History of Toronto
In 1998, the six municipalities comprising Metropolitan Toronto – East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, York, and the old City of Toronto – and its regional government were amalgamated into a single City of Toronto (colloquially dubbed the "megacity") by an act of the Government of Ontario. This was despite a municipal referendum in 1997 that was overwhelmingly against amalgamation. Subsequently, Mel Lastman defeated Barbara Hall to become the first elected mayor of the megacity.
York, Upper Canada
After the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists arrived in numbers north of Lake Ontario, as the British offered free land to many. As plans were being made to create the new province of Upper Canada, British North America Governor-General Lord Dorchester selected the area north of Toronto Bay for a new capital. Dorchester arranged for the Toronto Purchase with the Mississaugas of New Credit, thereby securing more than a of land. The purchase was disputed in 1788, and a further agreement was made in 1805, but a final settlement of the purchase would only come 200 years later in 2010, for a total of .