Etymology
The word ''Toronto'' was recorded with various spellings in French and English, including ''Tarento'', ''Tarontha'', ''Taronto'', ''Toranto'', ''Torento'', ''Toronto'', and ''Toronton''. ''Taronto'' referred to "The Narrows", a channel of water through which Lake Simcoe discharges into Lake Couchiching where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. This narrows was called by theHistory
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, and19th century
In 1813, as part of the20th century
The Great Fire of Toronto (1904), Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed a large section of downtown Toronto. The fire destroyed more than 100 buildings. The fire claimed one victim, John Croft, who was an explosive expert clearing the ruins from the fire. It caused in damage (roughly in 2020 terms). The city received new European immigrant groups beginning in the late 19th century into the early 20th century, particularly Germans, French, Italians, and Jews. They were soon followed by Russians, Poles, and other Eastern European nations, in addition to Chinese entering from the West. As the Irish before them, many of these migrants lived in overcrowded shanty-type slums, such as "The Ward, Toronto, the Ward" which was centred on Bay Street, now the heart of the country's Financial District, Toronto, Financial District.21st century
The city attracted international attention in 2003 when it became the centre of a major Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. Public health attempts to prevent the disease from spreading elsewhere temporarily dampened the local economy. From August 14–17, 2003, the city was hit by a Northeast blackout of 2003, massive blackout which affected millions of Torontonians (it also affected most of Southern Ontario and parts of the United States), stranding some hundreds of people in tall buildings, knocking out traffic lights and suspending subway and streetcar service across the city during those aforementioned days. On March 6, 2009, the city celebrated the 175th anniversary of its inception as the City of Toronto in 1834. Toronto hosted the 2010 G20 Toronto summit, 4th G20 summit during June 26–27, 2010. This included the largest security operation in Canadian history. Following large-scale 2010 G20 Toronto summit protests, protests and rioting, law enforcement conducted the largest mass arrest (more than a thousand people) in Canadian history. On July 8, 2013, severe flash flooding hit Toronto after an afternoon of slow-moving, intense thunderstorms. Toronto Hydro estimated 450,000 people were without power after the storm and Toronto Pearson International Airport reported of rain had fallen over five hours, more than during Hurricane Hazel. Within six months, from December 20 to 22, 2013, Toronto was brought to a near halt by the worst December 2013 North American storm complex, ice storm in the city's history, rivalling the severity of the January 1998 North American ice storm, 1998 Ice Storm (which mostly affected southeastern Ontario, and Quebec). At the height of the storm, over 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers had no electricity or heating. Toronto hosted WorldPride in June 2014, and the Pan American Games in 2015 Pan American Games, 2015. The city continues to grow and attract immigrants. A study by Ryerson University showed that Toronto was the fastest-growing city in North America. The city added 77,435 people between July 2017 and July 2018. The Toronto metropolitan area was the second-fastest-growing metropolitan area in North America, adding 125,298 persons, compared with 131,767 in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metroplex in Texas. The large growth in the Toronto metropolitan area is attributed to international migration to Toronto. The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada first occurred in Toronto and is COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, among the hotspots in the country.Geography
Toronto covers an area of ,Population statistics and land areaTopography
Climate
The city of Toronto has a hot summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification, Köppen: ''Dfa''), though was on the threshold of a warm summer humid continental climate (''Dfb'') until the 20th century but still found in the Greater Toronto Area, metropolitan region, with warm, humid summers and cold winters. According to the classification applied by Natural Resources Canada, the city of Toronto is in plant hardiness zone 7a, with some suburbs & nearby towns having lower zone ratings. The city experiences four distinct seasons, with considerable variance in length. As a result of the rapid passage of weather systems (such as high- and low-pressure systems), the weather is variable from day to day in all seasons. Owing to urbanization and its proximity to water, Toronto has a fairly low Diurnal temperature variation, diurnal temperature range. The denser urbanscape makes for warmer nights year round; the average nighttime temperature is about warmer in the city than in rural areas in all months. However, it can be noticeably cooler on many spring and early summer afternoons under the influence of a lake breeze, since Lake Ontario is cool relative to the air during these seasons. These lake breezes mostly occur in summer, bringing relief on hot days. Other low-scale maritime effects on the climate include lake-effect snow, fog, and delaying of spring- and fall-like conditions, known as seasonal lag.Cityscape
