1 Geography

Ottawa sits on the south bank of the Ottawa River, around the mouths of the Rideau River and Rideau Canal. The oldest part of the city (including what remains of Bytown) is known as Lower Town and occupies an area between the canal and the rivers. Across the canal to the west lies Centre Town, which is the city's financial and commercial hub. Between here and the Ottawa River, the slight elevation of Parliament Hill is home to many of the capital's landmark government buildings.

The Ottawa urban area extends for considerable distance to the east, west and south of the centre, and includes the former cities of Gloucester, Nepean and Kanata and Cumberland . Around the city is an extensive greenbelt, administered by the National Capital Commission for conservation and leisure, and comprising mostly forest and marshland. A number of satellite towns and rural communities lie beyond the greenbelt but are administratively part of the Ottawa municipality.

Across the Ottawa River, which forms the border between Ontario and Quebec, lies the city of Gatineau. Although administered separately, the two cities both fall within the remit of the National Capital Commission and for many purposes are considered a single metropolitan area, called Canada's Capital Region.

2 Transportation

Ottawa is served by VIA Rail, by Macdonald-Cartier International Airport and by a number of long distance bus companies.

Ottawa's main mass transit company is known as OC Transpo. The bus transit system includes the Transitway, a network of mostly grade-separated, extremely high-frequency, reserved bus rapid transit lanes with full stations instead of stops. There is also a pilot-project diesel light rail system called the O-Train. See List of Ottawa Transitway and O-Train stations. Both OC Transpo and the Quebec-based Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) operate bus services between Ottawa and Gatineau.

The Rideau Canal, which starts in Kingston, Ontario, winds its way through the city. The final flight of locks on the canal are adjacent to the Parliament Buildings. Also, during the winter season the canal is usually open and is a form of transportation downtown for about 8 km for ice skaters (from about Dow's Lake to the Rideau Centre).

Ottawa sits at the confluence of three major rivers: the Ottawa River, the Gatineau River and the Rideau River. The Ottawa and Gatineau rivers were historically important in the logging and lumber industries, and the Rideau as part of the Rideau Canal system connected the Great Lakes and Saint Laurent River with the Ottawa river.

3 Notable buildings and institutions

Some of the notable buildings in Ottawa include the Parliament Buildings, where Canada's government resides; 24 Sussex Drive, the home of the Prime Minister of Canada; and Rideau Hall, the home of the Governor-General of Canada. Ottawa also has several museums, including the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian War Museum, Canada Science and Technology Museum, Canadian Aviation Museum and Canadian Museum of Nature. The Canadian Museum of Civilization is located across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec. Ottawa is also the home of the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and Algonquin College. Ottawa is served by Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. All federal buildings and lands are managed by the National Capital Commission an organization that has a great deal of power over the city.

See also: List of Ottawa buildings

4 Annual Events

• Winterlude is an annual winter carnival held each year in February. It is focused on the Rideau Canal.

• Tulip Festival each May Ottawa receives a gift of several hundred thousand tulips from the royal family of the Netherlands. These are displayed throughout the city.

• Canada Day is one of Ottawa's most important holidays and people from across the nation visit to celebrate the nation's birthday.

• Ottawa Chamber Music Festival is the world's largest festival of chamber music, held annually.

5 Primary industries

Ottawa's primary employers are the Canadian federal government and high technology. Major companies such as Nortel, Alcatel, JDS Uniphase, Mitel, Bell Canada, TELUS, and Corel have offices in the city.

6 Sports

Ottawa is home to two major league sports team, the Ottawa Senators (established 1992) of the National Hockey League and the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League. It is also home to the AAA farm team of the Baltimore Orioles, the Ottawa Lynx of the International League, and the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League.

It also supports many casual sporting activities, such as skating on the Rideau Canal in winter, biking and jogging along the Ottawa River and Rideau Canal in summer, and sailing on Lac Deschenes, part of the Ottawa River.

7 History

The Ottawa region was long home to First Nations peoples who were part of the Algonquin. The first European settlement in the Ottawa region was that of Philemon Wright who started a community on the Quebec side of the river in 1800. Wright discovered that transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Montreal was possible and Ottawa was soon booming based almost entirely off timber. The city grew even further in importance when the Rideau Canal was constructed by Colonel John By. The city was then known as Bytown, but it was incorporated as Ottawa in 1855.

Original city leaders of Bytown include a number of Wright's sons, most notably Ruggles Wright. Nicholas Sparks, Braddish Billings and Abraham Dow were the first to settle on the Ontario side of the Ottawa river.

On December 31, 1857 Queen Victoria, was asked to choose a capital for Canada, and chose Ottawa. There are various popular stories explaining this decision. One explanation is that she did so by sticking her hatpin on a map roughly halfway between Toronto and Montreal; Ottawa was the nearest city to where it landed. Another is that she liked watercolours she had seen of the area. In reality, the primary objective was probably to avoid antagonising either English speakers or French speakers. The other candidates— Quebec City, Montreal, Kingston and Toronto—were perceived as too firmly rooted either in English or in French tradition; Ottawa seemed more neutral. Also, at a time when the US was considered a military threat, Ottawa was situated further from the border.

