Toronto City Images
Toronto City Images
Toronto City Images
Toronto City Images
Toronto City Images
Toronto City Images
Toronto City Images
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous city in North America. Its metropolitan area with over 5 million residents is the seventh largest urban region in North America. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region in Southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe, which is home to over 8.1 million residents—approximately 25% of Canada's population. The census metropolitan area (CMA) had a population of 5,113,149, and the Greater Toronto Area had a population of 5,555,912 in the 2006 Census.As Canada's economic capital, Toronto is considered an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) study group and is one of the top financial centres in the world.Toronto's leading economic sectors include finance, business services, telecommunications, aerospace, transportation, media, arts, film, television production, publishing, software production, medical research, education, tourism, engineering, and sports industries. Home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the world's seventh largest in terms of market value, and the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks, Toronto is home to more corporate headquarters than any other Canadian city. In 2010, Toronto was ranked 12th in the world and 4th in the Americas for economic innovation in the Innovation Cities Top 100 Index by 2thinknow. It is also a major centre of higher education and research, home to several universities and colleges. According to Forbes, Toronto is the world's 10th most economically powerful city and one of the fastest growing financial centre among the G7 nations.
A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy. The settlement was later established as the Town of York and proclaimed as the new capital of Upper Canada by its lieutenant-governor, John Graves Simcoe. In 1834, York was incorporated as a city and renamed to its present name. The city was ransacked in the Battle of York during the War of 1812, and damaged in two great fires: in 1849 and in 1904.
Since its incorporation, Toronto has repeatedly expanded its borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities, most recently in 1998. Toronto's population is cosmopolitan and international, reflecting its role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. Toronto is one of the world's most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, with about 49% of the population born outside Canada.Toronto is consistently rated as one of the top-ten most livable cities in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Mercer Quality of Living Survey. In addition, Toronto was ranked as the most expensive Canadian city in which to live in 2006
