Шатам-Кент тарихы: құлдардың бостандығы мен афро-канаддық мұрасы

Chatham Kent (2021 population: 103,988) After the Treaty of Paris in 1763 ceded control of the area from the French to the British, it became part of the Territory of Quebec. The title to the Chatham Kent area was surrendered to the British as part of the 1790 McKee's Purchase, (named for Alexander McKee) to provide land for settlers. McKee's Purchase was designated an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada in 1931. A historical plaque for the purchase is located in Blenheim Park in Blenheim. Following the American Revolution and the Gnadenhutten massacre, a group of Christian Munsee settled in what is now the Moraviantown reserve. In the War of 1812, the Battle of the Thames took place between Moraviantown and Thamesville on October 5, 1813.

During the 19th century, the area was the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad. As a result, Chatham Kent is now part of the African Canadian Heritage Tour. Josiah Henson Museum for African Canadian History, formally known as Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site is a museum of the Dawn Settlement, established in 1841 by Josiah Henson near Dresden as refuge for the many slaves who escaped to Canada from the United States. John Brown, the abolitionist, planned his raid on the Harpers Ferry Arsenal in Chatham and recruited local men to participate in the raid. He held in Chatham a Convention of Colored Men on May 8–10, 1858. The small village of North Buxton, part of the African Canadian Heritage Tour, also played an important role in the Underground Railroad. By the 1850s, the city of Chatham was referred to as the "black mecca of Canada". A museum in the city, the Black Mecca Museum, still bears this name. Chatham was home to a number of black churches and business, with Black Canadians making up one third of the city's population and controlling a significant portion of the city's political power. Nearby Dresden and Buxton were also home to thousands of land owning black residents. However, after the abolition of slavery in the United States, many black families left the area. Today the city of Chatham is just 3.3% black, with Chatham Kent as a whole being 2.1% black. Few of the black owned institutions are still in operation.

In 1846, the town of Chatham had a population of about 1,500, with part of the town being called Chatham North. There were four churches, a theatre, a weekly newspaper and a cricket club. The road between London and Amherstburg was open, and transportation by stagecoach was available. A fast boat also provided transportation to Detroit and Buffalo. Chatham had many tradesman, a foundry, two banks, three schools, a tavern and a library where one could read books and newspapers. By 1869, the population was 3,000 in this industrial area with several mills, foundries, and breweries; a great deal of wood was being produced. A steamboat offered transportation to Windsor and Detroit. There was one bank office. Between 1906 and 1909, the city was home to the Chatham Motor Car Company, and from 1919 to 1921, Denby Motor Truck Company of Canada. It was also where the Hyslop and Ronald steam fire engine manufacturer was located; the factory would be taken over by Chatham Motor Car. The Hawaiian pizza is claimed to have been invented in Chatham in 1962 at the Satellite Restaurant by Sam Panopoulos. In the U. S., former Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes proposed building a bridge across Lake Erie linking Cleveland to the southern coast of Kent County. Before 1998, Kent County consisted of the townships of Camden, Chatham, Dover, Harwich, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Romney, Tilbury East and Zone. In some of Canada's earliest post Confederation censuses, some residences in Kent County were incorrectly reported as being in Bothwell "County", which was a separate electoral district comprising parts of Kent and Lambton counties but not a distinct county in its own right. In 1998, the County of Kent and the city of Chatham were amalgamated by the Province of Ontario to form the Municipality of Chatham–Kent. Most services were also combined. Since then, bus service has begun to serve all of Chatham Kent. Starting in 2007, routes were set up to include the former towns of Wallaceburg and Dresden. Before 1998, each town had their own fire department. It then became the Chatham Kent Fire Department upon amalgamation. The county also had separate police departments until 1998. The city of Chatham, as well as the towns of Wallaceburg, Dresden, and Tilbury, each had their own departments. The Chatham Kent Police Service was formed on September 1, 1998. Many residents opposed amalgamation, as 18 city councillors boycotted the official vote, and the final decision to amalgamate was imposed on the County by a provincial commissioner. In a study on amalgamations in Ontario from 2003, 48% of respondents in Chatham Kent felt the value they received as taxpayers became worse after amalgamation, and 64% of respondents still did not think of the community as "the Municipality of Chatham Kent." Chatham Kent has many historic festivals throughout the year, such as the Battle of Longwoods reenactment, which takes place on Labour Day weekend at Fairfield Museum on Longwoods Road. Chatham Kent is also home to many historic buildings which are part of an annual ghost tour offered each year at Halloween. The participants go on a guided walk of downtown while the guide informs them of various ghost stories tied to the local buildings in which they pass. Chatham Kent was a major part of the Underground Railroad and as such hosts the Buxton Homecoming each September. This celebrates the area's black culture and the roots laid by early black settlers in the Buxton area.

