Долина Оттавы: География, Население и История Канады

Valley in Ontario and Quebec in Canada

The Ottawa Valley is the valley of the Ottawa River, along the boundary between Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais, Quebec, Canada. The valley is the transition between the Saint Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield. Because of the surrounding shield, the valley is narrow at its western end and then becomes increasingly wide (mainly on the Ontario side of the river) as it progresses eastward. The underlying geophysical structure is the Ottawa Bonnechere Graben. Approximately 1.3 million people reside in the valley (and along its tributaries), around 80% of whom reside in Ottawa. The total area of the Ottawa Valley is 2.4 million ha (6 million ac). The National Capital Region area has just over 1.4 million inhabitants in both provinces. Near the City of Ottawa, the Ottawa Valley merges with the St. Lawrence Valley to the south to create a delta of flat farmland stretching unbroken from the Ottawa River to the Saint Lawrence River as far east as the island of Montreal, where the two rivers meet. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Lower Ottawa Valley," in contrast with the "Upper Ottawa Valley" west of Ottawa, but the name is not common, and most people think of the Ottawa Valley as only the upper portion. Cornwall is typically not included in the Ottawa Valley. From west to east, communities in the Ottawa Valley include Mattawa, Deep River (with nearby Chalk River, the site of Canada's nuclear reactor program), Petawawa (a major Canadian military base), Pembroke (where Samuel de Champlain landed briefly), Fort Coulonge, Shawville, Renfrew, Quyon, Arnprior, Ottawa (the nation's capital), Rockland, L'Orignal, Hawkesbury, and Rigaud and Almonte, Round Lake Centre, Dacre, Douglas, Hyndford, Scotch Bush, Osceola and Barr Line.

The entire Ottawa Valley is claimed to be within Omàmiwininiwak (Algonquin Country traditional territory) and is presently under land claim. The entire territory south of the Ottawa river was conquered by the Iroquois during the French Indian War/Seven Years' War, who then left it to the British Crown when they relocated to upstate New York. As a result the majority of Algonquins reside on the Quebec (north) side of the border, where all but two Algonquin communities are located. The Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport, ICAO Code CYOW operates both flights to other major Canadian cities and other international airports. The airport is also a major hub for diplomats and international figures to come into Canada. Major airlines such as Air Canada, West jet, American Airlines and First Air use the airport consistently. The airport is also home to two flight training colleges on the north side of the field. It is Canada's 7th busiest airport.

The public relations office of the Ottawa Senators ice hockey team call Ottawa and the Valley "hockey country". Indeed, it is the home not only of the once prominent Senators, which folded in 1934 and came back in 1992, but also of such famous NHL builders as Tommy Gorman and Ambrose O'Brien. With the Senators' arena "Canadian Tire Centre (CTC)", originally named the "Palladium", located in Kanata, Ontario, which links Ottawa with the Valley, residents of the Upper Ottawa Valley can easily access the games. The CTC is the home of the "Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame", several restaurants, a fitness complex and several businesses. The CTC, including the standing room, has a capacity of holding 20,500 people for any event. Many of the members of the Senator's coaching and management staff in 2010 hail from, or have strong connections to, the town of Shawville. The Ottawa Valley's Renfrew Millionaires, the creation of lumber baron O'Brien, was a small town professional hockey team that won the league championship in 1910. Ottawa and the valley are also the home of such outstanding players as Frank Nighbor, Aurel Joliat, Frank "King" Clancy, Frank Boucher, Kurtis Foster and Denis Potvin; the latter was the star defenceman of the New York Islanders dynasty of the late 1970s. Ottawa's Brian Kilrea holds the record as the Ontario Hockey League's longest serving coach with a record number of games behind the bench of the Ottawa 67's junior hockey team. The 67's themselves are something of a legend, having a loyal following that results in sellout games almost every time they step on the ice. The Ottawa 67's play hockey at Lansdowne Park which used to be home to the Ottawa Senators. Lansdowne has a capacity of over 9,682 seats. The Ottawa 67's have won only two memorial cups (1984, 1999) since they first started in 1967.

The Ottawa Valley covers over 7,645 square kilometres. Some 12,800 years ago, glaciers retreated from what is now the Ottawa Valley region, leaving the area covered by the Champlain Sea for thousands of years. Ten thousand years ago the water retreated and land emerged, exposing fossils preserved in limestone, particularly in Eganville along the Bonnechere River and the historical site of the Bonnechere Caves and its subterranean river caverns. More than half of the Ottawa Valley is now wilderness. Renfrew County, located in the heart of the Ottawa Valley, is the largest county in Ontario. (outside of "districts", administrative regions in Northern Ontario). There are over 900 lakes and four major river systems in the Ottawa Valley. Ottawa itself is at the confluence of three rivers. These are the Ottawa, Gatineau and Rideau rivers.

The Ottawa River is 1,130 kilometres long with a watershed of 140,000 km squared. Its source is Lac Capimitchigama in Quebec. The Ottawa River was first navigated and settled by the Huron, Algonquin, Iroquois and Outaouais people. The Ottawa River bears the name of an aboriginal tribe that traded on the waterway; the "Outaouais" which is French for Ottawa. The Ottawa River provided the means for entrepreneurs to start up their logging business. The River watershed had unlimited resources, loose regulations, and cheap labour pools which allowed the entrepreneurs to quickly increase control over the timber trade. Many people involved in the logging industry took advantage of the waterway and built their empires because of the fast moving waters and forests along the River. These loggers played a crucial role in the development of the valley community as they guided logs downriver this boost is what led to the development of major towns and cities such as Ottawa and Gatineau. The Algonquin people called the Ottawa River "Kitchissippi", which means “Great River”. The Algonquin word Kichesippirini means "Big River People". The name Petawawa comes from the Algonquin language meaning “where one hears a noise like this.”

More than 400 species of animals live in the Ottawa Valley. The white trillium, which grows throughout the Ottawa Valley, has been Ontario's provincial floral emblem since 1937. Its white blossom is associated with peace and hope. White pine, the Ontario provincial tree, was the most commercially important tree during the heyday of the logging industry in the 19th century. It was exported to Europe and used for building the masts of sailing ships. Winter was the best season for cutting timber as trees fell more easily when their sap wasn’t running and ice and snow made it easier to drag the timber. Spring was the season when the loggers would “drive” the logs downriver.