War]].<ref name=rouille>{{cite web |url=http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/jarvisci/toronto/rouille.htm |title=Fort Rouillé |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120913004442/http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/jarvisci/toronto/rouille.htm |archive-date=September 13, 2012 |publisher=Jarvis Collegiate Institute |year=2006 |access-date=December 8, 2006}}</ref> The British defeated the French and their indigenous allies in the war, and the area became part of the British colony of [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Quebec]] in 1763.

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], an influx of British settlers arrived there as [[United Empire Loyalist]]s fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario. The Crown granted them land to compensate for their losses in the Thirteen Colonies. The new province of Upper Canada was being created and needed a capital. In 1787, the British [[Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester|Lord Dorchester]] arranged for the Toronto Purchase with the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, thereby securing more than a quarter of a million acres (1000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of land in the Toronto area.<ref name=British>[http://www.toronto.ca/culture/history/history-natives-newcomers.htm Natives and newcomers, 1600–1793] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070306111515/http://www.toronto.ca/culture/history/history-natives-newcomers.htm |date=March 6, 2007 }}, City of Toronto (2006). Retrieved December 8, 2006.</ref> Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto.{{sfn|Hounsom|1970|p=27}} The first 25 years after the Toronto purchase were quiet, although "there were occasional independent fur traders" present in the area, with the usual complaints of debauchery and drunkenness.{{sfn|Firth|1962 |p=3}}

In 1793, Governor [[John Graves Simcoe]] established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, naming it after [[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany]]. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from [[Niagara-on-the-Lake|Newark]] (Niagara-on-the-Lake) to York,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ontario.ca/en/your_government/004690 |title=History of Ontario's Legislative Buildings |website=ontario.ca |publisher=Government of Ontario |access-date=July 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022083250/http://www.ontario.ca/en/your_government/004690 |archive-date=October 22, 2009}}</ref> believing the new site would be less vulnerable to attack by the United States.<ref name="[[Fort York]]">{{cite web |url=http://www.fortyork.ca |title=Welcome to the birthplace of Toronto |website=fortyork.ca |publisher=Friends of Fort York (2006) |access-date=December 8, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221234140/http://www.fortyork.ca/ |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Fort York|York garrison]] was built at the entrance of the town's natural harbour, sheltered by a long sand-bar peninsula. The town's settlement formed at the harbour's eastern end behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of [[Parliament Street (Toronto)|Parliament Street]] and [[Front Street (Toronto)|Front Street]] (in the "[[Old Town, Toronto|Old Town]]" area).