Ottawa

Ottawa is Canada’s capital. It sits in southeastern Ontario, where the Ottawa River meets the Rideau River. The city shares a border with Gatineau, Quebec, and together they make up the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area and the National Capital Region. With a city population of 1,017,449 and a metro population of 1,488,307, Ottawa ranks as Ontario’s second-most populous city and Canada’s fourth-largest city and fourth-largest metro area.

As the country’s political hub, Ottawa hosts the federal government’s headquarters. Foreign embassies, key government buildings, and institutions are found here, including Parliament, the Supreme Court, the governor general’s residence, and the Prime Minister’s Office. Originally called Bytown, the settlement was founded in 1826, incorporated as a town in 1850, and renamed Ottawa in 1855. Its boundaries grew through several annexations before a new city incorporation and amalgamation in 2001.

The municipal government operates under Ontario’s City of Ottawa Act, with an elected city council representing 24 wards and a mayor elected city-wide, all chosen by first-past-the-post voting. Ottawa has the highest share of university graduates among Canadian cities. It is home to the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College, Collège La Cité, the National Arts Centre, and the National Gallery of Canada, plus many national museums, monuments, and historic sites.

The city enjoys a generally high standard of living and draws over 11 million visitors each year, making it one of Canada’s most visited cities. Etymology The name “Ottawa” was adopted in 1855, taken from the Ottawa River. That river’s name comes from an Algonquin word meaning “to trade.” In modern Algonquin, the city is known as .

Early history The Ottawa Valley became livable about 10,000 years ago, after the Champlain Sea naturally drained. The earliest evidence of people in the valley—spearpoints—dates to 8,500–8,000 years ago. By 6,000 years ago, trade and communication networks were well established. Around 3,500 to 3,000 years ago, there is clear evidence of permanent settlements, including likely hearths and heavy tools.

Near today’s Ottawa, settlements at the mouth of the Gatineau River have been documented from 3,500 to 3,000 years before European contact. These Algonquin people foraged, hunted, and fished, but also traded and traveled. Three major rivers meet in Ottawa, making it a key trade and travel zone for millennia. This era ended with European settlement and colonization from the 15th century onward.

European exploration and early development In 1610, Étienne Brûlé became the first European known to travel the Ottawa River, passing what is now Ottawa on his way to the Great Lakes. Three years later, Samuel de Champlain wrote about the area’s waterfalls and his meetings with the Algonquin people. The first non-Indigenous settlement in the area was founded by Philemon Wright, a New Englander. On March 7, 1800, he established a lumber town on the north side of the river, across from present-day Ottawa, in Hull.

With five other families and twenty-five laborers, he also created an agricultural community called Wright’s Town, which later became Gatineau. Wright launched the Ottawa Valley timber trade—soon the region’s main economic activity—by floating timber downriver to Quebec City. In the 1820s, news that the British military planned to build the Rideau Canal sparked land speculation. Local businessman John Le Breton bought a lot expecting the canal’s route, which led to an alternative course being chosen.

A town was established in 1826 and named in 1827 after Colonel John By, the British engineer in charge of the Rideau Waterway. The canal provided a safe route between Montreal and Kingston on Lake Ontario, bypassing a vulnerable stretch of the St. Lawrence River along New York state that had left supply ships exposed during the War of 1812. Colonel By set up military barracks on what is now Parliament Hill. He laid out the town’s streets, creating two distinct neighborhoods: “Upper Town” west of the canal and “Lower Town” east.

Mirroring Upper Canada and Lower Canada, Upper Town was mostly English-speaking and Protestant, while Lower Town was largely French, Irish, and Catholic. During Bytown’s early pioneer days, Irish laborers clashed with French settlers in the Shiners’ War from 1835 to 1845. Bytown’s population reached 1,000 when the Rideau Canal was finished in 1832. The settlement was incorporated as a town in 1850. In 1855, it was renamed Ottawa and granted city status.