What is Upper Canada? Canada West?
Upper Canada and Canada West are earlier names for what, generally, is considered the southern half of what we now call the Province of Ontario. The boundaries changed over time as the population expanded, but they were never precisely drawn. Surveying and cartography, while relatively well established disciplines at the time, were neither prevalent nor vital when it came to charting the exact boundaries of what was then dense, inhospitable, and for the majority of settlers unimportant terrain in the northern regions, leaving the exact boundaries up for historical debate. Formed in 1791, Upper Canada was created as a separate province for the United Empire Loyalists and their families. Previous to 1791 the new settlements west of the Ottawa River were part of the Montreal District of the Province of Quebec. This, however, meant that they were subject to French patterns of land ownership and governance (despite being a British Colony since 1763).
