The Ontario region
Ontario is a province located in the east-central part of the Canada, the largest by population and second largest (after Quebec) in total area.
Ontario is bordered by the provinces of Manitoba to the west, Quebec to the east, and the United States states of Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and
Minnesota to the south, with all but the latter state being aquatic borders only. Most of Ontario's borders with the United States are natural, starting at
the Lake of the Woods and continuing through the four Great Lakes: Superior, Huron (which includes Georgian Bay), Erie, and Ontario (for which the province
is named), then along the Saint Lawrence River near Cornwall. Ontario is also the only province that borders the Great Lakes.
The capital of Ontario is Toronto, the largest city in Canada. Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is located in Ontario as well. The 2006 Census counted
12,160,282 residents in Ontario, which accounted for 38.5% of the national population.
The province takes its name from Lake Ontario, which is thought to be derived from ontarí:io, a Huron word meaning "great lake", or possibly skanadario
which means "beautiful water" in Iroquoian. Along with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec, Ontario is one of the four original provinces of Canada when
the nation was formed on July 1, 1867 by the British North America Act.
Ontario is Canada's leading manufacturing province accounting for 52 per cent of the total national manufacturing shipments in 2004.
Ontario is located in East/Central Canada, bordered by the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and James Bay. It's Canada's second largest province in total land area.
Largest border is with the Canadian province of Manitoba to the west, then the province of Quebec to the east, Ontario also shares borders with the US
states Minnesota, New York and Michigan. It's also located north of Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania.
Ontario's long American border is formed almost entirely by lakes and rivers, starting in Lake of the Woods and continuing to the Saint Lawrence River near
Cornwall; it passes through the four Great Lakes Ontario shares with bordering states, namely Lakes Superior, Huron (which includes Georgian Bay), Erie,
and Ontario (for which the province is named; the name Ontario itself is a corruption of the Iroquois word "Onitariio" meaning "beautiful lake" or
"Kanadario," variously translated as "beautiful water"). There are approximately 250,000 lakes and over 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) of rivers in the
province.
Most the province is hills, the Canadian Shield occupies the the southern part of the north of the province giving mostly hilly land. 94% of the population
concentrates within Southern Ontario, particularly in the Golden Horseshoe where the population was 6,704,598 in the 2001 census.
Ontario is also a popular tourist destination, the Niagara Falls and the CN tower are the most notable. Ottawa the national capital is also located in
Ontario..............
Adopted from and read more at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario |
