Toronto, also known colloquially as Hogtown, is the capital of the Ontario province in Canada. With over 2.5 million inhabitants, it is also the largest city in the coutry. The city’s official language has always been English. Toronto has a coastline of 46km (29 miles) on the northewestern shore of Lake Ontario. The rivers Humber and Don run through the city on the west and east sides respectively. Every year the Luminato and Nuit Blanche festivals attract an ever-growing number of tourists to the city. In whole of the Toronto region, there are more than 100 theatres, performing a wide variety of shows, as well as a number of IMAX cinemas, the technology behing which was invented in Toronto. With over 1700 buildings higher than 90m, Toronto has the second largest proportion of high-rise in North America, after New York City.

The historic Distillery District is located in the southeast of the city and is the best preserved area of Victorian architecture in North America. The CN Tower, at 553 metres, is certainly the symbol of the city and a signature of its skyline, as well as being one of the main tourist attractions in Toronto Among other tourist destinations, it it is recommended to visit the Scadding Cabin in Exhibition Place, reportedely the oldest house in Toronto, built in 1794, the Canadian Museum of Inuit Art at Queen’s Quay Terminal, the Canada’s Wonderland amusement park, the Casa Loma castle, the Bowmanville Zoo, being the oldest private zoo in Canada, founded in 1919, and the historic site of Fort York.

Accommodation in Toronto’s student residences

The city’s oldest university is the University of Toronto, founded in 1827. The two other significant universities are the Ryerson and York Universities. There are also a number of colleges offering higher education degrees, most notably Seneca College, Humber College, Centennial College and George Brown College. It should be understood that these residences are designed primarily for students and not children or guests expecting a high level of luxury. However, with this in mind, the halls do meet a level of comfort that we expect most visitors to be happy with, and we will welcome any feedback where this is not the case.

Getting around Toronto

Toronto h as a substantial public transport network, consisting of a Metro, being the third largest in North America, trams and buses, as well as seven railway lines connecting the suburbs with the city centre. There is also a large expressway network, with Highway 401 bisecting the city from west to east, being North America’s busiest road. Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) leads towards the town of Niagara Falls. The city is served by the Toronto Pearason International Airport.

Toronto was first established in 1750 as Fort Toronto, also known as Fort Rouillé. After the American Revolution, the territory was still part of the province of Quebec, but with the arrival of the loyalists, the British authorities were forced to divide the province into two parts with the Constitutional Act of 1791, thus forming the Province of Upper Canada under the governor John Graves Simcoe, who was based in Newark. In 1793, Guy Carleton, the Governor General of Canada, accepted Simcoe’s second choice, a site on the shores of Lake Ontario, which was then named York, which was to be Toronto’s official name from 1793 to 1834.

In 1796, Simcoe made York the capital of Upper Canada, relocating it from Newark under the impression that the new location was less susceptible to attack by the Americans. The government of Upper Canada was moved there in 1796. During the War of 1812, the city surrendered following the Battle of York in 1813 and was subsequently pillaged by American forces. During the five years of its occupation, American soldiers destroyed a large prportion of Fort York as well as the government buildings. The ransacking of York was the main motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troupes in 1814. In 1834, the York agglomeration officially became Toronto. The name itself once belonged to a lake of substantial size (but not one of the Great Lakes), around 120km (80 miles) north of the city, which is now called Lake Simcoe. The word Toronto means “place where the tree roots soak up the water” in a Mohawk dialect of eastern Canada.

Throughout its history, Toronto was twice the capital of the Province of Canada, first from 1849 to 1852 and then from 1856 to1858. With the creation of the Ontario Province in 1867, the city was chosen as its capital. Despite its rapid growth, in the 1920s Toronto was still the second to Montreal in terms of economy and population. In 1971, the city surpassed the 2 million inhabitants mark and in the 1980s became Canada’s largest city. In 1998 the regional municipality was dissolved and replaced by the one city, Toronto.