Home > Thames River (Ontario)

The Thames flows west 273 kilometers through southwestern Ontario, through the cities of London and Chatham to Lighthouse Cove on Lake St. Clair. It drains 5,825 square kilometres of land.

Called Askunessippi, "the antlered river," by the original Algonquin inhabitants, the river was renamed after the River Thames in England by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1793. Much of the Thames is surrounded by deciduous Carolinian forests, although much of this forest has been removed to allow for agricultureFarming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). Agriculture is also known as farming .. The North and South branches on the upper part of the river flow through valleys created during the retreat of the glaciersA glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. Equivalently, it is a multi-year ice accretion in mountainous terrain. The glacier fringe is the area where the glacier has recently melted. There are during the last ice ageFor the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie . For the band, see Ice Age (band . An ice age is a period of long-term downturn in the temperature of Earth's climate, resulting in an expansion of the polar ice caps and mountain glaciers (" glaciation"). Glaci. The North and South branches meet at London; the University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario is located in London, Ontario, Canada. It is commonly referred to as UWO or Western, although sometimes "Western Ontario" is heard, especially in relation to sports, for example "the Western Ontario Mustangs". Motto: Veri is located on the North Branch. From London, the lower part of the river flows through a shallow plain of sandSand is an example of a class of materials called granular matter. Sand is a naturally occurring, finely divided rock, comprising particles or granules ranging in size from 0. 063 to 2 mm. An individual particle in this range size is termed a sand grain . and clayFor the town in the United States, see Clay, New York. Clay is a generic term for an aggregate of hydrous silicate particles less than 4 micrometers in diameter. It consists of small crystals of the minerals silica (SiO) and alumina (AlO). These elements,, with an average depth of 23 metersFor other uses of "metre" and "meter", see Metre (disambiguation). The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Systeme International d'Unites). It is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in absolute vacu. The lower Thames flows through Delaware, Chatham, Thamesville, as well as Chippewa and Oneida First Nations settlements. Tributaries of the Thames include Dingman Creek, Jeanettes Creek, McGregor Creek, Medway Creek, Pottersburg Creek, Stoney Creek, and Waubuno Creek.

The river was the location of an important battle of the War of 1812. The Battle of the Thames (also known as the Battle of Moraviantown) was fought on October 5, 1813, between American General William Henry Harrison and British General Henry Proctor , along with Procter's ally Tecumseh. Tecumseh was killed in the battle.

On August 14, 2000, the Thames was designated a Canadian Heritage River.