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The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (or Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is located in Western Ontario. It is dominated by the Kitchener- Waterloo- Cambridge metropolitan area. Until 1974, the Region of Waterloo was known as Waterloo County. The regional seat is in Kitchener.
The history of the Waterloo region goes back to 1783, when the British government granted the Grand River Valley to the Iroquois, who had supported the Loyalists in the American War of Independence, to compensate them for the loss of their land in New York. The Iroquois settled in the lower Grand River Valley (now Brant County), and sold the land which now comprises Waterloo Region to Colonel Richard Beasley, a United Empire Loyalist.
The land owned by Beasley appealed to a particular group of Pennsylvania German Mennonite farmers. They pooled resources to purchase all of the unsold land from Beasley, forming the German Company Tract and dividing the lands into 128 farms of 181 hectares and 32 farms of 1.2 hectares each for distribution. By the 1840s, the presence of the GermanGerman (called Deutsch in German in which germanisch refers to prechristian times), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and one of the world's major languages. It is the language with the most native speakers in the European Union.-speaking Mennonites made the area a popular choice for German settlers from Europe. These Germans founded their own communities in the south of the area settled by the Mennonites, the largest being the town of Berlin ( changed to Kitchener, named for Lord Kitchener, due to anit-German sentiments during World War I).
The Waterloo region remained predominantly German-speaking until the early 20th century, and its German heritage is reflected in the region's large Lutheran community and the annual Kitchener-Waterloo OktoberfestOktoberfest is a two-week beer festival held each year in Munich Munchen Bavaria, Germany, during late September and early October. It is one of the most famous events in the city and the world's largest fair, with some 6 million people attending in 2002..
There are still traditional Mennonite communities located north of Kitchener-Waterloo. The most famous is St. JacobsThe town of St. Jacobs is located in southwest Ontario, just north of the city of Waterloo in Woolwich Township. It is a popular location for tourism, due to its mennonite heritage and retail focus upon local handicrafts. The town's original name (19th-ce, where an outdoor market is held in the summer.
In 1973Events January events January 1 United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community now known as the European Union January 3 Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led, a major reorganization occurred. The many townships, towns and the cities of Kitchener and Galt were reduced to four townships and three, now larger cities. Galt absorbed the towns of Preston and Hespeler, along with the village of Blair and various parcels of township land; the resulting city was named Cambridge. The former Waterloo Township was divided among Woolwich, Waterloo (which became a city), Kitchener and Cambridge. The former county government was given broader powers and made into a regional municipalityA regional municipality (or region is a type of Canadian municipal government which works much like a county; the method of government depends on how it is defined. Sometimes it is legislated or more efficient to provide certain services, such as water, e.