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With five major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers fast and convenient access to major destinations in Canada and the United States. Mississauga has doubled in size in each of the last two decades. Mississauga had the largest population growth in Canada (89,500) between the census years of 1986-1991. Another 80,994 were added between 1991-1996; an increase of 17.5% in the four year period.
Despite its size, Mississauga is a suburb of Toronto and the two cities' urban sprawls are indistinguishably linked. As Toronto has continued to grow economically, Mississauga has followed suit, building predominantly low-density tract housing and high rise condominiums to attract individuals tired of city life. At the same time, businesses saw the benefits of locating to Mississauga - low tax rates, proximity to a number of transportation routes (air, rail, road), proximity to Toronto, and an abundance of land (at least, at the time) - and it soon became desirable to locate there.
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 1600sCenturies: 16th century 17th century 18th century Decades: 1550s 1560s 1570s 1580s 1590s 1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s Years: 1600 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 Events and Trends November 5, 1605 The Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Brit, both Iroquoian and Algonquian speaking peoples already lived in the Credit RiverThe Credit River is a river in southern Ontario which flows from headwaters on the Niagara Escarpment to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Ontario, now part of Mississauga. It drains an area of approximately 1,000 kmē. The total length of the river Valley area. One of the First Nations groups the traders found around the Credit River area was called the MississaugasThe Mississaugas are a native people located in Southern Ontario. The Mississaugas were driven off their land in 1847 and relocated to a reserve in the Grand River Valley area of Ontario. The city of Mississauga is named after them. An alternate spelling, a tribe originally from Lake HuronLake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of eastern North America, and separates Michigan from Ontario. Georgian Bay, the easternmost part of Lake Huron, is entirely within Canada. Lake Huron is separated from Lake Michigan, which lies at the same level,. By 1700Events January 1 Russia accepts Julian calendar. January 1 in around this year, Germany and Denmark- Norway adopt the Gregorian calendar, including the convention that New Year's Day is January 1st. January 26 Massive earthquake hits British Columbia. the Missisaugas had driven away the IroquoisThe Iroquois Confederacy is a group of First Nations/ Native Americans. Based in upstate New York at the time of the arrival of the Europeans, they now occupy territory in Ontario, Quebec, and New York. The spiritual union of the nations began before Euro.
In 1805, government officials from York, as Toronto was then called, bought 340 kmē (84,000 acres) of the Mississauga Tract and in 1806 the area was opened for settlement. The various communities settled include: Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale, Port Credit, Sheridan, and Summerville. This region would become known as the Toronto Township.
In 1820, a second purchase was made and additional settlements established including: Barbertown, Britannia, Burnhamthorpe, Derry West, Elmbank, Malton, Meadowvale Village, Mount Charles, and Streetsville. This led to the eventual displacement of the Mississaugas and, in 1847, they were relocated to a reserve in the Grand River Valley near present-day Hagersville .
With the exception of Port Credit and Streetsville, all of these settlements joined together in 1968 to form the Town of Mississauga. In 1974, Mississauga incorporated as a City, this time including Port Credit and Streetsville.
For a more detailed history, see the entry for Toronto Township, Ontario.
On November 10, 1979, a 106 car freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals was derailed at the intersection of Mavis Road and Dundas in Mississauga. The resulting fire was allowed to burn itself out, but a ruptured chlorine tank was the main cause for concern. With the possiblity of a deadly cloud of chlorine gas spreading through suburban Mississauga, 218,000 people were evacuated. Within a few days Mississauga was practically a ghost town, later when the mess had been cleared and the danger neutralized residents were allowed to return to their homes. At the time it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history and due to the speed and efficiency in which it was conducted many cities later studied and modeled their own emergency plans after Mississauga's.