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Toronto Travel Guide - Travel S Helper

Toronto

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Toronto is Canada’s most populous city, the provincial capital of Ontario, and the heart of the Greater Toronto Region, the country’s most populated metropolitan area. Toronto has a population of 2,615,060 people according to the 2011 census, making it the seventh biggest metropolis in North America. According to a 2013 municipal report, the city is currently the fourth most populous in North America, after only Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. Toronto, a global metropolis, is an international center of commerce, finance, arts, and culture, and is often regarded as one of the world’s most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities.

For thousands of years, Aboriginal peoples have lived in what is now known as Toronto. The city’s urban history stretches back to 1787, when British authorities negotiated the Toronto Purchase with the New Credit Mississaugas. They founded York and eventually proclaimed it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the location of the Battle of York, which was heavily damaged by American soldiers. In 1834, York was renamed and established as the City of Toronto, and in 1867, it became the capital of the province of Ontario. At different points in its history, Toronto’s initial limits were enlarged by merger with neighboring municipalities, the effects of which can be seen in the city’s 140 individually distinct and well defined designated neighbourhoods.

Toronto is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern side of Lake Ontario, on a large sloping plateau crossed by a vast network of rivers, steep ravines, and urban forest. It is the focal point of the Golden Horseshoe, a heavily populated area encircling Lake Ontario’s western shore that is home to 8.7 million people, or about 26% of Canada’s total population. Toronto’s demographics make it one of the world’s most varied cities, with over half of its citizens born in countries other than Canada and over 200 various ethnic origins represented among its residents. The city’s large foreign population reflects its present and historical significance as a major destination for immigrants to Canada. While English is the predominant language of the majority of Torontonians, the city is home to over 160 distinct languages.

Toronto is a significant center for music, theater, film production, and television production, as well as the headquarters of Canada’s main national broadcast networks and media sources. Its many cultural institutions, which include multiple museums and galleries, festivals and public events, entertainment districts, national historic monuments, and sporting activities, are significant draws for the city’s roughly 25 million visitors each year. Toronto is well-known for its skyscrapers and high-rise structures, including the CN Tower, the largest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada’s five major banks, and the headquarters of many significant Canadian and global firms are all located in the city, which serves as the country’s commercial center. Its economy is diverse, with strengths in technology, design, financial services, life sciences, education, the arts, fashion, business services, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism.

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Toronto | Introduction

Toronto – Info Card

POPULATION : • City (single-tier) 2,615,060
• Urban 5,132,794
• Metro 5,583,064
FOUNDED :  Settled 1750 (as Fort Rouillé)
Established August 27, 1793 (as York)
Incorporated March 6, 1834 (as Toronto)
Amalgamated January 20, 1953 (as Metropolitan Toronto)
Amalgamated January 1, 1998 (as City of Toronto)
TIME ZONE : • Time zone EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
LANGUAGE :  English (official) , French (official)
RELIGION : Catholic 28.2%, Protestants 11.9% ,Christian Orthodox (4.3%), other Christian denominations (9.7%) Islam (8.2%), Hinduism (5.6%), Judaism (3.8%), Buddhism (2.7%), and Sikhism (0.8%).
AREA : • City (single-tier) 630.21 km2 (243.33 sq mi)
• Urban 1,751.49 km2 (676.25 sq mi)
• Metro 5,905.71 km2
ELEVATION :  76 m (249 ft)
COORDINATES :  43°42′N 79°24′W
SEX RATIO :  Male: 49.63%
 Female: 50.37%
ETHNIC : 50.2% White
12.7% East Asian; 10.8% Chinese, 1.4% Korean, 0.5% Japanese
12.3% South Asian
8.5% Black
7.0% Southeast Asian; 5.1% Filipino
2.8% Latin American
2.0% West Asian
1.1% Arab
0.7% Aboriginal
1.5% Multiracial; 1.7% including Métis
1.3% Other
AREA CODE :  416, 647, 437
POSTAL CODE :  M
DIALING CODE :  +1 416
WEBSITE :   www.toronto.ca

Tourism in Toronto

Toronto is a popular tourist destination in Canada. In 2009, the Toronto area attracted 9.62 million overnight visitors, including 6.42 million from inside Canada and 1.99 million from outside the country. Toronto features a plethora of tourist attractions as well as a thriving cultural scene.

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a global cultural and natural history museum. The Toronto Zoo is home to almost 5,000 animals from 460 different species. The Art Gallery of Ontario has a substantial collection of Canadian, European, African, and modern art, as well as shows from museums and galleries across the globe. The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art is Canada’s only museum exclusively dedicated to ceramics, with over 2,900 ceramic pieces from Asia, the Americas, and Europe in its collection. In addition, the city is home to the Ontario Science Centre, the Bata Shoe Museum, and the Textile Museum of Canada. The Design Exchange, the Museum of Inuit Art, the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Institute for Contemporary Culture, the Toronto Sculpture Garden, the CBC Museum, the Redpath Sugar Museum, the University of Toronto Art Centre, Hart House, the TD Gallery of Inuit Art, and the Aga Khan Museum are among the other notable art galleries and museums. The city also operates its own museums, including the Spadina House.

The Don Valley Brick Works is a former industrial facility that first opened in 1889. It was partially restored as a park and historic site in 1996, with more restoration and reuse performed in phases since then. The Canadian National Exhibition (“The Ex”), the world’s oldest annual fair, is held at Exhibition Place every year. The Ex has a 1.25 million average attendance.

