According to abbreviationfinder, Ottawa is the fourth largest city in Canada and the capital of the country. It is located on the banks of the Ottawa River in the southeastern province of Ontario.
The 31 of December of 1857 the Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom chose her to be the capital of Canada because it was a neutral city to the predominant source communities English and French and its distant geographical position of the border with a potential enemy the time, which was none other than the United States of America.
All city services are bilingual, offered in English and French, since in Ottawa, despite the predominant English-speaking population, there is also a significant French-speaking population that occupies 32.6% of its population according to 2005 censuses.
Geography
Ottawa is located in the extreme southeast of the province of Ontario, on the banks of the Ottawa River, which forms the border between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, about 400 kilometers east of Toronto and 200 kilometers west of Montreal. Its breadth occupies the mouths of the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal.
Climate
Ottawa’s climate is temperate. Temperatures vary considerably throughout the year, being able to register temperatures above 35 ° C in the summer and less than -35 ° C in the winter, the maximum record is 37.8 ° C dating from the summer of 1986, but if we take into account the humidity of the air, the maximum was 48 ° C, recorded on August 1, 2006. The minimum temperature recorded was -36.1 ° C recorded in the winter of 1943, but if it is included the wind factor, the lowest was -47.8 ° C, on January 8, 1968.
Taking into account the average annual temperature, Ottawa is the seventh coldest capital in the world and if we look at the average temperature in January, Ottawa is in third place, behind Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) and Astana (Kazakhstan).
Ottawa receives about 235 centimeters of snow a year. The average temperature of the city in winter is -10.8 ° C, although days with average temperatures above zero and nights with temperatures below -25 ° C frequently occur. snowfalls start from late November to early April.
The freezing rain is also relatively common, even relative to other parts of the country.
Summers in Ottawa are relatively hot and humid, although they are generally short. The average temperature in summer is 26.5 ° C, although temperatures of 30 ° C or more are common. During periods of high temperatures, high air humidity is an aggravating factor, especially near rivers.
Average annual rainfall is 870 millimeters.
There are 2,054 hours of sunshine per year on average.
The city and its main areas.
The oldest part of the city is known as “Lower Town” and occupies the area between the canal and the rivers. Crossing the canal to the west is the commercial and financial center of the city called “downtown” and between east and the Ottawa River there is a small elevation where Parliament Hill is located, which is the legislative seat of Canada, there they are also located most of the government buildings in the capital.
Population
According to the 2005 census, Ottawa has an estimated population of approximately 859,704 residents, although adding the population of the suburbs the figure rises to 1,148,785 people.
The vast majority of the city’s population is native to the country, which means that in its racial classification, about 80.90% of the population is white, 4.54% is Afro-Canadian, 8, 63% are of Asian origin, 1.13% are Native American, 0.85% are Hispanic, and 0.64% are of other races. See population of Canada.
Sports
The city has an extensive sports development with many teams and hosts activities related to this area, such as skating, the cycling, the skiing, the water sports the golf, the fishing and cricket.
Among the most popular events and festivals we have the [[Winterlude which takes place in February on the Rideau Canal, it is a winter carnival, the Tulip Festival which is an international event, in which the city receives each spring, as a gift from the Dutch Royal Family, hundreds of thousands of tulips which are planted in various areas of the city, another important event is Canada Day, which is to celebrate the independence of the country, on July 1.
Sport teams
Ottawa has among its innumerable sports teams a men’s ice hockey team that plays in the NHL, called Ottawa Senators, and a women’s team called Ottawa Raiders, it also has a youth ice hockey team, the Ottawa 67’s of Ontario Hockey League.
Ottawa also has a professional women’s ice hockey team. The city’s two main colleges, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, also have athletic associations, the Carleton Ravens and the Ottawa Gee Gees, respectively.
The city also has several soccer teams and Ottawa’s main team is the Ottawa Fury, which plays in the W-league, which is the main women’s soccer league in Canada and the United States.
Other activities linked to this area are the famous horse races held at Rideau Carleton Raceway and motoring events at Capital City Speedway.
Education
The city of Ottawa has one of the most educated populations in the country with more than 9,000 doctors and due to its scientific advances and researchers it is said to be the research capital of Canada.
Among its educational institutions it has 149 public schools and 81 Catholic schools, 3 universities and a wide network of excellent libraries.
