Eastern Ontario


Eastern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies a wedge-shaped area bounded by the Ottawa River and Quebec to the northeast and east, the St. Lawrence River and New York to the south, and Northern Ontario and Central Ontario to the west and northwest.

Definitions

The traditional definition of the region boundary can be traced back to early colonial districts in the British Province of Quebec and Upper Canada. The Midland and Eastern Districts, originally known as the Mecklenburg District and Lunenburg District, from 1788 to 1792, were originally designated as everything east of north-south lines intersecting the outlets of the Trent River into the Bay of Quinte and the Gananoque River into the St. Lawrence River. The original boundary lines followed a straight north-south alignment, but were eventually changed to a northwest-southeast orientation, similar to how the modern county boundaries are aligned.
Some government sources may include Hastings County, Prince Edward, and occasionally Northumberland County within the definition of Eastern Ontario, but are otherwise classified as part of Central Ontario.
The region is also occasionally referred to as Southeastern Ontario to differentiate it from Northeastern Ontario, a secondary region of Northern Ontario.

History

Indigenous peoples had occupied Eastern Ontario for thousands of years prior to European settlement. Archaeological sites such as the Point Peninsula Complex indicate the presence of Paleo-Indians in the area dating back approximately 9,000 years. First Nations peoples located in the region included Anishinaabe, Algonquin, and Haudenosaunee peoples.
Initial European settlement and colonization of the region occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries by the French and by fur traders as part of the colony of Canada within New France. Étienne Brûlé and Samuel de Champlain were the first colonists to navigate the Ottawa River in 1610 and 1613, respectively. The oldest continually-inhabited European settlement in Eastern Ontario is Kingston, which originated as a pre-European settlement named Cataraqui, and was established as Fort Cataraqui in 1673. The city would eventually serve as Canada's first capital city from 1841 to 1844. Further development occurred under the British as part of the Province of Quebec from 1763 to 1791, and eventually the Province of Upper Canada from 1791 to 1841. Many cities in Eastern Ontario were established as United Empire Loyalist settlements following the American Revolution. The earliest loyalist settlement was Cornwall, originally known as New Johnstown, was established in 1784. Belleville was originally settled as a logging outpost in 1789, known originally as Meyer's Creek. Ottawa was originally settled as Wright's Town and later Bytown in 1800 as an agricultural and logging community. Further development of the community was spurred during the construction of the Rideau Canal, conceived as an alternate waterway bypassing the St. Lawrence River, a vulnerable location to American attacks following the War of 1812. The town was formally established as Ottawa in 1855, and remained inconsequential until it was selected as the permanent capital of Canada by Queen Victoria in 1857. Ottawa was chosen as the capital due to being situated in an isolated area further away from the US-Canada border, with the intention of being more defensible, and as a political compromise between Canada West and Canada East, who each desired Toronto and Montreal to serve as the national capital, respectively.
The region's economy was initially focused largely on the fur trade, forestry, mining, and agriculture when the major cities were all colonial outposts. The dominance of the public sector and government services in both the cities of Ottawa and Kingston emerged during the 19th and 20th centuries, with both serving as historical federal capital cities. Kingston initially served as a major military outpost and operated some of United Canada's earliest major hospitals and prisons. In Ottawa, the Public Service of Canada is the single-largest employer in the city, hosting Parliament Hill, the national headquarters for all major federal departments, and the National Defense Headquarters for the Department of National Defense. The 1980s and 1990s saw the emergence of Silicon Valley North in Ottawa, Canada's original technology cluster, and currently one of the largest in Canada.

