Indigenous people lived in the area of present-day Markham since the end of the last Ice Age and the city is situated on the traditional territory of the
Haudenosaunee (
Iroquois),
Huron Wendat,
Petun and
Neutral people. In the early 1600s, when explorers from France arrived, they encountered the Huron-Wendat First Nation. The remainder of Markham's land (roughly east of Woodbine Avenue/Highway 404) is covered by the Johnson-Butler Purchase of 1787-88 (aka Gunshot Treaty) and formally by the
Williams Treaties, signed in 1923. The
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada,
John Graves Simcoe (in office 1791–1796), named the
township of Markham, north of the town of
York (now
Toronto), after his friend
William Markham, then
Archbishop of York.
William Berczy first surveyed Markham as a township in 1793, and in 1794 led 75 German families (including the Ramers, Reesors, Wheters, Burkholders, Bunkers, Wicks and Lewis) from
Upstate New York to an area of Markham now known as
German Mills. Each family was granted of land; however the lack of roads in the region led many to settle in
York (present-day Toronto) and
Niagara. German Mills later became a
ghost town. Between 1803 and 1812 another attempt at settling the region was made. The largest group of settlers were
Pennsylvania Dutch, most of them
Mennonites. These highly skilled craftsmen and knowledgeable farmers settled the region and founded Reesorville, named after the Mennonite settler Joseph Reesor. In 1825 Reesorville was renamed to Markham and took the name of the unincorporated
village (see
Markham Village, Ontario). By 1830, many
Irish,
Scottish and
English families began immigrating to
Upper Canada and settling in Markham. Markham's early years blended the rigours of the
frontier with the development of agriculture-based industries. The township's many rivers and streams soon supported water-powered saws and
gristmills and later wooden mills. With improved transportation routes, such as the construction of
Yonge Street in the 1800s, along with the growing population, urbanization increased. In 1842 the township population had reached 5,698; were under cultivation (second highest in the
province), and the township had eleven gristmills and twenty-four sawmills. In 1846 Smith's
Canadian Gazetteer indicated a population of about 300, mostly Canadians, Pennsylvanian Dutch (actually Pennsylvania Deitsch or German), other Germans, Americans, Irish and a few from Britain. There were two churches with a third being built. There were tradesmen of various types, a grist mill, an oatmill mill, five stores, a distillery and a threshing-machine maker. There were eleven grist and twenty-four sawmills in the surrounding township. In 1850 the first form of structured municipal government formed in Markham. By 1857 most of the township had been cleared of timber and was under cultivation. Villages like
Thornhill,
Unionville and Markham greatly expanded. In 1851 Markham Village "was a considerable village, containing between eight and nine hundred inhabitants, pleasantly situated on the Rouge River. It contains two grist mills ... a woollen factory, oatmeal mill, barley mill and distillery, foundry, two tanneries, brewery, etc., a temperance hall and four churches... ." In 1871, with a township population of 8,152, the
Toronto and Nipissing Railway built the first rail line to Markham Village and Unionville, which is still used today by the
GO Transit commuter services. In 1971 Markham was incorporated as a town, as its population skyrocketed due to
urban sprawl from Toronto. In 1976 Markham's population was approximately 56,000. Since that time, the population has more than quintupled, with explosive growth in new subdivisions. Much of Markham's
farmland has disappeared, but some still remains north of
Major Mackenzie Drive. Controversy over the development of the environmentally-sensitive
Oak Ridges Moraine will likely curb development north of Major Mackenzie Drive and by
Rouge National Urban Park east of Reesor Road between Major Mackenzie Drive to Steeles Avenue East to the south. Since the 1980s Markham has been recognized as a suburb of Toronto. the city comprises six major communities:
Berczy Village,
Cornell, Markham Village,
Milliken, Thornhill and Unionville. Many high-tech companies have established
head offices in Markham, attracted by the relative abundance of land, low tax-rates and good transportation routes.
Broadcom Canada, ATI Technologies (now known as AMD Graphics Product Group),
IBM Canada, Motorola Canada, Honeywell Canada and many other well-known companies have chosen Markham as their home in Canada. The city has accordingly started branding itself as Canada's "High-Tech Capital". The province of Ontario has erected a historical plaque in front of the
Markham Museum to commemorate the founding of Markham's role in Ontario's heritage. Town council voted on May 29, 2012, to change Markham's legal designation from "town" to "city"; according to Councillor Alex Chiu, who introduced the motion, the change of designation merely reflects the fact that many people already think of Markham as a city. Some residents objected to the change because it will involve unknown costs without any demonstrated benefits. The designation officially took effect on July 1. ==Geography==