Yorkville, Queen West, Harbourfront, the Entertainment District, the Financial District, and the St. Lawrence Market neighborhood are among the city’s retail districts. With approximately 52 million visits each year, the Eaton Centre is Toronto’s most popular tourist destination.

The annual “Taste of the Danforth” event, held in Greektown on the Danforth, draws over a million people over the course of 212 days. Casa Loma, the old estate of Sir Henry Pellatt, a renowned Toronto businessman, manufacturer, and military man, is also located in Toronto. The Beaches, the Toronto Islands, Kensington Market, Fort York, and the Hockey Hall of Fame are among important communities and attractions.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Geography of Toronto

Toronto has a total size of 630 square kilometers (243 square miles), with a maximum north-south distance of 21 kilometers (13 miles) and an east-west distance of 43 kilometers (27 mi). It has a 46-kilometer (29-mile) coastal frontage on Lake Ontario’s northern side. The Toronto Islands and Port Lands stretch into Lake Ontario, creating a relatively protected Toronto Harbour south of the urban centre. The city is bounded on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Etobicoke Creek and Highway 427, on the north by Steeles Avenue, and on the east by the Rouge River and the Scarborough-Pickering Townline.

TOPOGRAPHY

The city is primarily flat or gently sloping hills, and the topography rises gradually uphill away from the lake. The flat topography is broken up by several ravines cut by numerous streams and the valleys of Toronto’s three rivers: the Humber River at the west end, the Don River east of downtown, at opposite ends of Toronto Harbour, and the Rouge River at the city’s eastern borders. The majority of Toronto’s ravines and valley areas are now park grounds, with recreational pathways running along the ravines and valleys. The initial town was set up in a grid layout on a level plain north of the harbor, and this plan was expanded as the city developed. The breadth and depth of various ravines and valleys are such that major grid streets, including Finch Avenue, Leslie Street, Lawrence Avenue, and St. Clair Avenue, end on one side and continue on the other. Many bridges cross the ravines of Toronto. To traverse extensive river basins, large bridges like the Prince Edward Viaduct were erected.

Toronto is not very mountainous, despite its deep ravines, yet its height rises slowly away from the lake. Elevation variances vary from 75 meters (246 feet) above sea level on the Lake Ontario coast to 209 meters (686 feet) ASL near the York University grounds in the city’s north end, at the junction of Keele Street and Steeles Avenue. There are several hilly locations, particularly in central Toronto, which has a number of steeply sloping hills. Lake Ontario may be seen from the hills’ crest as far north as Eglinton Avenue, 7 to 8 kilometers (4.3 to 5.0 miles) inland.

The escarpments are another prominent topographical feature of Toronto. The lower half of Toronto was submerged under Glacial Lake Iroquois during the previous ice period. The lake’s previous edge, known as the “Iroquois Shoreline,” is now marked by a series of escarpments. From Victoria Park Avenue to the mouth of Highland Creek, where they form the Scarborough Bluffs, the escarpments are most visible. Other visible areas include the region along St. Clair Avenue West between Bathurst Street and the Don River, as well as the area north of Davenport Road from Caledonia to Spadina Road; the Casa Loma gardens are located atop this escarpment.

The landscape of the lakeshore has altered dramatically since Toronto’s founding. Much of the land on the harbour’s north bank is landfill, which was filled in during the late 1800s. Previously, the lakeside docks (previously known as wharves) were located back more inland than they are now. Much of the nearby Port Lands on the harbour’s east side was a marsh that was filled in early in the twentieth century. The coastline has been extended into the lake from the port west to the Humber River. Further west, waste has resulted in land expansions such as Humber Bay Park.

The Toronto Islands were a natural peninsula until a storm in 1858 destroyed their connection to the mainland, resulting in the formation of a waterway to the harbour. Longshore drift transported sediments deposited along the Scarborough Bluffs shore to the Islands region, forming the peninsula. The deposition of the Don River, which created a vast valley through the sedimentary terrain of Toronto and deposited it in the harbour, which is very shallow, was another source of sediment for the Port Lands marsh and the peninsula. The port and the Don River channel have been dredged multiple times for maritime purposes. In the nineteenth century, the lower Don River was straightened and channeled. The ancient mouth of the Don emptied into a marsh; currently, the Don drains into the harbour through the Keating Channel, a concrete channel.

Economy of Toronto

Toronto is a major worldwide commercial and financial center. Toronto, often regarded as Canada’s financial hub, has a strong concentration of banks and brokerage businesses on Bay Street, in the Financial District. By market capitalization, the Toronto Stock Exchange is the world’s seventh-largest stock exchange. The Big Five, Canada’s five major financial firms, have national headquarters in Toronto.

The city is a major hub for the media, publishing, telecommunications, information technology, and film production sectors, and it is home to Bell Media, Rogers Communications, and Torstar. Magna International, Celestica, Manulife Financial, Sun Life Financial, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and significant hotel firms and operators such as Four Seasons Hotels and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts are also located in the Greater Toronto Area.

Despite the fact that many of the region’s manufacturing activity take place outside of the municipal borders, Toronto remains a wholesale and distribution hub for the industrial sector. The city’s strategic location along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, as well as its road and rail links, assist to support neighboring manufacturing of motor cars, iron, steel, food, machinery, chemicals, and paper. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened up access to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean in 1959.

In July 2016, the unemployment rate in Toronto was 6.7 percent. According to the website Nimbeo, Toronto’s cost of living index in 2016 ranked ninth in Canada.

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