Mississauga (current population 695,000, with an estimated population of over 710,000 by 2010) is a city located in the Peel Regional Municipality, west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A part of the Greater Toronto Area, Mississauga is Canada's sixth largest city. It is also the largest suburban municipality in North America.[1] It was purchased by the British in 1805 and incorporated as a city in 1974. Mississauga is a sister city of Kariya, Japan.[2]

With five major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers fast and convenient access to major destinations in Canada and the United States. In addition, most of Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest, is located in the city. Mississauga has doubled in size in each of the last two decades. Mississauga had the largest population growth in Canada (89,500) between the census years of 1986-1991. Another 80,994 were added between 1991-1996; an increase of 17.5% in the four year period.

Despite its size, Mississauga is a suburb of Toronto and the two cities' urban sprawls are indistinguishably linked. As Toronto has continued to grow economically, Mississauga has followed suit, building predominantly low-density tract housing and high rise condominiums to attract individuals tired of city life. At the same time, businesses saw the benefits of locating to Mississauga - low tax rates, proximity to a number of transportation routes (air, rail, road), proximity to Toronto, and an abundance of land (at least, at the time) - and it soon became desirable to locate there. The city is debt-free and has not borrowed money since 1978.

While being in the top ten Canadian cities by population, Mississauga is bereft of cultural institutions for a community its size due to the proximity to Toronto. It is the largest city in Canada by far with no daily newspaper, television stations, or commercial radio stations. A bedroom city to Toronto in the truest sense, Mississauga is virtually unknown outside of Ontario.

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 traders found around the Credit River area was called the Mississaugas, a tribe originally from Lake Huron. By 1700 the Mississaugas had driven away the Iroquois.

In 1805, government officials from York, as Toronto was then called, bought 340 km² (84,000 acres) of the Mississauga Tract and in 1806 the area was opened for settlement. The various communities settled include: Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale (then Springdale), Port Credit, Sheridan, and Summerville. This region would become known as the Toronto Township. [3]

Toronto Township was formed on August 2, 1805 when officials from York (what is now Toronto) purchased 84,000 acres (340 km²) of land from the Mississaugas for 1,000 pounds. After the land was surveyed, much of it was given by the Crown in the form of land grants to United Empire Loyalists who emigrated from the US. More than a dozen small communities grew in this area, most of which were located near natural resources, waterways for industry and fishing, and routes leading into York. In 1873, in light of the continued growth seen in this area, the Toronto Township Council was formed to oversee the affairs of the various villages that were unincorporated at that time. The Council's responsibilities included road maintenance, the establishment of a police force, and mail delivery service.

In 1820, a second purchase was made and additional settlements established including: Barbertown, Britannia, Burnhamthorpe, Derry West, Elmbank, Malton, Meadowvale Village, Mount Charles, and Streetsville. This led to the eventual displacement of the Mississaugas and, in 1847, they were relocated to a reserve in the Grand River Valley near present-day Hagersville.

With the exception of Port Credit and Streetsville, the township settlements were amalgamated by a somewhat unpopular provincial decree in 1968 to form the Town of Mississauga. Political will, as well as a belief that a larger city would be a hegemony in Peel County, kept Port Credit and Streetsville as independent island towns encircled by the Town of Mississauga. In 1974, both were annexed by Mississauga when it reincorporated as a city.

On November 10, 1979, a 106 car freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals was derailed at the intersection of Mavis Road and Dundas in Mississauga. The resulting fire was allowed to burn itself out, but a ruptured chlorine tank was the main cause for concern. With the possiblity of a deadly cloud of chlorine gas spreading through suburban Mississauga, 218,000 people were evacuated. Within a few days Mississauga was practically a ghost town, later when the mess had been cleared and the danger neutralized residents were allowed to return to their homes. At the time, it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history. Due to the speed and efficiency in which it was conducted, many cities later studied and modeled their own emergency plans after Mississauga's. For many years afterwards, the name "Mississauga" was to Canadians associated with a major rail disaster.

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