Editing Ottawa (section)

===European exploration and early development===

In 1610, [[Étienne Brûlé]] became the first documented European to navigate the [[Ottawa River]], passing what would become Ottawa on his way to the [[Great Lakes]].{{sfn|Woods|1980|p=5}} Three years later, [[Samuel de Champlain]] wrote about the waterfalls in the area and about his encounters with the Algonquin people.{{sfn|Woods|1980|p=7}}

The first non-Indigenous settlement in the area was created by [[Philemon Wright]], a [[New England]]er. Wright founded a lumber town in the area on 7 March 1800 on the north side of the river, across from the present-day city of Ottawa in [[Hull, Quebec|Hull]].{{sfn|Van de Wetering|1997|p=123}}{{sfn|Lee|2006|p=16}} He, with five other families and twenty-five [[Laborer|labourers]], also created an agricultural community, which was named [[Wright's Town, Lower Canada|Wright's Town]].{{sfn|Taylor|1986|p=11}}{{sfn|Lee|2006|p=20}} Wright pioneered the [[Ottawa River timber trade|Ottawa Valley timber trade]] (soon to be the area's most significant economic activity) by transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to [[Quebec City]].{{sfn|Van de Wetering|1997|p=11}}

In 1826, news of the British military's impending construction of the Rideau Canal led to land speculators founding a community on the south side of the Ottawa River.{{sfn|Woods|1980|p=60}} The following year, the town was named after British military engineer Colonel [[John By]] who was responsible for the entire Rideau Waterway construction project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bytown |url=https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/about-hso/our-history/tag/Bytown |access-date=10 July 2022 |website=The Historical Society of Ottawa |language=en-gb |archive-date=14 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714034225/https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/about-hso/our-history/tag/Bytown |url-status=live}}</ref> The Rideau canal provided a secure route between [[Montreal]] and [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]] on Lake Ontario. It bypassed a vulnerable stretch of the St. Lawrence River bordering the state of New York that had left re-supply ships bound for southwestern Ontario easily exposed to enemy fire during the [[War of 1812]].{{sfn|Legget|1986|pp=22–24}}

[[File:First camp by By.jpg|thumb|right|Camp used by soldiers and labourers of the [[Rideau Canal]], on the south side of the [[Ottawa River]] in 1826. The building of the canal attracted many land speculators to the area.]]

Colonel By set up military barracks on the site of today's [[Parliament Hill]]. He also laid out the streets of the town and created two distinct neighbourhoods named "Upper Town" west of the canal and "[[Lower Town]]" east of the canal. Similar to its [[Upper Canada]] and [[Lower Canada]] namesakes, historically, "Upper Town" was predominantly English-speaking and Protestant, whereas "Lower Town" was mostly French, Irish and Catholic.{{sfn|Taylor|1986|p=31}}

Bytown's population grew to 1,000 as the Rideau Canal was completed in 1832.<ref name="BytownMuseum">{{cite web |year=2010 |title=Timeline – Know your Ottawa! |url=http://www.bytownmuseum.com/EN/timeline.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130118191714/http://www.bytownmuseum.com/EN/timeline.html |archive-date=18 January 2013 |access-date=2 July 2011 |publisher=Bytown Museum}}</ref>{{sfn|Mika|Mika|1982|p=114}} Bytown's early pioneer period saw Irish labour unrest during the [[Shiners' War]] from 1835 to 1845<ref name="whc-cpo">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Shiners' Wars |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/shiners-wars |access-date=14 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215065855/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/shiners-wars |archive-date=15 December 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> and political dissension that was evident in the 1849 [[Stony Monday Riot]].{{sfn|Martin|1997|p=22}} In 1855, Bytown was renamed ''Ottawa'' and incorporated as a city.<ref name=":5" /> [[William Pittman Lett]] was installed as the first city clerk, serving from 1844 to 1891, guiding Ottawa through 36 years of development, leading the hiring of key municipal roles, founding civic organizations, and proposing a set of by-laws for the city.<ref name="Cook2015">{{cite book |author=Bryan D. Cook |title=Introducing William Pittman Lett: Ottawa's first city clerk and bard (1819–1892) |publisher=B.D.C. Ottawa Consulting |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-771363-42-6 |page=412}}</ref><ref>Ottawa City Council, 31 May 1875, ''Motion Concerning Compensation to Mrs Sowdon'', moved by Aldermen Rocque ans Pratte.</ref><ref>Lett, W. P. ''Proposal to the City Constitution Committee 10 August 1877'', City of Ottawa Archives /MG 037-8-1 p. 77.</ref>