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Ottawa,_Ontario.
Ottawa(Redirected from Ottawa, Ontario)
Alternate meanings: Ottawa (disambiguation)
City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
(In Detail)
Motto: Unitas Prosperitas (Unity, Prosperity)
Area: 2,778.64 sq. km.
Population
- Total (2001):
- Density:
774,072
278.6/km²
MayorBob Chiarelli
City of Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, located in the eastern part of the province of Ontario. The population as of 2001 was approximately 774,072 people. The Ottawa region has a population of approximately 1,110,498. The mayor of the city today (2004) is Bob Chiarelli.
Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide")
1 Location
2 Notable buildings and institutions
3 Annual Events
4 Primary industries
5 Sports
6 History
7 Demographics
8 Famous People From Ottawa
9 Item of Interest
10 See also
11 External links
Location
Ottawa sits on the Ottawa River, which divides Quebec from Ontario. The majority of its residents speak English and a significant minority speak French. A majority of the residents of the Quebec city of Gatineau, directly across the river from Ottawa, speak French as their primary language, but are also fairly fluent in English.
The Rideau Canal, which starts in Kingston, Ontario, winds its way through the city. The final flight of locks on the canal are adjacent to the Parliament Buildings.
Notable buildings and institutions
Some of the notable buildings in Ottawa include the Parliament Buildings, where Canada's government resides; 24 Sussex Drive, the home of the Prime Minister of Canada; and Rideau Hall, the home of the Governor-General of Canada. Ottawa also has several museums, including the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian War Museum, Canada Science and Technology Museum, and Canadian Museum of Nature. The Canadian Museum of Civilization is located across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec. Ottawa is also the home of the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.
Ottawa is served by Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. All federal buildings and lands are managed by the National Capital Commission an organization that has a great deal of power over the city.
Annual Events
- Winterlude is an annual winter carnival held each year in February. It is focused on the Rideau Canal.
- Canada Day is one of Ottawa's most important holidays and people from across the nation visit to celebrate the nation's birthday.
The changing of the guard in front of the Parliament of Canada.
Primary industries
Ottawa's primary employers are the Canadian federal government and high technology. Many publicly traded companies such as Nortel, Alcatel, JDS Uniphase, Mitel and Corel have offices in the city.
Sports
Ottawa is home to two major league sports team, the Ottawa Senators (established 1992) of the National Hockey League and the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League. It is also home to the AAA farm team of the Baltimore Orioles, the Ottawa Lynx of the International League, and the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League.
History
The Ottawa region was long home to First Nations peoples who were part of the Algonquin. The first European settlement in the Ottawa region was that of Philemon Wright who started a community on the Quebec side of the river in 1800. Wright discovered that transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Montreal was possible and Ottawa was soon booming based almost entirely off timber. The city grew even further in importance when the Rideau Canal was constructed by Colonel John By. The city was then known as Bytown, but it was incorporated as Ottawa in 1855.
On December 31, 1857 Queen Victoria,
was asked to choose a capital for Canada, and chose Ottawa. There are various popular stories explaining this decision. One explanation is that she did so by sticking her hatpin on a map roughly halfway between Toronto and Montreal; Ottawa was the nearest city to were it landed. Another is that she liked some watercolours she had seen of the area. In reality, the primary objective was probably to avoid antagonising either English speakers or French speakers. The other candidates - Quebec City, Montreal, Kingston and Toronto - were perceived as too firmly rooted either in English or in French tradition; Ottawa seemed more neutral. Also, at a time when the US was considered a military threat, Ottawa was situated further from the border.
The original Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa burned down on February 3, 1916. The House of Commons was temporarily relocated to the Victorian era building which was then the Victoria Museum, and is currently (2004) the Canadian Museum of Nature, located about 1 km south of Parliament Hill at the opposite end of Metcalfe Street. A new Centre Block was completed in 1922, the centre-piece of which is a dominant gothic revival styled structure known as the Peace Tower which has become a common emblem of the city.
In 2001, the city of Ottawa was amalgamated with the suburbs of Nepean, Kanata, Gloucester, Rockcliffe Park, Vanier and Cumberland, and the rural townships of West Carleton, Osgoode, Rideau and Goulbourn, to become one municipality.
See also: List of Ottawa mayors
Demographics
According to the 2001 Statistics Canada census, there are 774,072 people, 310,132 households, and 210,875 families residing in the city. The population density is 278.6/km².
The lingustic makeup of the city is 63.6% anglophone, 15.0% francophone, 0.9% bilingual, 20.3% allophone.
There are 210,875 families out of which 72.8% are married couples living together, 11.1% are common-law couples, and 13.2% have a female householder with no husband present.
In the city the population is spread out with 25.3% under the age of 19, 6.9% from 20 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36.7 years. For every 100 females there are 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.1 males.
The median income for a working individual in the city is $39,713, and the median income for a family is $73,507. Males have a median income of $47,203 versus $31,641 for females. The per capita income for the city is $23,061.
The dramatic rear view of Parliament Hill, with the Library of Parliament perched atop the deep gorge of the Ottawa
River.
Famous People From Ottawa
North: Pontiac, Gatineau
West: Arnprior, Mississippi Mills, Beckwith, Montague
Ottawa
East: Clarence-Rockland, The Nation, Russell
South: North Grenville, North Dundas
Item of Interest
The National Research Council of Canada's shortwave time signal station, CHU, is located just fifteen kilometres southwest of Ottawa.
See also
External links
View of part of downtown Ottawa, with the National Gallery at left
This article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Secret Ottawa: The Unique Guidebook to Ottawa's Hidden Sites, Sounds, & Tastes by Laura Byrne Paquet
Geography Lesson: Canadian Notes by Allan Sekula
Guide to Eastern Canada: Featuring Canada's World-Class Cities of Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Halifax and the Resorts of Ontario an by Frederick Pratson
Ottawa inside out : power, prestige, and scandal in the nation's capital by Stevie Cameron
A Place Called Morning by Anne Kathleen McLaughlin
A Place for Art/UN Lieu Pour L'Art: The Artchitectre of the National Gallery of Canada by Witold Rybczynski
Canadian Art (Catalogue of the National Gallery of Canada , Vol 2/G-K) by Pierre B. Landry
The Right to Know Who You Are: Reform of Adoption Law With Ottawa Ontario by Keith Griffith
Algorithms and Data Structures: 8th International Workshop, Wads 2003, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, July 30-August 1, 2003: Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2748) by Frank Dehne
Computer Aided Systems Theory: Cast'94: 4th International Workshop, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 16-20, 1994: Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol 1105) by Tuncer I. Oren
Cycling Windsor to Niagara & Niagara to Ottawa by M. Archibald
Over the Hills to Georgian Bay: The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry by Niall MacKay
Rideau Hall: Canada's Living Heritage by Gerda Hnatyshyn
The painted past : selected paintings from the Picture Division of the Public Archives of Canada = Le passé en peinture : un choix d'oeuvres de la Division de l'iconographie des Archives publiques du Canada by Public Archives Canada
The Glory of Ottawa: Canada's First Parliament Buildings by Carolyn A. Young
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