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The most American of all the major Canadian cities, Toronto is a cosmopolitan metropolis with trademark highways, skyscrapers and the like. But, unlike some of its counterparts south of the border, Toronto is a remarkably clean and safe city to visit. It is also one of the most interesting cities in the world compliments of the one hundred and forty seven different ethnic groups currently living there.
Toronto was originally claimed by the French in the 1700s but it wasn’t until the end of the century, following the end of the American Revolution, that the city became an established settlement. Known back then as York, the town was exceptionally British and served as the administrative capital of English speaking Canada. In 1834 the name of the city was changed to Toronto which is an Indian word meaning meeting place.
In the century that followed, Toronto earned itself a reputation for a being a boring and conservative city where the number one concern for its residents was making money. In fact this is a reputation which has stuck right up to the present day, but is one which a visit to the city should soon clear up for you.
At the end of the 1950s, however, Toronto was to undergo a complete transformation when the first of the city’s immigrants began to arrive. Brining new languages, traditions, foods and cultures, the city as the native Torontians knew it would never be the same again. The first to arrive were the Italians, Portuguese and Eastern Europeans closely followed by those from the Caribbean, Asian and India. These new arrivals settled in very quickly creating their own Little Italys and Chinatowns, all of which remain to this day. Gradually Toronto shed its colonial identity and became the ethnic melting pot that it is today.
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