At , Chatham Kent is the 9th largest municipality by area in Canada and the largest in southwestern Ontario. Over 44,000 of the 107,000 residents live in the former City of Chatham. Other population centres in the municipality include Wallaceburg, Blenheim and Tilbury, Ridgetown and Dresden. The Lower Thames River runs through Chatham–Kent to Lake St. Clair in the west, while the Sydenham River flows through Wallaceburg and Dresden. The municipality has approximately 88 kilometres of shoreline along lake Erie and 24 kilometres along lake St. Clair. The Indian reserve of Bkejwanong (commonly referred to as Walpole Island) borders on Chatham–Kent, whereas the Indian reserve of Moravian 47 is an enclave within the city and is part of the Chatham–Kent census agglomeration and census division.

Chatham Kent has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa), with cold, snowy winters and warm to hot, humid summers. A typical summer will feature heat waves with temperatures exceeding 30 °C (86 °F) often. Winters are cold, and feature occasional cold snaps bringing temperatures below 15 °C (5 °F), but also commonly include mild stretches of weather above freezing.

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Chatham Kent had a population of 103988 living in 44028 of its 46752 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 101647. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

At the outskirts of Chatham is the headquarters for Pioneer Hi Bred Limited (a division of DuPont), a major agricultural seed breeding and biotechnology company. GreenField Specialty Alcohols Inc.'s Commercial Alcohols division, Canada's largest ethanol plant and one of the world's largest, opened in Chatham in 1996. The plant produces ethanol for industrial, medical, and beverage uses. There are a number of vineyards in the municipality.

Chatham's roots in the automotive sector go back to Gray Dort Motors Ltd., one of Canada's earliest automobile manufacturers. In the 21st century, auto industry plants in the municipality include Autoliv Canada in Tilbury (airbags), Mahle in Tilbury (emissions controls and plastics), in Ridgetown (automotive electronic pedal assembly and sensors), Dana Canada in Chatham (heat shields for thermal and acoustic management of exhaust manifolds, catalytic converters, and turbochargers), and Vitesco Technologies (Powertrain Canada ULC) in Chatham (design, development, and testing of Actuators for clean, efficient vehicles). Chatham Kent also is home to RM Auctions, a vintage automobile auction house, and RM Restorations, a vintage automobile restoration company. The nickname "The Classic Car Capital of Canada" comes from the abundance of classic car events in the community.

Chatham is home to a major corporate office of Enbridge Gas Inc., a natural gas utility and Enbridge company. Other energy related companies include wind farms near the shores of Lake Erie.

The Canadian Federal government is one of the largest employers in the Chatham Kent area with over 450 employees in several departments in the area. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Disability Unit is housed in the Judy Lamarsh (see Notable Residents) Building in downtown Chatham. This federal office is the single largest disability processing centre in Canada, processing 50% of all CPP Disability benefits. The office also processes Old Age Security benefit claims.

Chatham serves as a retail centre for the municipality and surrounding area. This includes the large big box stores in Super Centre on St. Clair Street and arguably the north end of Communication Road in Blenheim.

The Thames Art Gallery and ARTspace, located in the historic downtown, feature exhibitions showcasing local artists from the Chatham Kent area, while also housing other Canadian and international works.

Chatham Kent is served by the Chatham Kent Health Alliance. The Public General Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital in Chatham were moved to a single campus in 2004, while the former Sydenham District Hospital remains in Wallaceburg. The eastern portion of the municipality is served by the Four Counties Health Services in Newbury in nearby Middlesex County. Research published in 2002 by the Heart and Stroke Foundation cited Chatham Kent as a hotspot for heart disease in Ontario. Further research is underway to determine the reasons for this and other hotspots. The Chatham Kent Public Health Unit launched a campaign in fall 2007 to tackle other ailments prevalent throughout the community, including asthma, chronic allergies, sinus problems, many types of cancer, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, alcoholism, and obesity. In October 2008, Chatham Kent Health Alliance was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine. Chatham Kent features one of the 14 provincial Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN). The Erie St. Clair (ESC) LHIN services the Chatham Kent Community as well as Sarnia/Lambton and Windsor/Essex. The ESC LHIN is located in the town of Chatham.

