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 Hamilton - one
of the most well known cities of Canada, is
located in the Ontario province on the
western end of Lake Ontario. It is extremely
rich in history and culture, something that
its residents are very proud of. Hamilton
was named and conceived by George Hamilton,
who had settled here in around 1815.
Military activities, migrations and so many
other things, mark its history. Hamilton
became a full-fledged city only in 1846. It
is very diverse with the different religions
and nationalities that it is home to. So
much so that, many of them have left their
indelible marks here in form of street,
building and institution names, etc. But the
original inhabitants here, have been the
Indians. Hamilton has roughly a population
of about half a million and is the third
largest, area-wise, in Ontario. Christianity
is the most widely practiced religion here.
However the major immigrants to Hamilton
have been the Irish ever since the 1830s.
But the first Irishman to make a mark in
Hamilton was William Gage who settled here
as early as 1790. Basically Irish people had
come to Hamilton with the aid of the British
Parliament who was in favor of shifting the
poor Irish families to Canada, for their
betterment. The British Government also
needed people to defend its North American
borders from the American invasion and saw
the Irish assisting them in doing so. In
fact even the Irish were quite fine with
this arrangement. This was because there was
some discontent amongst the Irish, regarding
freely practicing their religious faith in
Ireland. And so they were ready to risk
going to a new place altogether to begin a
fresh life with fewer restrictions. In 1823
the first batch of Irish immigrants arrived
in Canada followed by another batch in
1825.Soon the isolated and barren Hamilton
became abuzz with sudden activity and influx
of people. But once the initial problems
that accompany large immigration were
settled, Hamilton grew by leaps and bounds
in just about every aspect. As time passed
by, new industries, factories and businesses
blossomed here and turned Hamilton into an
economic hub of Canada.
Hamilton since the earlier days has been
known by various names. They include “The
Birmingham of Canada”, “The Pittsburgh of
Canada”, “The Electric City” and “The Steel
Town”. As far as the last nickname goes,
this was due to Hamilton’s stupendous
contribution to the production of steel and
iron in Canada. The contribution was around
40 to 60 percent of the total Canadian
production. Though earlier the economy
stressed on steel and heavy manufacturing
sectors, there has been a recent growth in
production under the other sectors too. This
is largely thanks to Hamilton Health
Sciences (HSS), due to which the focus has
shifted to health and sciences. The other
areas that have rapidly progressed here are
automobiles, machinery, paper textile and
chemical products.
Hamilton is thus one of the most significant
ports, transportation centers and
manufacturing cities of Canada. A major part
of its revenue is from tourism. And it has a
lot to offer a tourist to explore, discover
and to generally know about its
multi-faceted personality. Indeed a must-see
destination!
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