History of Ontario, Canada

"Ontario is Canada's most populous and second-largest province. It stretches from Canada's southernmost point at Middle Island in Lake Erie in the south, to the Manitoba-Ontario border on Hudson Bay in the north, and from the banks of the St. Lawrence River in the east, to the Manitoba border in the west. The name Ontario, from a Huron word sometimes translated as meaning "beautiful lake" or "beautiful water," is apt, since lakes cover 17 per cent of the province's total area of just over one million km2." www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

"Ontario acquired its name from the Iroquois word “kanadario”, which translates into “sparkling” water. The earliest recording of the name Ontario was in 1641 where it was used to describe a mass of land on the north shore of the easternmost part of the Great Lakes. The British settlers had originally called the land that covered Quebec, Ontario, and part of the United States all as Quebec. It wasn’t until the British enacted the Constitutional Act in 1791 that Ontario would be known as the land upstream from the St. Lawrence River, or Upper Canada, and Quebec considered the land downstream from the St. Lawrence River, known as Lower Canada. In 1867, Ontario and Quebec officially became separate provinces." nrcan.gc.ca

"Ontario: Residents of Canada's most populous province -- the country's economic, political and cultural colossus -- are generally thought of as more business-like and conservative than other Canadians." ediplomat.com