Toronto: Canada’s Bustling Metropolis and Jewel of the North

Toronto, Capital of Ontario Province, Canada

Fun Facts About Toronto

• 

  Southern Ontario

  Toronto was founded in 1793, by the British because of its protected harbour as well as advantages of vast forests, countless river valleys and fresh water lakes in its territory.

• Toronto (GTA) is Canada’s largest city and is home to over 5.7 million Canadians.
• Toronto is the capital city of Ontario, and the most important city in Canada.
• Toronto is located in Southern Ontario which has shorelines on four of the five Great Lakes.
• Also, Southern Ontario is located, further south than parts of ten, northern states of the USA.
• The province of Ontario (415,000 square miles, in area) is larger than the state of Texas (267,000 square miles, in area) located in the southern USA.
• Toronto residents hold more university educations than in any other country in the world, based on percentage of the population, as referenced from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and last compiled in 2003.
• Within an afternoon drive from Toronto, seven million, more Canadians live and prosper.
• Ontario highways are well maintained and link with major freeways connecting Toronto with all of Canada and the USA.
• Toronto is the largest, financial centre in Canada and the fourth largest, economic centre in all of North America. Only, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, USA have larger economic centres.
• Toronto is Canada’s cultual, educational, entertainment, financial, high tech, commercial and industrial centre. Toronto is also, the “Silicon Valley” of Canada, and Toronto is known as “Hollywood North”. Los Angeles and New York are larger film and television centres.
• Toronto’s famous, theatre district is second in size only, to New York city, in the USA.
• Award-winning, theatre productions enjoy long runs, large audiences and world premieres in the theatre and entertainment district of downtown Toronto.
• Toronto’s Police Force is one of the most efficient, friendly and respected of all police forces in the world. Also, with respect to your safety and security, the city of Toronto is one of the most clean, safe, peaceful, large, cosmopolitan cities in the world.
• All major federally chartered, Canadian banks have world headquarters in downtown Toronto, including, the Bank of Montreal which is located at “First Canadian” Tower, in Toronto’s financial district. As well, all foreign banks have their Canadian headquarters in Toronto.

• 

  Casa Loma (Home on Hill)

  Canada’s largest general, life and re-insurance companies and other financial institutions have their world headquarters in downtown Toronto. Canada’s version of “Wall Street” is called “Bay Street” in the centre of Toronto’s financial and business district.

• Within an hour’s drive of downtown Toronto is the greatest concentration of industry and auto manufacturing in Canada. GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda and others have Canadian head offices, and large manufacturing plants in the Toronto GTA.
• Toronto has the only, real castle in all of North America. Most people never forget “Casa Loma” (home on hill) with vista views of the downtown skyline of Toronto, and of Great Lake Ontario.
• Toronto has beautiful islands protecting its natural harbour. The islands are a mix of parklands, nature reserves and protected wetlands, maintained by the Parks Department responsible for this unique, natural resource. No private vehicles are permitted on the Toronto islands.
• The Toronto Islands are reached by public ferry boats crossing the Toronto harbour.
• On the islands, the city seems far removed, and a feeling of being in the country prevails just a mile offshore from Toronto’s exciting, vibrant downtown.
• English is the primary, and first language spoken in Toronto and in Canada. “French-Canadian” (an old dialect) is Canada’s second, official language. Other minority groups speak over 100 languages in Toronto.
• The laws of Toronto, and Canada are based on British law and English parliamentary system of government except for the separatist “state” of French Quebec, located three hundred miles (500 km) to the north and east from downtown Toronto.
• Less than a two hour drive, north of Toronto is the “Muskoka Lakes” Region where beautiful lakes, rivers and forests are set in the wilderness, and as it looked, many hundreds of years ago.
• One of the wonders of the world, Niagara Falls is just, an hour away by car from Toronto.
• People are amazed at the great volume of water that spills over the (Canadian) Horseshoe,
• Niagara Falls, each second, as they stand, less than 20 feet (3 meters) from the “Brink”.

