Early history Historically, the Greater Toronto Area was home to a number of
First Nations who lived on the shore of
Lake Ontario long before the first Europeans arrived in the region. At various times, the
Neutral, the
Seneca, the
Mohawk and the
Huron nations were living in the vicinity. The
Mississaugas arrived in the late 17th or early 18th century, driving out the occupying
Iroquois. While it is unclear as to who was the first European to reach the Toronto area, there is no question it occurred in the 17th century. and
Rouge River providing a shortcut to
Lake Simcoe and the upper
Great Lakes. These routes were known as the
Toronto Passage. The area would later become very crucial for its series of trails and water routes that led from
northern and
western Canada to the
Gulf of Mexico. Known as the "
Toronto Carrying-Place Trail", it followed the
Humber River, as an important overland shortcut between Lake Ontario,
Lake Simcoe and the upper
Great Lakes. For this reason the area, under French
fur traders, became a major part of the
North American fur trade. The first large influx of European settlers to settle the region were the
United Empire Loyalists arriving after the
American Revolution, when various individuals petitioned
the Crown for land in and around the Toronto area.
York County, would later be created by Governor
John Graves Simcoe in 1792, which would at its largest size, comprise all of what is now Halton Region, Toronto, Peel Region, York Region and parts of Durham Region. The GTA saw three American incursions during the
War of 1812. The
Town of York (present-day Toronto) was attacked by American forces at
Battle of York, on April 27, 1813; and was subsequently occupied until May 8. The
second incursion occurred several months later, in July 1813, with two landings in the GTA. On July 29, American forces landed at Burlington Beach (present-day Burlington) in an attempt to dislodge British forces at the adjacent
Burlington Heights. However, finding the British forces too well-entrenched for any assault to be successful, the American naval force withdrew and proceeded east towards York. The American landings at York on July 31 went unopposed, with most of the soldiers garrisoned at York directed to defend Burlington Heights. York County would later serve as the setting for the beginnings of the
Upper Canada Rebellion with
William Lyon Mackenzie's armed march from
Holland Landing towards York Township on
Yonge Street, eventually leading up to the
battle at Montgomery's Tavern. In 1851,
Ontario County (present-day Durham Region) and
Peel County were separated from York. encompassed nearly all of the GTA, by 1851, its boundaries had been reduced to the present-day City of Toronto and
York Region as depicted on the 1871 map.
Since 1901 The idea towards a streamlined local government to control local infrastructure was made as early as 1907 by,
William Findlay Maclean, a member of parliament and founder of
The Toronto World, who called for the expansion of the government of the former City of Toronto in order to create a
Greater Toronto. In 1953, the portion of York County south of
Steeles Avenue, a concession road which formed a common boundary between several townships across the width of the county, was severed from it and incorporated as the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. With the concession of Metro Toronto, the offices of York County were moved from Toronto to
Newmarket. Originally, the membership in Metropolitan Toronto included the City of Toronto and five townships:
East York,
Etobicoke,
North York,
Scarborough and
York; as well as seven villages and towns, which became amalgamated into their surrounding townships in 1967. In 1971, the remaining areas of York County was replaced by the Ontario government with the Regional Municipality of York. In 1974, Ontario and
Durham Counties were reorganized to become the Regional Municipality of Durham;
Pickering west of Rouge River was transferred to Scarborough at that time. Peel County became Peel Region in 1974 as well. In 1980, North York would be incorporated into a city, with York following suit in 1983 and Etobicoke and Scarborough in 1984, although still part of the Metropolitan Toronto municipal government. However, there was fear different parts of the municipal system were working against one another. Therefore,
Bob Rae, the
Premier of Ontario, appointed
Anne Golden to head a GTA task force to govern the region's quality of life, competitiveness and governance. During this time, the Metro Toronto government advocated to the task force the creation of a new GTA authority, which would be made up of 21 of the 30 existing municipalities in the GTA at the time. The proposal from Metro Toronto would have resulted in 15 new municipalities. The City of Mississauga argued consolidation should take place only in such a way the new municipalities would have a population between 400,000 and 800,000. The Town of Markham had similarly advocated municipal consolidation in York Region but opposed to complete consolidation into a single municipality. Municipal consolidation faced stiff opposition, however, from smaller communities such as Ajax, Milton, and the borough of East York. The task force's recommendation to eliminate the Metro Toronto government, and
consolidate its remaining municipalities into an enlarged City of Toronto was completed in 1997 and became official in 1998, under the
Common Sense Revolution of the then premier,
Mike Harris. However, the task force's recommendation to create a GTA-wide upper-tier municipality was not taken up by the Harris government for fear that a GTA-wide municipality would recreate the intermunicipal competitiveness that was believed to have impaired the former Metro Toronto government.
Metrolinx, an agency of the Government of Ontario, was established to oversee public transit development across the Greater Toronto Area. The Greater Toronto Area hosted the
2015 Pan American Games. As of the 2016 census, the GTA was the only region in Ontario to have a greater share of their population under the age of 14 than over the age of 65. ==Geography==