History of Toronto Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rice

The first people to live in the area that is now Toronto were members of First Nations tribes that include the Iroquois and Huron. These Native Canadians were expert fishers and farmers and introduced several crops from other parts of North America to the Toronto area.

These included corn, tobacco and squash. The Iroquois, in particular, were experts in developing waterways and trade routes to allow easy trading with other parts of Canada and beyond.

Answer: Etienne Brule

Étienne Brulé was a French explorer whose arrival in Toronto in 1615 is regarded as the first by a European. Brulé was a close ally of the Huron tribe and was an interpreter for Samuel de Champlain. He is believed to have explored parts of Ontario and sailed down through Lakes Ontario and Erie to New York and Pennsylvania.

However, Brulé either never left a journal or it is lost to history. Brulé met his fate in 1633 when he was executed by his Huron allies after they mistakenly believe he betrayed them to the rival Seneca tribe.

Answer: The Mississaugas believed the British were renting the land

The Mississaugas of New Credit is a First Nations tribe who lived in what is now Toronto. In 1787, the British negotiated the sale of land that would later become most of Toronto and other parts of Ontario from the Mississaugas. The Native Americans were given a variety items including money and rum for their land. The purchase was necessary because Canada was seeing an influx of Loyalists who fled the United States during and after the American Revolution.

However, the Mississaugas believed the British were only renting the land in exchange for goods and money. The terms of the purchase had to be renegotiated in 1805 and the issue wasn't fully settled until 2010.

Answer: York

The town of York was designed to be a temporary capital of Upper Canada at the time of its founding by John Graves Simcoe and his wife. Initially, the plans for the city structure and construction were chaotic with many different plans proposed. Simcoe took full control and under his watch, Yonge Street and Dundas Street were built. Because of the lack of available labor, slaves were used in the construction of York but Simcoe, who opposed slavery, gradually freed them and forbade the slave trade in York.

Answer: British General Sheafe became disgraced

There was almost no strategic gain as a result of the Americans' victory at York in 1813. Any supplies they had managed to capture were unable to be transported out of York because of the poor weather. The American troops wound up burning much of what they could get their hands on. In addition, York was overall not a very strategic gain geographically as the British and their allies had troops elsewhere in the area that were more of an immediate threat (such as in the Great Lakes).

The only significant gain for the Americans was that General Roger Hale Sheafe retreated out of York and became something of a disgrace. He lost his prominence and reputation because he retreated quickly out of York. In addition, the American win here disrupted Sheafe's plans in the region. This left the British unprepared and may have led to the American win at the Battle of Lake Erie.

Answer: Foreigners were confusing it with New York

As the city of York grew in importance, it was being confused with New York City by non-Canadians. In fact, there were many, many places in Ontario also named York or something similar. Citizens of York began referring to the city as "dirty little York", a moniker that was deemed reputation-ruining so the city name was changed to Toronto, from a Native American word of disputed meaning.

Answer: Montgomery's Tavern

Mackenzie was the first mayor of Toronto, who opposed British troops occupying the city after the Lower Canada Rebellion. Once the British left, he seized control of a munitions depot. Tensions were high in Toronto and Mackenzie kidnapped several prominent British Loyalists and held them in Montgomery's Tavern. The Loyalists were able to escape their capture. This led to a clash between rebel and Loyalist supporters.

On December 7, 1837, rebel forces met the Loyalists outside Montgomery's Tavern which was something of a headquarters for the rebels. The Loyalists easily dispersed the flanks of rebels who mostly fled the scene. Mackenzie was not in attendance at the so-called Battle of Montgomery's Tavern but his actions were the inspiration for it and he is sometimes incorrectly credited as having led the rebellion there.

Answer: E & S Currie Limited

The 1904 Great Fire of Toronto was the largest fire in Toronto's history, surpassing the Cathedral Fire in 1830s. E & S Currie Limited was a neckwear factory in downtown Toronto. The exact cause of the fire is unknown but it is widely believed to have been some kind of electrical mishap.

The fire destroyed over a hundred buildings and claimed one death. In addition, thousands of people were left jobless. Today, the TD Bank Tower and Union Station stand where the brunt of the fire burned.

Answer: Baseball game

The Christie Pits Riot was one of many anti-Semitic riots that plagued Toronto prior to and during World War II. Toronto's Jewish population was primarily poor and working-class folk. During the hot summer of 1933, many Jewish citizens frequented the public beaches to cool off. This was met with disdain by some non-Jewish people in the city who began waving swastikas to keep Jews away.

The city government only coolly sided with the Jewish population and made only weak attempts to disband the Swastika Clubs in the city. Things came to a head on August 16, 1933 during a baseball game between Jews and Italians on one team and Catholics on the other. Spectators began waving a huge blanket with a swastika on it which led to the clash. The Catholics had hoped the Italians would side with them but the Italians took the side of their teammates.

No one was killed in the riot and damage was minimal. However, the city government began siding with the Jewish population more strongly than before. This did nothing to quell anti-Semitism in Toronto as non-Jews primarily blamed Jews for the incident.

Answer: Domestic

The 2010s decade saw the world paralyzed by terrorism in many forms. Toronto, while having some incidents, was not a place that saw frequent acts of terrorism. The main focus of international terrorism-stopping efforts was preventing Radical Islamic terrorism such as from groups like ISIS. By the end of the decade, however, domestic terrorism was on the rise as well.

On April 23, 2018 a Canadian man drove a van through the North York City Center in downtown Toronto and killed ten people and injured sixteen. Witnesses stated that the driver intentionally plowed into as many people as possible with the intent of hitting them. While the motive of the driver has never been revealed, the perpetrator was a member of incel online chat rooms. Incel stands for involuntary celibacy and members associated with these groups had been responsible for violent attacks around the world.