Which nation's capital was once called Bytown?

Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, Bytown came about as a result of the construction of the Rideau Canal and grew largely due to the Ottawa River timber trade.

Originally in the territory of the Ottawa Indians, who were part of the Algonquin language group, the future capital’s story began when Colonel John By arrived in 1826 in command of a detachment of the Royal Engineers to construct the Rideau Canal to Lake Ontario. He built himself a house and headquarters near the north end of the canal, where there were already two or three log cabins, and a settlement grew up, which was named Bytown after him. It flourished on the timber trade and the area on the canal’s east side, Lower Town, was a lively, violent shanty town amply supplied with brothels, taverns and gambling joints, and inhabited largely by Irish and French labourers, who were Roman Catholics. The more salubrious Upper Town on the other side of the canal mainly attracted English and Scottish Protestants.

The town was renamed Ottawa in 1855, the population had reached 14,000 by 1863 and the handsome parliament buildings on the west side of the canal were opened in 1865. When the Dominion of Canada was established in 1867, Ottawa became the capital of all Canada, and it is now the country’s fourth largest city.