Architecture
Neighbourhoods
Old Toronto
Suburbs
Industrial
Public spaces
Culture and contemporary life
Media
Toronto is Canada's largest media market, and has four conventional dailies, two Alternative newspaper, alt-weeklies, and three free commuter papers in a greater metropolitan area of about 6 million inhabitants. The ''Toronto Star'' and the ''Toronto Sun'' are the prominent daily city newspapers, while national dailies ''The Globe and Mail'' and the ''National Post'' are also headquartered in the city. The ''Toronto Star'', ''The Globe and Mail'', and ''National Post'' are broadsheet newspapers. ''StarMetro (newspaper), StarMetro'' is distributed as free commuter newspapers. Several magazines and local newspapers cover Toronto, including ''Now (newspaper), Now'' and ''Toronto Life'', while numerous magazines are produced in Toronto, such as ''Canadian Business'', ''Chatelaine (magazine), Chatelaine'', ''Flare (magazine), Flare'' and ''Maclean's''. Daily Hive, Western Canada's largest online-only publication, opened their Toronto office in 2016. Toronto contains the headquarters of the major English-language Canadian television networks CBC Television, CBC, CTV Television Network, CTV, Citytv, Global Television Network, Global, The Sports Network (TSN) and Sportsnet. Much (TV channel), Much (formerly MuchMusic), M3 (Canadian TV channel), M3 (formerly MuchMore) and MTV (Canadian TV channel), MTV Canada are the main music television channels based in the city, though they no longer primarily show music videos as a result of channel drift.Tourism
Sports
Toronto is represented in five Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, major league sports, with teams in the National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), Canadian Football League (CFL), and Major League Soccer (MLS). It was formerly represented in a sixth and seventh; the USL W-League that announced on November 6, 2015, that it would cease operation ahead of 2016 season and the Canadian Women's Hockey League ceased operations in May 2019. The city's major sports venues include the Scotiabank Arena (formerly Air Canada Centre), Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome), Coca-Cola Coliseum (formerly Ricoh Coliseum), and BMO Field. Toronto is one of four North American cities (alongside Sports in Chicago, Chicago, Sports in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, & Sports in Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C.) to have won titles in its five major leagues (MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS and either NFL or CFL), and the only one to have done so in the Canadian Football League.Professional sports
Toronto is home to the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the NHL's Original Six clubs, and has also served as home to the Hockey Hall of Fame since 1958. The city had a rich history of ice hockey championships. Along with the Maple Leafs' 13 Stanley Cup titles, the Toronto Marlboros and St. Michael's College School-based Ontario Hockey League teams, combined, have won a record 12 Memorial Cup titles. The Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League also play in Toronto at Coca-Cola Coliseum and are the farm team for the Maple Leafs. The Toronto Six, the first Canadian franchise in the National Women's Hockey League, began play with the 2020–21 season.Collegiate sports
The University of Toronto in downtown Toronto was where the first recorded college football game was held in November 1861. Many post-secondary institutions in Toronto are members of U Sports or the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association, the former for universities and the latter for colleges. Toronto was home to the International Bowl, an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA sanctioned post-season college football game that pitted a Mid-American Conference team against a Big East Conference (1979–2013), Big East Conference team. From 2007 to 2010, the game was played at Rogers Centre annually in January.Events
Toronto, along with Montreal, hosts an annual tennis tournament called the Canadian Open (tennis), Canadian Open (not to be confused with the Canadian Open (golf), identically named golf tournament) between the months of July and August. In odd-numbered years, the men's tournament is held in Montreal, while the women's tournament is held in Toronto, and vice versa in even-numbered years.Economy
Bay Street
The Financial District, Toronto, Financial District in Toronto centers on Bay Street, the equivalent to Wall Street in New York. The city hosts the headquarters of all five of Canada's largest banks, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and was ranked as the safest banking system in the world between 2007 and 2014 the World Economic Forum. Toronto's economy has seen a steady boom in growth thanks to a large number of corporations relocating their Canadian headquarters into the city, and Canada's growing cultural significance. Resulting in a number of companies setting up shop in Toronto.Hollywood North
Technology
