The first inhabitants of the Ottawa area were the Algonquin Indians, who called the Ottawa River the "Kichesippi" – the Great River – and called themselves the Kichesippirini (People of the Great River). French fur traders named the Ottawa River after the Outaouais tribe, which in fact only inhabited the area for some ten years. They served as middlemen in the fur trade, carrying furs to Quebec after the Iroquois Indians had driven the Algonquins from the area.With the end of New France in 1769, the Ottawa area came under British rule and settlers from the United States began to stake claims to the land. Amongst these was Philemon Wright and his settlers who, anticipating the enormous energy possibilities of the Ottawa River, settled across the River in Hull Township.

After the War of 1812 between Canada and the United States, a means of communication between Montreal and the western part of the country was sought to protect it from possible attacks from the south. The 200-kilometre Rideau Canal was designed to establish a link by waterway between Montreal and Kingston (then Canada's capital) via Ottawa. Construction of the Canal was entrusted to Lieutenant-Colonel John By and carried out between 1826 and 1832. Colonel By is recognized as the first builder and planner of what was to become the Capital. The plans he developed in 1828 set aside large land expanses for public use at the entrance to and along the Canal. At first, these areas were to have been used for the building of fortifications, but they later became the site for Canada's Parliament Buildings and the parkway network.

The thirty years that followed the building of the Rideau Canal saw Ottawa (by then called Bytown) and Philemon Wright's settlement (Wright's Town) progress mainly because of the thriving forest industry. Stores, manufactories (mainly producing stoves and axes) and banks were set up, churches and schools were built and a little manufacturing community was started in New Edinburgh about the Rideau Falls. Steamboats plied the river and canal, and a newspaper, the Bytown Gazette, was started in 1836. In 1855, Bytown was incorporated and became Ottawa. Wright's Town followed suit in 1875 and became known as Hull.

Ottawa Becomes Canada's Capital
In 1857, Queen Victoria was asked to settle a dispute between Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa as to which city should be named Capital of the Province of Canada (made up of Upper and Lower Canada, which consisted of parts of today's Provinces of Ontario and Quebec). Queen Victoria chose the City of Ottawa as the seat of the new government. Work immediately began on the new Parliament Buildings on Barrick Hill (henceforth to be Parliament Hill), and between 1859 and 1866, the Centre, East and West Blocks were built. (The latter two Blocks were known as the Eastern and Western Departmental Buildings).

One year after their completion, Ottawa became the Capital of the new Canadian Confederation, which was composed of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and parts of present-day Quebec and Ontario. Ottawa's population was 18,000 in an area of 760 hectares.

Ottawa Grows Into a Capital
The Capital has not always been the beautiful city it is becoming today. At first a military building site, then a prosperous lumber town, the City of Ottawa which, by royal edict, was suddenly given the top rank among Canadian cities, had grown haphazardly until 1899. It was then that the Canadian Government concluded that if Ottawa were to become a Capital worthy of a vast and growing country, a start should be made with the planning of its environment: the Ottawa Improvement Commission (OIC) was therefore created. The OIC's first priority was to clean up the banks of the Rideau Canal which were cluttered with warehouses, sheds, lumber yards and piles of construction material. They also began the park system and envisaged the creation of boulevards and scenic parkways. After the rubble was cleared from along the banks of the Canal, part of the present Queen Elizabeth Driveway was constructed as the first of the scenic drives. In 1912 the Union Station and the Chateau Laurier Hotel, both built by the Grand Trunk Railway Company, were opened.