Fort Toronto, also known as Fort Portneuf, was a French

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

that was located near the mouth of the Humber River in what is now

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It was constructed in 1750 by French military officer Pierre Robineau de Portneuf, who had been instructed to build it to facilitate trade with

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

in the '' Pays d'en Haut'' region of

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

. Fort Toronto was the second French trading post established in the Humber River area. The first one (known as Magasin Royal or Fort Douville) had been built in 1720 by order of the Governor General of New France at that time ( Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil) near today's Baby Point, about north of the mouth of the Humber River (then known as the Tanaovate River). The French abandoned Magasin Royal by the end of the 1720s, and they did not establish another trading post in the area until the construction of Fort Toronto. Fort Toronto's immediate success in attracting First Nations traders led to the establishment of nearby

Fort Rouillé Fort Rouillé was a French trading post located in what is now Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Fort Rouillé was constructed by the French in 1751, building upon the success of a trading post they established in the area a year earlier, known as For ...

in the following year. These forts existed mainly to facilitate trade between the French and the indigenous peoples. During the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, both forts were abandoned by the French, with Fort Rouillé being razed to prevent its capture by the advancing British forces. Following the war, Fort Toronto was renovated and repurposed as a fur trading post by Jean-Bonaventure Rousseau, after

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

captured

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and the entire French colony of New France.

References

{{coord , 43.6331, N, 79.4716, W, display=title Forts in Ontario Geography of Toronto

See also

References