The history of Ontario covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands that make up present-day Ontario, the most populous province of Canada as of the early 21st century have been inhabited for millennia by groups of Aboriginal people, with French and British exploration and colonization commencing in the 17th century. Before the arrival of Europeans, the region was inhabited both by Algonquian (Ojibwa, Cree and Algonquin) and Iroquoian (Haudenosaunee, Petun and Wendat (Huron)) tribes.
French explorer Étienne Brûlé surveyed part of the area in 1610–12. The English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the area for England, but Samuel de Champlain reached Lake Huron in 1615. In their effort to secure the North American fur trade, the English / British and the French established a number of fur trading forts in Ontario during the 17th and 18th centuries; with the former establishing a number of forts around Hudson Bay, and the latter establishing forts throughout the Pays d'en Haut region. Control over the area remained contested until the end of the Seven Years' War, when the 1763 Treaty of Paris awarded the colony of New France to the British.
Following the American Revolutionary War, the province saw an influx of loyalists settle the area. In response to the influx of loyalist refugees, the Constitutional Act of 1791 was enacted, splitting the colony of Quebec into Lower Canada (present day southern Quebec) and Upper Canada (present day southern Ontario). The Canadas were reunited as the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840. On July 1, 1867, the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia were united to form a single federation. The Province of Canada was split into two provinces at Confederation, with the area east of the Ottawa River forming Quebec, and the area west of the river forming Ontario.
Initial settlement and Archaic period
Paleo-Indians were the first people to settle on the lands of Ontario, about 11,000 years ago, after crossing the Bering land bridge from Asia to North America between 25,000 and 50,000 years ago. During the Archaic period, which lasted from 8000 to 1000 BC, the population slowly increased, with a generally egalitarian hunter-gatherer society and a warmer climate. Trading routes also began emerging along the St. Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes.
Woodland period
The Woodland period directly followed the Archaic period. It saw the introduction of ceramics in the Early Woodland period, horticultural experimentation with different crops (notably maize, or corn) as well as elaborate burial ceremonialism during the Middle Woodland, and the emergence of agriculture and village settlements by the Late Woodland. Especially by the Late Woodland, there was a divergence between northern and southern Ontario, as agriculture only took place in southern Ontario. However, northern Ontario saw significant changes in pottery and a continuation of mound building practices. Pictographs are associated with the Late Woodland, and continue as a practice into the time following European arrival, with the appearance of pictographs representing horses, firearms, and ships.
By at least the latter part of the Woodland period, a number of indigenous societies formed a broad fabric of ethnic groups, some of which were politically organized as confederacies. In the territory of modern-day Ontario, examples of these include the interconnected Wendat, Petun, and Neutral confederacies. These Northern Iroquoian peoples were more distantly related to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to the south. The territory was also inhabited by Algonquian peoples such as the Ojibwe, Cree, and Algonquin.
Pays d'en Haut
French explorer Étienne Brûlé surveyed part of the area in 1610–12. The English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the area for England, but Samuel de Champlain reached Lake Huron in 1615. French Jesuit missionaries began to establish posts along the Great Lakes, forging alliances in particular with the Wendat people. Permanent French settlement was hampered by their hostilities with the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee (based in New York State), who became allied with the British. By the early 1650s, using both British and Dutch arms, they had succeeded in pushing other related Iroquoian-speaking peoples, the Petun and Neutral Nation, out of or to the fringes of territorial southern Ontario. In 1747 a small number of French settlers established the oldest continually inhabited European community in what became western Ontario; Petite Côte was settled on the south bank of the Detroit River across from Fort Detroit and near Wendat and Petun villages.
The British established trading posts on Hudson Bay in the late 17th century.
Province of Quebec
With their victory in the Seven Years' War, the 1763 Treaty of Paris gave nearly all of France's North American possessions (New France) to Britain. Lands like Canada and the Pays d'en Haut were bundled together and renamed the Province of Quebec after the city of Quebec. The first English settlements in what is today Ontario occurred in 1782–1784 in Thousand Islands and the Niagara Peninsula, where 5,000 American loyalists who fled the American Revolution settled. From 1783 to 1796, Britain granted individuals 200 acres (0.8 km2) of land per household and other items as compensation for their losses in the Thirteen Colonies and a start for rebuilding their lives.
Upper Canada
The Constitutional Act of 1791 recognized that development by splitting the Province of Quebec into the Canadas. Lower Canada was east of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence, the area of earliest settlement, and Upper Canada became what was southwest of the confluence. John Graves Simcoe was appointed Upper Canada's first Lieutenant-Governor in 1793.
