Ontario came into being as a province of Canada in 1867 but historians use the term to cover its entire history dating back to its earliest known beginnings. This article also covers the history of the territory Ontario now occupies.
For a complete list of the premiers of Ontario, see List of Ontario premiers.
Prehistory 10,000 BCEEarly Paleolithic peoples lived in the spruce woodlands of Southwestern Ontario with mastodons and mammoths. People living in this period, referred to by archaeologists as Early Paleo-Indians, created and used stone tools. 8,500 BCELate Paleolithic peoples inhabited the now-boreal pine forests of Southwestern Ontario hunting caribou, Arctic fox and rabbit or hare with darts and spear-throwers made from materials obtained through trade or travel with others at great distances. People living at this time are referred to by archaeologists as Late Paleo-Indians. 8,000–800 BCEDuring the Archaic Period, the climate warmed further. People living in the deciduous forests of Southwestern Ontario hunted a wide variety of woodland animals. Deer and fish were important to their survival. The caribou had moved north. Larger trade networks were established, extending as far as the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic seaboard. Tools now included: nets, weirs, bows, arrows, and implements made of copper. People also fashioned copper into beads and bracelets. 900 BCE–1610 ADDuring the Woodland Era, pottery was first created. In the middle years, two distinct cultural groups emerged: Princess Point, and Riviere au Vase. 600–800 ADOntario Haudenosaunee (Iroquoian) Tradition Princess Point culture began focusing on horticulture—specifically the "Three Sisters" (corn, beans, and squash)—forming a complex matrilineal society. During this same period, the Western Riviere au Vase culture established a patrilineal Anishnaabe (Algonquin) society, continuing to follow a traditional seasonal migratory lifestyle. Aboriginal people lived on the land for millennia before European settlers came for purposes of exploration and colonization. When first Europeans travel to North America, First Nations people, mostly Algonquian and Iroquoian, are sharing the land where Ontario is now located.
1600s 1610 – Samuel de Champlain dispatches to live among the Huron and the western Algonquin. The played a multi-faceted role as interpreters, trade promoters, and explorers. They sought to align indigenous groups with French colonization effort. 1610–1612 – Étienne Brûlé, a , explores what is now southern Ontario 1611 – Henry Hudson visits Hudson Bay and claims the region for Great Britain. 1615 – Samuel de Champlain visits Lake Huron, after which French missionaries establish outposts in the region. 1616 – Date of an early map of New France, entitled La Nouvelle France, which included much of what would become Southern Ontario. The map is attributed to Samuel de Champlain. 1639 Summer – Construction begins on Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, intended as a central headquarters for the French mission in Huronia. November 1 – The first French mission to the Petun is established. 1640 The Iroquois raid the southernmost Petun settlement of Ehwae. The Jesuits conduct a "winter mission" to the Neutrals during the winter of 1640–41. 1642 – In June, a "massive attack" by Iroquois forces destroys the Huron Rock Clan frontier settlement of Contarea. 1646 – In October, the French reactivate their mission to the Petun, with missionaries taking up residence in Ekarenniondi and Etharita. 1647 – The Iroquois raid the Petun settlement of Etharita. 1648 – Iroquois attack the French, destroying a Jesuit mission near the site of present-day Midland (see Canadian Martyrs). –54 – Iroquois drive the Hurons, Petun and Neutral Nation from their territories. Around the same time, another population movement of the Mississaugas from the north shores of Lake Huron and Manitoulin Island to the Kawartha Lakes and Credit River areas. 1649 March 16 – The Iroquois capture the Huron settlements of St. Ignace and St. Louis. March 19 – Inhabitants of the Huron town of Ossossané, along with its surrounding villages, flee the Iroquois advance overnight across an ice-covered Georgian Bay to take refuge among the Petun. May 1 – Many Huron refugees living amongst the Petun depart with the Jesuit priest Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot to Christian Island. December 7 – An Iroquois war party destroys the Petun settlement of Etharita (also known as St. Jean). This had become the southernmost Petun settlement after the abandonment of those to the south of it. 1668 – Father Marquette founds Sault Ste. Marie, noteworthy as the oldest surviving permanent European settlement in both Ontario and neighbouring Michigan. 1670 – The Hudson's Bay Company is granted a British royal charter to trade with First Nations people in the 3.9 million square kilometer territory named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine known as Rupert Land. This area includes much of what is now Northern Ontario and represents about a third of the land area of Canada. 1673–establishment of Cataraqui (modern day Kingston, Ontario).
Part of Province of Quebec, 1763 to 1790 1763 – Britain wins the Seven Years' War and takes full control of the future Ontario 1768 – Guy Carleton commissioned "Captain General and Governor in Chief" on 12 April 1768. He remains in command at Quebec till 1778. 1775–1783 U.S. War of Independence. No U.S. invaders enters present day Ontario but threat is considered real. 1778 – Sir Frederick Haldimand takes command as “Captain General and Governor in Chief" 26 June 1778. He occupies Cataraqui (Kingston, Ont.), reinforces Niagara and Detroit, and strengthens other military outposts against threatened U.S. invasion. 1779—Haldimand sends Captain Dietrich Brehm to strengthen the line of communication between Montreal and Detroit; more than 5,000 Natives are forced out of New York and come to Ft. Niagara for food and shelter; he increases the goods distributed as gifts through the Indian Department from about £10,000 in 1778 to £63,861 in 1782. 1783 – The Treaty of Paris ends the war; Canada-U.S. boundary is set along the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes 1784 – Haldimand purchases lands for exiled Loyalists from the Mississaugas for or £1,180 1784 Haldimand sets up 8 new townships for settlement along the upper St Lawrence from the westernmost seigneury to modern Brockville, Ontario, and five more around Cataraqui. 1784 – About 9,000 United Empire Loyalists settle in what is now southern Ontario, chiefly in Niagara, around the Bay of Quinte, and along the St. Lawrence River between Lake Ontario and Montreal. They are followed by many more Americans, some of them only attracted by the availability of cheap, arable land.
