Mississauga

Mississauga is located in southern Ontario, Canada. The population is about 735 000 people, making it the sixth most populous municipality in Canada. The city experienced its largest population growth during the mid-eighties and early nineties of the twentieth century.

Sustained population growth continues today, but significantly slower. The town was founded as a suburb of Toronto. The rapid development of Mississauga was due to its proximity to Toronto.

The city of Mississauga boasts that it has had no debt from 1978 onwards. There are five major highways that pass through it. It offers quick access to major markets in Canada and the U.S., making it an important transportation hub.

Europeans arrived in the area where today Mississauga is located in the early seventeenth century. At that time in this area lived people from the tribe Algonquian Mississaugas.

In 1805 several people purchased three hundred and forty square miles of land from the tribe Mississauga. A group of settlers from New York arrived in 1830. At that time the government has purchased additional land from the tribe Mississauga. Gradually the people of the tribe are displaced in other areas because of the rapid development of the Canadian community.

In 1847 the government moved them into a specially created reserve. For the city follows a period of rapid growth, which is due to the advent of the railway system in Mississauga.

In the twenties of last century the area around the city becomes a desirable place to build huts and cottages, for the rest of the inhabitants of neighboring towns.

In 1979 a freight train derailed and a tanker that transports propane exploded. A chlorine cloud spread over Mississauga and two hundred and eighteen thousand inhabitants were evacuated. Within a few days Mississauga was practically a ghost town. This is the largest peacetime evacuation in the history of North America.

Due to the speed and efficiency with which this happens, many cities follow the model of the evacuation of Mississauga for natural disasters and other incidents.