OTA virtual channel (PSIP)OTA actual channelCall signNetworkNotes16.116 (UHF)CHWI DTCTV 233.133 (UHF)CICO DT 59TVOntarioRebroadcaster of CICA DT (Toronto)

Chatham Kent is also served by stations coming from Windsor, London, Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland.

FrequencyCall signBrandingFormatOwnerNotesAM 630CFCOCFCO 92.9Country musicBlackburn RadioAlso broadcasts at FM 92.9FM 88.1CBEE FMCBC Radio OneTalk radio, public radioCanadian Broadcasting CorporationRebroadcaster of CBEW FM (Windsor)FM 89.3CKGW FMUCB CanadaChristian radioUnited Christian Broadcasters CanadaFM 94.3CKSY FM94–3 CKSYAdult contemporaryBlackburn RadioFM 95.1CKUE FMCanada's Cool FM Classic rockBlackburn RadioFM 99.1CKXS FM99.1Hot adult contemporaryFive Amigos Broadcasting

The Chatham Daily News is the only daily newspaper in Chatham Kent. There are several weeklies located in Chatham and the various communities in the municipality, including the Chatham Voice, Wallaceburg Courier Press, the Blenheim News Tribune, Chatham Kent This Week, Ridgetown Independent News, Tilbury Times, and the Wheatley Journal. The Chatham Daily News, Chatham Kent This Week, and Wallaceburg Courier Press are all owned by Postmedia.

The Chatham Daily News, Chatham Kent This Week, Wallaceburg Courier Press, Chatham Voice and CKReview are daily online news media in Chatham Kent with coverage of local news, sports, entertainment, and cultural events as well as a number of regular contributing columnists. The Chatham Kent Sports Network is an online source covering local sports news, scores, and highlights from each of Chatham Kent's communities. CKSN also follows Chatham Kent athletes who have progressed to the Junior, College, International, or Professional ranks.

There are two anglophone school boards and one francophone school board in Chatham–Kent. These are the Lambton Kent District School Board (headquartered in both Chatham and Sarnia), the St. Clair Catholic District School Board (headquartered in Wallaceburg) and the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence (CSC Providence). The LKDSB is a public school board, and consists of 13 secondary and 53 elementary schools. Chatham Kent Secondary School is the largest public high school in Lambton Kent. The St. Clair Catholic board consists of two secondary schools (one in Chatham and one in Sarnia) and 26 elementary schools. There are also independent schools, such as Wallaceburg Christian School and Chatham Christian Schools—an elementary and secondary school in the same building. The French Catholic board, headquartered in Windsor, has its Chatham Kent regional office in Pain Court and consists of four elementary schools and one high school.

Chatham–Kent is the home of two colleges – St. Clair College and University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, popularly known as Ridgetown College. St. Clair College is a satellite of St. Clair College of Windsor. There are two campuses located in the municipality – Thames Campus (located in Chatham) and the Wallaceburg Campus (located in Wallaceburg). More than 5,000 full time and 12,000 part time students attend the college each year. The Ridgetown Campus of the University of Guelph offers diplomas in agriculture, horticulture, and veterinary technology. It is part of the University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College, and formerly known as Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology.

Founded in 2001, the Chatham Kent Havoc rugby team plays in the Southwest Rugby Union.

Chatham station is served by Via Rail passenger services between Toronto and Windsor, part of the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor with four trips in each direction daily, and the community is served by both the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway for freight transportation.

Within Chatham public bus services are provided by CK Transit. Chatham Kent has an intercity bus service, also provided by CK Transit, between all communities in the municipality except Wheatley.

There is a municipal airport located 14 km south east of Chatham featuring a 1500m paved, lighted runway, with refuelling facilities, tie down services, pilot training and chartered flights. The nearest airports served by regional carriers are Windsor and London.