this is where i come from

to be edited with pictures soon. ish.

i thought i would hit the ground running on this blog project since i'm still a big-time keener/nerd very motivated to start writing. the weather has been pretty dismal recently and i plan on being in kingston for about a week starting saturday, so there likely won't be any ottawa-activities for a bit. i should mention that while i could retroactively blog about things i've already done in ottawa, i'd like to take pictures, so i'll do them over again.

that being said, what the heck is an "ottawa", where does it come from, et qu'est ce que ça mange en hiver?

ot∙ta∙wa (n.pl.): Native American people formerly inhabiting the northern shore of Lake Huron, with later settlements throughout the upper Great Lakes region. Present-day Ottawa populations are located mainly in southern Ontario, northern Michigan, and Oklahoma.

formerly known as bytown (until 1855), the city of ottawa was established in 1826 just as work on the rideau canal began. at that point, ottawa was pretty much just a trading post for timber which was transported from the ottawa valley to québec city (yes, that means that we were way ahead of the curve when it comes to the plaid button-up fad). colonel john by oversaw the construction of the canal as a system of locks that was meant to provide a secure route between kingston and montréal. the layout he planned for the streets in the downtown core remain today. when the rideau was completed in 1832, ottawa was home to a whopping 1,000 people.

ottawa owes much to queen victoria. if it wasn't for her, it'd probably be a less picturesque version of brockville way less awesome. in 1857, she decided that ottawa become the capital of the recently united province of canada. this made sense for many reasons; while ottawa was far less developed than toronto, montréal or even kingston, it was further removed from the u.-s. border and straddled the english-french divide.

from then on, ottawa began to boom and flourish (save for a few hiccups - mainly fires in 1900 and 1916 that destroyed half of hull and the parliament buildings, respectively). in 1940, jacques greber created the greenbelt and parkway system and during the 1960s to 1980s, the city experienced a signifcant housing boom. ottawa then became a hub for the high-tech industry. in 2001, it underwent amalgation and brought in 12 municipalities into its borders.

today, the national capital region (NCR, aka ottawa/gatineau) is home to over 1.2 million people (the population of ottawa alone is 800k+). it's largest city in canada to be officially bilingual (close to 40% of people speak both english and french). it also has the most scientists, engineers and PhDs per capita in canada.

for three years in a row, ottawa ranked first in the best places to live in canada by money sense. i guess i'll see if it lives up!

in the meantime...comment on you favourite ottawa activities i should make sure to blog about.

xo OC

(p.s. source: wikipedia. duh.)