Ottawa the capital of Canada...why?

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.:::Niko:::.

On December 31, 1857, Queen Victoria was asked to choose a common capital for the then province of Canada (modern Quebec and Ontario) and chose Ottawa.In fact, the Queen's advisers had her pick Ottawa for many important reasons: first, it was the only settlement of any significant size located right on the border of Canada East and Canada West (Quebec/Ontario border today), making it a compromise between the two colonies and their French and English populations; second, the War of 1812 had shown how vulnerable major Canadian cities were to American attack, since they were all located very close to the border while Ottawa was (then) surrounded by a dense forest far from the border; third, the government owned a large parcel of land on a spectacular spot overlooking the Ottawa River. Ottawa's position in the back country made it more defensible, while still allowing easy transportation via the Ottawa River to Canada East, and the Rideau Canal to Canada West. Two other considerations were that Ottawa was at a point nearly exactly midway between Toronto and Quebec City (~500 km/310 mi) and that the small size of the town made it less likely that politically motivated mobs could go on a rampage and destroy government buildings, as had been the case in the previous Canadian capitals. The Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal network meant that Ottawa could be supplied by water from Kingston and Montreal without going along the potentially treacherous US-Canada border.

tethys

2 main reasons;

it sits at the border between Ontario and Quebec, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, the founding peoples of the nation. Between Toronto and Montreal, traditionally the 2 biggest economic engines of the country.

Americans don't know where it is, so they can't invade it.

That's about it, really.

playing.forkeeps

Ottawa was chosen as the capital of Canada in 1857, even before it became a nation. It was chosen because the other two options, of the time--Kingston and Toronto--were much to closer to the US and close to waterways where attacks could occur. However, the Rideau Canal, on which Ottawa stands, does flow out to larger bodies of water, making it ideal for commerce. Basically, Ottawa won out over Toronto and Kingston as the better of the three options. At the time, there was a great fear of the United State attacking Canada.

Klaus

On December 31, 1857, the day before the city's third birthday, Queen Victoria guaranteed Ottawa a place in history when she chose it to be the capital of Canada