Special thanks to www.personaltours.ca

The Attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941: Living in Infamy

The Pearl Harbor Memorial rests atop the sunken USS. Arizona

Facts About the Attack on Pearl Harbor

• 

  Japanese attack routes on Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii

  Although the aerial attack was very successful, the submarines failed to finish off any wounded ship inside the harbour.

• The attack’s success surprised the Japanese as much as the Americans.
• The last part of the decoded Japanese message stated that U.S. relations were to be severed.
• The Japanese attack force was under the command of Admiral Nagumo.
• Japansese force consisted of six carriers with 423 planes.
• At 6 a.m. the first Japanese attack wave of 83 planes took off.
• Nickname for Pearl Harbor is “Gibraltar of the Pacific.”
• Eighteen U.S. ships were hit.

• 

  Franklin Delano Roosevelt

  President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy,” in reference to the attack.

• Three prime targets escaped damage, the U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, the Lexington, Enterprise and Saratoga. They were not in the port when the attack took place.
• Another target, the base fuel tanks also escaped damage.
• Casualties included 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians.
• 1178 people were wounded.
• The day after the attack the U.S. and Britain declared war on Japan.
• Pearl Harbor is the Naval Base for the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
• Pearl Harbor is the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
• Pearl Harbor has 10 square miles of navigable water.
• The harbour is on the southern coast of Oahu.

• 

  Naval vessel placement at Pearl Harbor during the attack

  The harbour is artificially improved.

• The attack was the climax of a decade of worsening relations between the U.S. and militaristic Japan.
• A U.S. embargo on necessary supplies for war prompted the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• The Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku planned the attack with great care.
• All of the planes on the Japanese ships were fully fueled and armed.
• The Japanese planes took off about 90 minutes from Pearl Harbor.
• The president at the time of the attack was Franklin D. Rooselvelt.
• The attack brought the United States into World War II.
• The Japanese fleet had 30 ships.

• The Japanese were interested in the Hawaiian islands since the islands were annexed by the U.S. in 1898.
• An admiral said, “leaving aside the unspeakable treachery of it, the Japanese did a fine job.”
• Japanese suffered just small losses.
• The attack crippled the United States fleet.
• The Japanese deceived the U.S. by saying false statements and expressed interest in continued peace.
• Americans think of the attack as very dishonorable.
• The attack was planned weeks in advance.
• The main reason for the attack was over economic issues.

• Because of the unpreparedness of the U.S. military, Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short were relieved of duty.
• The attack severely crippled the U.S. naval and air strength in the Pacific.
• Of the eight battleships, all but the Arizona and Oklahoma were eventually repaired and returned to service.
• On December 8, 1941, Congress declared war on Japan with only one vote against it. The vote against it was of Represenative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who had also voted against U.S. entry into World War I.
• Once the fleet was out of action, Japan would be able to conquest a great area.
• A U.S. Army private who noticed the large flight of planes on his radar screen was told to ignore them because a flight of B-17s from the continental U.S. was expected at the time.
• More than 180 U.S. aircraft were destroyed.

• 

  Pearl Harbor Memorial

  During the attack the USS Arizona sank with a loss of more than 1,100 men.

• A white concrete and steel structure now spans the hull of the sunken ship as a memorial.
• The memorial was dedicated on May 30, 1962.
• U.S. officials had been aware that an attack by Japan was probable, but did not know the time or place it would occur.
• Pearl Harbor was not in the state of high alert when the attack started, Anti-Aircraft guns were left unmanned.
• The Americans were taken completely by surprise.
• The main targets for the first wave was the airfield and battleships.
• The second wave targets were other ships and shipyard facilities.
• The air raid lasted until about 9:45 a.m.

 

 

 

Special thanks to  www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com and www.absoluteastronomy.com