Demographics

Population

Census metropolitan areas

Administrative divisions

Single-tier municipalities

Eastern Ontario is located within both the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone, and Boreal Shield Ecozone. Surficial geology largely consists of glacial till, glaciolacustrine and glaciomarine silt/clay plains, and low-lying wetlands underlain by sedimentary limestone, dolostone, siltstone, sandstone, arkose, and shale bedrock, in addition to sections of plutonic igneous granite, quartz, gneiss, and conglomerate bedrock of the Canadian Shield, which is exposed at the surface in many locations. Eastern Ontario's geography is highly varied, with flat plains and rolling hills in the eastern section of the region, near the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, and rugged highland areas in the sections that the Canadian Shield covers, including the Laurentian Highlands and Opeongo Hills, ranging from Algonquin Provincial Park south toward Lake Ontario. The Thousand Islands region is a unique bedrock archipelago in the St. Lawrence River that consists of approximately 1,864 islands straddling the Canada-US border. Geological fault zones run through the region, including the Western Quebec Seismic Zone and the St. Lawrence Rift System. These fault zones result in a graben that forms the Ottawa Valley, running the length of the Ottawa River and Mattawa River north to Lake Nipissing. Subsequently, the region is prone to sinkholes and earthquakes. More severe earthquakes occur at a frequency of approximately 60 years on average. The most recent severe earthquake to occur, the 2010 Central Canada Earthquake, caused minor damage to power grid systems and buildings in Ottawa and other nearby areas. Additional major historical earthquakes include the 1944 Cornwall-Massena Earthquake.
Eastern Ontario maintains significant forest coverage, predominantly in the areas of the Canadian Shield that could not be cleared for agricultural purposes. A singular forest region is located in Eastern Ontario, known as the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest. The historical prominence of the logging industry has resulted in significant historical clearing of these forests, but the implementation of more sustainable forestry practices and governmental protections on certain areas has resulted in regrowth and retention of forests on areas not suitable for agriculture. One major federally protected area, Thousand Islands National Park, is located in Eastern Ontario. Multiple provincial parks are also located in the region, with the most significant of which being Algonquin Provincial Park, itself established to encourage sustainable forestry practices after being clearcut in the late 19th century.

Climate

Eastern Ontario's climate is heavily influenced by the proximity of the Great Lakes and its relative northern latitude compared to other parts of Southern Ontario. Winters in the region are typically severe, with regions experiencing low temperatures and significant amounts of snow and ice during winter months. Highland regions experience more severe winters due to their higher elevation. Significant snowfall is common in the area even into the spring. Summers are typically hot and humid in lower-lying areas, with milder and cooler summers occurring in the north. Eastern Ontario also experiences ice storms on a regular basis due to the presence of the arctic high-pressure system, heavily impacting the low-lying areas of the Ottawa Valley and St. Lawrence Valley, with significant events including the 1998 North American Ice Storm and the 2023 Canadian Ice Storm. Eastern Ontario also regularly experiences severe weather events, including tornadoes, and thunderstorms as a result of humid summer temperatures.
Under the Köppen climate classification, Eastern Ontario has a humid continental climate, with the entire area experiencing a warm-summer Dfb climate. Temperatures are warmer along the north shore of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, in areas such as Prince Edward County, in comparison to the more northern areas of the region.

Infrastructure

Roads

The vast majority of the primary vehicular traffic network in Eastern Ontario is served mainly by the controlled-access 400-series highways. Highway 401, the main highway in the network, starts as a continuation of Autoroute 20 at the Quebec border in South Glengarry and runs southwest to Belleville, where it continues southwest through the Golden Horseshoe and Southwestern Ontario. Highway 416, another major highway, runs north from Highway 401 near Johnstown, where it connects with Highway 417 in Ottawa. Highway 417 starts as a continuation of Autoroute 40 at the Quebec border in East Hawkesbury and runs northwest through Ottawa toward Arnprior, after which it becomes Highway 17. Highways 401 and 417 carry Trans-Canada Highway designations throughout Eastern Ontario. Additional major provincial highways in the region include Highway 7, Highway 15, Highway 16, Highway 33, Highway 37, Highway 62, Highway 137, and Highway 138. An extension of Highway 417 toward Renfrew is under construction as of 2024. In 2024, the province announced that ownership of Highway 174 will be transferred to the provincial government from the city of Ottawa.
Eastern Ontario also has multiple road connections with the United States. These include the Thousand Islands Bridge near Gananoque, the Odgensburg-Prescott International Bridge in Johnstown, and the Seaway International Bridge in Cornwall, all of which cross the St. Lawrence River. Multiple bridges also connect the region with Quebec, including the Champlain Bridge, Chaudiere Bridge, Portage Bridge, Alexandra Bridge, and the MacDonald-Cartier Bridge in Ottawa, and the Long-Sault Bridge in Hawkesbury, all of which cross the Ottawa River. Additional major bridges include the Norris Whitney Bridge in Belleville and the Quinte Skyway near Deseronto, which cross the Bay of Quinte.