War of 1812
Owing to grievances from the impressment of American sailors by the British, and suspected British support of Native Americans in the American Northwest Territory, the United States declared war on the United Kingdom on July 1, 1812. Given its proximity to the United States, colonies in British North America, including Upper Canada found itself an active theatre of war throughout most of the conflict.
The earliest offensives of the war took place near what is now Southwestern Ontario and the upper Great Lakes region, with American forces briefly crossing into present day southwestern Ontario, before a British-First Nations force launched an offensive into the Michigan Territory. However, on September 10, 1813, after the Americans gained control of Lake Erie, British forces evacuated Detroit, and eventually decided to withdraw from the entire area. American forces under William Henry Harrison caught up to the retreating British-First Nations force, decisively defeating them at the Battle of the Thames. Tecumseh, leader of a Native American confederation, was killed shortly after the remaining British forces decided to fall back to Burlington; disrupting the military alliance between British and First Nations.
Several invasion attempts by American forces were also attempted at the Niagara Peninsula. On October 13, 1812, an American invasion attempt was prevented at the Battle of Queenston Heights; although the commander of British forces in Upper Canada, Major-General Isaac Brock, was killed during the battle. On April 27, 1813, American forces raided and briefly occupied York, the capital of Upper Canada. A month later, American forces captured Fort George prompting the British to retreat to the Burlington Heights. However, further advances into the peninsula by American forces were halted at the battles of Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams; prompting the Americans to eventual withdraw from the peninsula on December 10, 1813. An American invasion force advancing towards Montreal was also repulsed at the Battle of Chrysler's Farm on November 13, 1813.
In the summer of 1814, the Americans conducted another invasion of the Niagara Peninsula, successfully defeating the British at the Battle of Chippewa. However, American forces were prompted to withdraw to Fort Erie following the Battle of Lundy's Lane on July 25, 1814. American forces managed to repulse a British siege of the fort, although the Americans evacuated the fort shortly after the siege was over in November 1814. Transgressions conducted by American occupying forces while in Upper Canada, including the burning of York and the raid on Port Dover later influenced the actions of British commanders in other theatres of the war, most notably the burning of Buffalo and Washington. The conflict was concluded in December 1814 with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.
Transportation
After the War of 1812, the relative stability attracted increasing numbers of immigrants from Britain and Ireland rather than from the United States. Colonial leaders encouraged the new immigration. However, many arriving newcomers from Europe (mostly from Britain and Ireland) found frontier life difficult, and some of those with the means eventually returned home or went south. Howeverm population growth far exceeded emigration from this area in the following decades.
Canal projects and a new network of plank roads spurred greater trade within the colony and with the United States, thereby improving relations over time. Ontario's numerous waterways aided travel and transportation into the interior and supplied water power for development. Canals were capital-intensive infrastructure projects that facilitated trade. The Oswego Canal, built in New York 1825–1829, was a vital commercial link in the Great Lakes–Atlantic seaway. It was connected to Ontario's Welland Canal in 1829. The newly fashioned Oswego–Welland line offered an alternate route to the St. Lawrence River and Europe, as opposed to the Erie Canal, which connected the Great Lakes to New York City via the Mohawk and Hudson rivers.Janet Larkin, "The Oswego Canal: A Connecting Link Between The United States and Canada, 1819–1837", Ontario History, Spring 2011, Vol. 103 Issue 1, pp 23–41
Family Compact
In the absence of a hereditary aristocracy, Upper Canada was run by an oligarchy or closed group of powerful men who controlled most of the political, judicial, and economic power from the 1810s to the 1830s. Opponents called it the "Family Compact", but its members avoided the term. In the religious sphere, a key leader was John Strachan (1778–1867), the Anglican bishop of Toronto. Strachan (and the Family Compact generally) was opposed by Methodist leader Egerton Ryerson (1803–1882). The Family Compact consisted of English gentry who arrived before 1800, and the sons of United Empire Loyalists, who were exiles who fled the American revolution. The term "family" was metaphorical, for they generally were not related by blood or marriage. There were no elections and the leadership controlled appointments, so local officials were generally allies of the leaders.Peter A. Baskerville, "Entrepreneurship and the Family Compact: York-Toronto, 1822–55", Urban History Review Feb 1981, Vol. 9 Issue 3, pp 15–34
The Family Compact looked to Britain for the ideal model of society, where landed aristocrats held power. The Family Compact was noted for its conservatism and opposition to democracy, especially the rowdy United States version. They developed the theme that they and their militia had defeated American attempts to annex Canada in the War of 1812. They were based in Toronto and were integrated with the bankers, merchants, and financiers of the city, who were active in promoting canals and railroads.
Upper Canada Rebellion