London travel guide — London tourism and travel information

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London travel guide

about London

London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of about 337,318; its metropolitan area has a population of about 432,451 (2001). It was settled in 1826 and established as a city in 1855. London and the surrounding area (roughly, the territory between Kitchener, Ontario and Chatham, Ontario) are collectively known as Western Ontario. London is known as the "Forest City" due to its large areas of parkland and extensive tree cover.

London geography

London is in Middlesex County, at the forks of the non-navigable Thames River, almost exactly halfway between Toronto and Detroit. It is located at 43°2' N by 81°9' W.

London history

Prior to European contact in the 17th century, the present site of London was occupied by numerous Algonquin and Iroquois villages; the Algonquin village at the forks of Askunessippi (the Thames River) was called Kotequogong. This site was selected as the site of the future capital of Upper Canada by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1793, who named it after London, England. However, the choice was rejected by Governor Dorchester, who commented sardonically that access to London would be limited to hot-air balloons. In 1814 there was a skirmish during the War of 1812 in what is now south London. The city itself was not founded until 1826, and it never became the capital envisioned by Simcoe. It was part of the Talbot Settlement, overseen by Colonel Thomas Talbot, who surveyed the land and built the first government buildings for the administration of the Western Ontario region. With the rest of southwestern Ontario which was part of this settlement it benefited from Talbot's provisions for building and maintaining roads and for assignment of priority for access to main roads to productive land (rather than to Crown and clergy reserves, which received preference in the rest of Ontario). London remained a centre of strong Tory support during the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, with a large British garrison stationed there, although there was a brief rebellion led by Charles Duncombe.

In the 1860s, sulphur hot springs were discovered at the forks of the Thames River while industrialists were drilling for oil. The springs became a popular destination for wealthy Ontarians, until the turn of the century when a textile factory was built over them.

While other Protestant cities in Ontario (notably Toronto) remained under the sway of the Orange Order well into the twentieth century, London abandoned sectarianism in the nineteenth. In 1877, Catholic and Protestant Irish in London formed the Irish Benevolent Society, which was open to both Catholics and Protestants and forbade the discussion of Irish politics. The influence of the Orange Order (and of Catholic organizations) quickly waned. The Society survives to this day.

London continued its role as a military centre during the two world wars, serving as the administrative centre for the Western Ontario district. Today there is still an active Canadian Forces Base in the city.

London continues to grow, having amalgamated many of the surrounding communities in 1961 and again in the 1990s. It is currently the 11th largest city in Canada and the 5th largest city in Ontario.

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London real estate

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "London, Ontario".

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