6th March: Toronto

Toronto was incorporated as a city in 1834. Some things you might not know about Toronto:

1. It's the largest city in Canada and the fifth largest in North America, with a population of over five million.
2. The area was originally inhabited by Wyandot (Huron) people, who were later displaced by the Iroquois, who gave the area its name. Toronto is derived from the Iroquoian word tkaronto, meaning "place where trees stand in the water", because their predecesors the Huron had planted trees in a lake to corral fish. That said, Toronto is also a word in the Huron language, meaning "plenty". When the Europeans arrived, they named their settlement York, after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. However, in 1834 when it became incorporated as a city, it was renamed, reverting back to the original name of Toronto.
3. Toronto is situated on Southern Ontario, on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario. It is actually further south than ten of the northern states of the USA.
4. It can get very cold in winter. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Toronto was -31.3°C (-24.3°F). With windchill it was -44.7°C (-48.5°F). That might be why the city has the largest underground pedestrian system in North America. PATH has 29 km (18 miles) of retail space, connects 50 office towers, 5 subway stations, six hotels and a railway station. Once a year it's the location of the world’s largest underground sidewalk sale.
5. As for streets above ground, Toronto is often said to be the home of the longest street in the world, Yonge Street, which allegedly is 1,896 kilometres (1,178 mi) long. However, that is the length of Highway 11, of which Yonge Street was only ever a part. It's still a pretty long street, though, at 56 kilometres (35 miles) in length.
6. Toronto has a thriving movie industry, the third largest in North America. Its film festival, TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) takes place in September and is the second most prestigious in the world, after Cannes. As well as TIFF, the city hosts over 70 film festivals a year.
7. Not surprisingly then, some big names in film hail from Toronto, including Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Hayden Christensen, David Cronenberg, David Furnish (Elton John's other half), Rick Moranis, Christopher Plummer and Keanu Reeves. It was also home to the rapper, Drake, Neil Young and author Margaret Atwood.
8. It's a very cosmopolitan city with 50% of its population having been born outside of Canada. Toronto has the largest population of Italians outside of Italy, for example. There is a festival in August called Carabana, which celebrates Caribbean culture, and is North America’s largest one-day parade with a route which is 3.6km long.
9. Toronto has been voted the fourth best city in the world to live in. It has a low crime rate - 78.4 violent crimes were recorded in 2018, compared to 2,122.9 in Detroit.
10. Toronto is home to the world’s second tallest free-standing structure, the CN Tower which is 1,815 feet (553 meters) tall.

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