Mississauga

Mississauga ⁱ/ˌmɪsɪˈsɒɡə/ is the sixth largest city in Canada. Situated in Southern Ontario, it lies on the shores of Lake Ontario, located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, in the central part of the Greater Toronto Area, to the west of Toronto. The city has a population of 713,443 as of the Canada 2011 Census, and is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality.

Initially developed as a suburb of Toronto, Mississauga's growth is attributed to its proximity to that city. It is the largest suburb in Anglo-America by population. In recent decades, the city has attracted a multicultural population and has plans for developing its downtown core. Residents of the city are called Mississaugans or Saugans. Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest airport, is located in the city, and it is the location of many major corporate headquarters for Canada.

History

At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 1600s, both Iroquoian and Algonquian-speaking peoples already lived in the Credit River Valley area. One of the First Nations groups the French traders found around the Credit River area were the Algonquian Mississaugas, a tribe originally from the Georgian Bay area. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word Misi-zaagiing, meaning "[Those at the] Great River-mouth." By 1700 the Mississaugas had driven away the Iroquois, yet during the Beaver Wars they played a neutral or post-emptive role.