At the same time large numbers of Iroquois loyal to Britain arrive from the United States and are settled on reserves west of Lake Ontario.
Kingston and Hamilton became important settlements as a result of the influx of Loyalists. 1786 – Carleton, now Lord Dorchester, replaces Haldimand 1788 – On July 24, 1788, Governor General Lord Dorchester proclaims the land area to be divided up into "Lower Canada" with a French legal system and "Upper Canada" with a British legal system, whereby the land districts had been named Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau and Hesse in honour of the Royal family and the present large Germanic population. 1788 – The British purchase 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) on which they begin the settlement of York, now Toronto 1780s-1830s - Thousands of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) farmers move from Pennsylvania to Upper Canada. They claimed a share of the United Empire Loyalists' foundational myth, drawing on its themes of loyalty and sacrifice.Ross Fair, "'Theirs was a deeper purpose': The Pennsylvania Germans of Ontario and the Craft of the Homemaking Myth", Canadian Historical Review, December 2006, Vol. 87 Issue 4, pp 653–684
Upper Canada, 1791 to 1841
1791 – The Constitutional Act of 1791, in conjunction with the Dorchester Proclamation of 1788, creates the first land registry for Quebec Upper Canada and the part of present-day Ontario south of Lake Nipissing plus the current Ontario shoreline of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior, and Lower Canada (the southern part of present-day Quebec). Upper Canada's first capital is Newark (present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake); in 1797 it is moved to York, now Toronto.
The population of Upper Canada grows from 6,000 in 1785 to 14,000 in 1790 to 46,000 in 1806. (Lower Canada's is about 165,000). The population is rural, and based on subsistence agriculture, with few exports; government spending is a major source of revenue.Douglas McCalla, "The 'Loyalist' Economy of Upper Canada, 1784–1806", Histoire Sociale: Social History, November 1983, Vol. 16 Issue 32, pp 279-304 1790s–1840s – Dueling is common among the elite, government officials, lawyers, and to military officers; they use dueling as a form of extralegal justice to assert their superior claims to honour. However, a new ethic is emerging that opposes dueling and rejects the hyper-masculinity embodied by the code of the duelist. This opposition is part of growing opposition to hierarchic dominance by the elite; opponents value the bourgeois husband and father and separate male honour from physical violence.Cecilia Morgan, "'In search of the phantom misnamed honour': Duelling in Upper Canada", Canadian Historical Review, December 1995, Vol. 76 Issue 4, pp 529–82 1793 – John Graves Simcoe is appointed as the first governor of Upper Canada. He encourages immigration from the United States, builds roads. Slavery is gradually abolished starting with the 1793 Act Against Slavery. 1795 – The Jay Treaty is ratified by which Britain agreed to vacate its Great Lakes forts on U.S. territory. Britain continues to supply the First Nations operating in the United States with arms and ammunition. 1800 – First European settlement on the site of present-day Ottawa 1801 – First ironworks in Upper Canada, located at Furnace Falls near Lyndhurst 1803 – The North West Company moves its mid-continent headquarters from Grand Portage, Minnesota to Fort William, now part of Thunder Bay to be in Upper Canada. 1803 – Thomas Talbot retires to his land grant in Western Ontario centred around present day St. Thomas and begins settling it. He eventually becomes responsible for settling 65,000 acres (260 km2). His insistence on the provision and maintenance of good roads, and on reserving land along main roads to productive uses rather than to clergy reserves leads to this region becoming the most prosperous in the province. 1804 – First European settlement on the site of present-day Waterloo 1807 – First settlement, Ebytown, on the site of present-day Kitchener 1809 – The first documented appearance of steam navigation on the Great Lakes is at Prescott, when the steamship Dalhousie was launched for service on the Saint Lawrence River. 1812–1814 – The War of 1812 with the United States. Upper Canada is U.S. forces' chief target since it is weakly defended and populated largely by U.S. emigrants. However, division in the United States over the war, the incompetence of U.S. military commanders, and swift and decisive action by the British commander, Sir Isaac Brock, keep Upper Canada part of British North America. 1812–1813 - British forces capture Detroit on August 6, 1812. The Michigan Territory is held under British control until it is abandoned in 1813. 1813 – An U.S. army of 10,000 men under General William Henry Harrison move to recapture Detroit. British and Tecumseh's forces win the first battle at Frenchtown, January 22, 1813, killing 400 U.S. soldiers outright and taking 500 prisoners, many of whom are then killed. 1813 May – British and First Nations forces fail in their siege of Fort Meigs, at the mouth of Maumee river; in August, they are repulsed at Fort Stephenson