On 2021-05-01 11:07 a.m., Cindy Hamilton wrote:
>
>> What in the Sam Hill does that have to do with *history*?
>>> Why do you think most inland cities are located on a river or other
>>> navigable body of water?
>>>
>>> Cindy Hamilton
>>>
>> Again, what in the Sam Hill does that have to do with *history*?
>
> The French came down the St. Lawrence, founding cities as they went.
> It's the same as the Spanish missionaries founding cities all up the
> California coast.
>


When the New France became part of British North America the English
went went upstream and settled along the St. Lawrence and the shore of
Lake Ontario, up the Ottawa River. Most of the rest of the country was
explored by fur traders. There is a lot of rich farmland in southern
Ontario. Then they built a railway and settled in the prairies.


Most of the settlement of southern Ontario came after the revolution
when Loyalists came north to escape persecution in the US. More
Americans came north for free or very cheap land. They settled in the
first places they found. Even now, with immigrants from all over the
world, they arrive at the main international airports in Toronto,
Montreal and Vancouver, and the stay there until they are established.

As you go north there is less arable land and a lot more rock and bog.
We had those ice ages that at scraped the soil and vegetation off the
surface and wore down to hard granite. It was not good land for
farming, but there is a lot of mineral wealth. Then there is the cold.
People tend to stick to the south where the climate is more moderate.