Toronto is a large hub of the Canadian and global technology industry, generating $52 billion in revenues annually. In 2017, Toronto tech firms offered almost 30,000 jobs which is higher than the combination of San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The area bound between the Greater Toronto Area, the Tri-Cities (Ontario), Kitchener-Waterloo region and the City of Hamilton was termed a "digital corridor" by the Branham Group, a region highly concentrated with technology companies and jobs similar to Silicon Valley in California. It is the third largest center for information and communications technology in North America, coming in behind New York City and Silicon Valley, with over 168,000 people and 15,000 companies working in the Toronto technology sector alone. Toronto is also home to a large startup ecosystem. In 2013, the city was ranked as the 8th best startup scene in the world and 3rd when it came to performance and support.Tourism
Real estate
Real estate is a major force in the city's economy, Toronto is home to some of the nation's—and the world's—most expensive real estate. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), formerly the Toronto Real Estate Board, is a non-profit professional association of registered real estate brokers and salespeople in Toronto, and parts of theDemographics
Population
Ethnicity
In 2016, the three most commonly reported ethnic origins overall were Chinese (332,830 or 12.5 per cent), English (331,890 or 12.3 per cent) and Canadian (323,175 or 12.0 per cent). Common regions of ethnic origin were European (47.9 per cent), Asian (including Middle-Eastern – 40.1 per cent), African (5.5 per cent), Latin/Central/South American (4.2 per cent), and North American aboriginal (1.2 per cent). In 2016, 51.5 per cent of the residents of the city proper belonged to a visible minority group, compared to 49.1 per cent in 2011, and 13.6 per cent in 1981. The largest visible minority groups were South Asian Canadians, South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan at 338,960 or 12.6 per cent), East Asian Canadians, East Asian (Chinese Canadians, Chinese at 332,830 or 12.5 per cent), and Black Canadians, Black (239,850 or 8.9 per cent). Visible minorities are projected to increase to 63 per cent of the city's population by 2031. This diversity is reflected in Toronto's ethnic neighbourhoods, which include Chinatown, Corso Italia (Toronto), Corso Italia, Greektown, Kensington Market, Koreatown, Toronto, Koreatown, Little India, Little Italy, Eglinton West, Little Jamaica, Little Portugal and Roncesvalles, Toronto, Roncesvalles (Polish community).Religion
Questions on religion are conducted in every other Canadian census, with the latest census to include them being the 2011 Canadian Census. In 2011, the most commonly reported religion in Toronto was Christianity, adhered to by 54.1 per cent of the population. A plurality, 28.2 per cent, of the city's population was Catholic Church in Canada, Catholic, followed by Protestants (11.9 per cent), Orthodoxy, Christian Orthodox (4.3 per cent), and members of other Christian denominations (9.7 per cent). Other religions significantly practised in the city are Islam (8.2 per cent), Hinduism (5.6 per cent), Judaism (3.8 per cent), Buddhism (2.7 per cent), and Sikhism (0.8 per cent). Those with Irreligion, no religious affiliation made up 24.2 per cent of Toronto's population.Language
English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians with approximately 95 per cent of residents having proficiency in the language, although only 54.7 per cent of Torontonians reported English as their mother tongue. English is one of two official bilingualism in Canada, official languages of Canada, with the other being French. Approximately 1.6 per cent of Torontonians reported French as their mother tongue, although 9.1 per cent reported being bilingual in both official languages. In addition to services provided by the federal government, provincial services in Toronto are available in both official languages as a result of the ''French Language Services Act''. Approximately 4.9 per cent of Torontonians reported having no knowledge in either official languages of the country. Because the city is also home to many other languages, municipal services, most notably its 9-1-1 emergency telephone number, emergency telephone service, is equipped to respond in over 150 languages.Various Languages Spoken – TorontoGovernment
Toronto is a single-tier municipality governed by a Mayor–council government, mayor–council system. The structure of the municipal government is stipulated by the ''City of Toronto Act''. The mayor of Toronto is elected by direct popular vote to serve as theCrime
The historically low crime statistics, crime rate in Toronto has resulted in the city having a reputation as one of the safest major cities in North America. For instance, in 2007, the homicide rate for Toronto was 3.3 per 100,000 people, compared with Atlanta (19.7), Boston (10.3), Los Angeles (10.0), New York City (6.3), Vancouver (3.1), and Montreal (2.6). Toronto's robbery rate also ranks low, with 207.1 robberies per 100,000 people, compared with Los Angeles (348.5), Vancouver (266.2), New York City (265.9), and Montreal (235.3). Toronto has a comparable rate of motor vehicle theft, car theft to various U.S. cities, although it is not among the highest in Canada. In 2005, Toronto media coined the term "Year of the Gun", because of a record number of gun-related homicides, 52, out of 80 homicides in total. The total number of homicides dropped to 70 in 2006; that year, nearly 2,000 people in Toronto were victims of a violent gun-related crime, about one-quarter of the national total. 