Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River, on the west by Etobicoke Creek, the cities of Brampton, and Mississauga, the Toronto Pearson International Airport (a small portion of the airport extends into Etobicoke), and on the north by the city of Vaughan at Steeles Avenue West.
The area of Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s. Primarily an agricultural district, it was incorporated in 1850 as Etobicoke Township. The municipality grew into city status in the 20th century after World War II. Several independent villages and towns developed and became part of Etobicoke, first when Metropolitan Toronto was formed in 1954, and later, in a 1967 consolidation. In 1998, its city status and government dissolved after it was amalgamated into present-day Toronto.
Etobicoke has a highly diversified population, which totalled 365,143 in 2016. It is primarily suburban in development and heavily industrialized, resulting in a lower population density than the other districts of Toronto. Much of its cityscape is characterized by larger main streets, shopping malls, and cul-de-sac housing developments. Etobicoke has several expressways, including Highways 427, 401, 409, the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Gardiner Expressway. Etobicoke is the western terminus of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth of the Toronto subway and served by four suburban rail stations of GO Transit. Humber College is in Etobicoke, encompassing two campuses, one of which is also home to the University of Guelph-Humber.
Toponymy
The name "Etobicoke" derives from the Mississauga word wah-do-be-kang (wadoopikaang), meaning "place where the alders grow". This was how they described the area between Etobicoke Creek and the Humber River. The first provincial land surveyor, Augustus Jones, also spelled it as "ato-be-coake." Etobicoke was finally adopted as the official name in 1795 at the direction of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe.
History
At different times throughout history, different groups of First Nations peoples used the land that is now present day Etobicoke. As the Algonquins gradually moved west from the Atlantic to Lake Erie, it is almost certain they would have occupied this land. By the time they were mostly settled on the shores of Georgian Bay, the Huron-Wendat were the primary residents of Lake Ontario's north shore. During the 17th century, the powerful Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacy, made up of nations based to the south of the lake, pushed them out.
After continued harassment from the Iroquois to the south, a coalition of the Ojibway, Odawa, and Potawatomi Algonquin nations, known as the Three Fires, gradually pushed the Haudenosaunee off this land. The Algonquian-speaking Mississaugas settled here by 1695, fishing and growing crops more locally in the summer and hunting farther afield in the winter.
The British officials intended Etobicoke to be included in the Toronto Purchase of 1787.
However, the Mississauga and government disagreed as to whether the western boundary of the purchase was the Humber River or the Etobicoke River (now, Etobicoke Creek). The Mississauga Indians allowed British surveyor Alexander Aitkin to survey the disputed land, and the British paid an additional 10 shillings for the purchase, although the purchase was never formally agreed to. The dispute was settled between the government and the Mississauga First Nation in 2010.
Immigrants from the British Isles were among the new settlers, as well as Loyalists who had left the rebellious Thirteen Colonies, by then the United States. Early settlers included many of the Queen's Rangers, who Simcoe gave land to help protect the new capital of Upper Canada and develop this frontier area. In 1793-95, the Honourable Samuel Smith, a colonel in the Queen's Rangers, received land grants of , extending from today's Kipling Avenue to Etobicoke Creek, and north to Bloor Street.