The original Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa burned down on February 3, 1916. The House of Commons was temporarily relocated to the Victorian era building which was then the Victoria Museum, and is currently (2004) the Canadian Museum of Nature, located about 1 km south of Parliament Hill at the opposite end of Metcalfe Street. A new Centre Block was completed in 1922, the centre-piece of which is a dominant gothic revival styled structure known as the Peace Tower which has become a common emblem of the city.

In 2001, the city of Ottawa was amalgamated with the suburbs of Nepean, Kanata, Gloucester, Rockcliffe Park, Vanier and Cumberland , and the rural townships of West Carleton , Osgoode , Rideau and Goulbourn , along with the systems and infrastructure of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, to become one municipality. Ottawa-Carleton used to be just Carleton County before the 1969 and consisted of what is now the City of Ottawa except for Cumberland.

See also: List of Ottawa mayors

8 Demographics

According to the 2001 Statistics Canada census, there are 774,072 people, 310,132 households, and 210,875 families residing in the city. The population density is 278.6/km².

The lingustic makeup (mother tongue) of the city is 63.6% anglophone, 15.0% francophone, 0.9% both languages, 20.3% allophone.

There are 210,875 families out of which 72.8% are married couples living together, 11.1% are common-law couples, and 13.2% have a female householder with no husband present.

In the city the population is spread out with 25.3% under the age of 19, 6.9% from 20 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36.7 years. For every 100 females there are 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.1 males.

The median income for a working individual in the city is $39,713, and the median income for a family is $73,507. Males have a median income of $47,203 versus $31,641 for females. The per capita income for the city is $23,061.

9 Local media

9.1 Television stations

• CBOT ( CBC)
• CJOH ( CTV)
• CHRO ( NewNet - the station is licensed to Pembroke, Ontario but its main studios are located in Ottawa)
• CBOFT ( SRC)

10 Education

• Algonquin College
• Carleton University
• La Cité Collégiale
• St Paul's University
• University of Ottawa

See also List of Ottawa schools

11 Famous People From Ottawa

( or that called Ottawa home at a point in time )

• Dan Aykroyd, actor, comedian
• Paul Anka, singer
• Margaret Atwood, writer
• Billy Boucher
• Rod Brind'Amour, NHL hockey player
• Tom Cavanagh
• Sarah Chalke, actor
• Catherine Clark, daughter of former PM Joe Clark
• Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada
• Tom Cruise, actor (lived briefly in Ottawa)
• Clive Doucet, author, counsellor
• Tom Green, comedian
• Elisabeth Harvor
• Jessica Holmes, actor, comedian
• Peter Jennings, journalist
• Yousuf Karsh
• Rich Little, comedian
• Peter Mansbridge, journalist
• Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario
• Alanis Morissette, singer/songwriter
• Matthew Perry, actor
• Rick Vaive

	North: Pontiac, Gatineau
West: Arnprior, Mississippi Mills, Beckwith, Montague	Ottawa	East: Clarence-Rockland, The Nation, Russell
	South: North Grenville, North Dundas

12 Item of Interest

The National Research Council of Canada's shortwave time signal station, CHU, is located in Ottawa.

13 See also

Geographical features

• List of Ottawa neighbourhoods
• List of Ottawa churches
• List of Ottawa schools
• List of Ottawa parks
• List of Ottawa roads
• List of Ottawa bridges
• Ottawa transport

Events:

• Ottawa International Jazz Festival
• Ottawa International Hockey Festival
• Ottawa International Children's Festival
• Ottawa Fringe Festival
• Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival
• Ottawa Bluesfest
• Winterlude
• Canada Dance Festival
• Central Canada Exhibition

Other:

• Canadian cities
• Ottawa City Council
• 2003 Ottawa election

14 External links

• City of Ottawa's web site
• OttawaStart.com
• Canadian War Museum, Ottawa

Census Divisions of Ontario
Counties of Ontario: Bruce | Dufferin | Elgin | Essex | Frontenac | Grey | Haliburton | Hastings | Huron | Lambton | Lanark | Leeds and Grenville | Lennox and Addington | Middlesex | Northumberland | Oxford | Perth | Peterborough | Prescott and Russell | Renfrew | Simcoe | Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry | Wellington
Regional Municipalities of Ontario: Durham | Halton | Niagara | Peel | Waterloo | York
Single Tier Municipalities of Ontario: Brant | Brantford | Chatham-Kent | Greater Sudbury | Haldimand | Hamilton | Kawartha Lakes | Norfolk | Ottawa | Prince Edward | Toronto
Separated municipalities - Historic counties of Ontario
Districts of Ontario: Algoma | Cochrane | Kenora | Manitoulin | Muskoka | Nipissing | Parry Sound | Rainy River | Sudbury | Thunder Bay | Timiskaming

Ottawa Capitals in North America

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