84 homicides were committed in 2007, roughly half of which involved guns. Gang-related incidents have also been on the rise; between the years of 1997 and 2005, over 300 gang-related homicides have occurred. As a result, the Ontario government developed an anti-gun strategy. In 2011, Toronto's murder rate plummeted to 51 murders—nearly a 26% drop from the previous year. The 51 homicides were the lowest number the city has recorded since 1999 when there were 47. While subsequent years did see a return to higher rates, it remained nearly flat line of 57–59 homicides in from 2012 to 2015. 2016 went to 75 for the first time in over 8 years. 2017 had a drop off of 10 murders to close the year at 65, with a homicide rate of 1.47 per 100,000 population. The total number of homicides in Toronto reached a record 96 in 2018; the number included fatalities from the Toronto van attack and the 2018 Toronto shooting, Danforth shooting. The record year for per capita murders was previously 1991, with 3.9 murders per 100,000 people. The 2018 homicide rate was higher than in Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, New York City, San Diego, and Austin, Texas, Austin.Education
There are four state school, public school boards that provide primary education, elementary and secondary education in Toronto, the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir, the Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV), the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). CSV and TDSB are secular education, secular public school boards, whereas MonAvenir and TCDSB are separate school, separate public school boards. CSV and MonAvenir are French first language school boards, whereas TCDSB and TDSB are English first language school boards. TDSB operates the most schools among the four Toronto-based school boards, with 451 elementary schools, 105 secondary schools, and five adult high school, adult learning centres. TCDSB operates 163 elementary schools, 29 secondary schools, three combined institutions, and one adult learning centre. CSV operates 11 elementary schools, and three secondary schools in the city. MonAvenir operates nine elementary schools, and three secondary schools in Toronto.Infrastructure
Health and medicine
Transportation
Public transportation
Toronto's main public transportation system is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The backbone of its public transport network is the Toronto subway system, which includes three heavy-rail rapid transit lines spanning the city, including the U-shaped Line 1 Yonge–University, Line 1 and east–west Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, Line 2. Line 3 Scarborough, Line 3 is a light metro line that exclusively serves the city's eastern district of Scarborough.Airports
Intercity transportation
Toronto Union Station serves as a hub for VIA Rail's intercity services in Central Canada and includes services to various parts of Ontario, ''Corridor'' services to Montreal and national capital Ottawa, and long-distance services to Vancouver and New York City. The Toronto Coach Terminal in downtown Toronto also serves as a hub for intercity bus services in Southern Ontario, served by multiple companies and providing a comprehensive network of services in Ontario and neighbouring provinces and states. GO Transit provides intercity bus services from the Union Station Bus Terminal and other bus terminals in the city to destinations within the greater Toronto area.Road system
Public library system
Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2008 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making it the largest neighbourhood-based library system in the world. Within North America, it also had the highest circulation and visitors when compared to other large urban systems. Established as the library of the Toronto Mechanics' Institute, Mechanics' Institute in 1830, the Toronto Public Library now consists of 100 branch libraries and has over 12 million items in its collection.Notable people
Sister cities
Partnership cities
* Chicago, Illinois, United States (1991) * Chongqing, China (1986) * Frankfurt, Germany (1989) * Milan, Italy (2003)Friendship cities
* Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2006) * Kyiv, Ukraine (1992) * Quito, Ecuador (2006) * Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2015) * Sagamihara, Japan (1991) * Warsaw, Poland (1990)See also
* Outline of Toronto (extensive topic list) * Great Lakes Megalopolis * Largest cities in the Americas * List of metropolitan areas in the AmericasNotes
References
Bibliography
* * * * * * * * * *Further reading
* * * * * * Also (paperback). * * The novel "In the Skin of a Lion" by Michael Ondaatje depicts Toronto in the 1920s, giving prominence to the construction of Toronto landmarks, such as the Prince Edward Viaduct and the R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, and focusing on the lives of the immigrant workers. * * * * *External links
* , the official City of Toronto web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Toronto Toronto, 1834 establishments in Canada Former colonial capitals in Canada Populated places established in 1793 Populated places on Lake Ontario in Canada Populated places on the Underground Railroad Port settlements in Ontario Single-tier municipalities in Ontario