Toronto
Toronto (pronounced /t??r?nto?/, colloquially /?tr?no?/ or /t??r?no?/) is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region in Southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe, which is home to 8.1 million residents and has approximately 25% of Canadas population. The census metropolitan area (CMA) had a population of 5,113,149, and the Greater Toronto Area had a population of 5,555,912 in the 2006 Census.
As Cnadas economic capital, Toronto is considered a global city and is one of the top financial centres in the world. Torontos leading economic sectors include finance, business services, telecommunications, aerospace, transportation, media, arts, film, television production, publishing, software production, medical research, education, tourism and sports industries.The Toronto Stock Exchange, the worlds seventh largest, is headquartered in the city, along with a majority of Canadas corporations.
Torontos population is cosmopolitan and international, reflecting its role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. Toronto is one of the worlds most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, as about 49% of the population were born outside of Canada. Because of the citys low crime rates, clean environment, high standard of living, and friendlier attitudes to diversity, Toronto is consistently rated as one of the worlds most livable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Mercer Quality of Living Survey. In addition, Toronto was ranked as the most expensive Canadian city in which to live in 2006. Residents of Toronto are called Torontonians.
The History of Toronto:
An 11,000-year Journey
Toronto, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, is the largest of Canadas vibrant urban centres. It is the hub of the nations commercial, financial, industrial, and cultural life, and is the capital of the Province of Ontario. People have lived here since shortly after the last ice age, although the urban community only dates to 1793 when British colonial officials founded the Town of York on what then was the Upper Canadian frontier. That backwoods village grew tobecome the City of Toronto in 1834, and through its subsequent evolution and expansion Toronto has emerged as one of the most liveable and multicultural urban places in the world today. Explore the citys history in-depth in our full length History of Toronto.
