Canada's national capital on the south bank of the Ottawa River is Ottawa.
Ottawa occupies the Ontario side of the river, opposite Gatineau in Quebec. The city also sits at the meeting point of the Ottawa and Rideau rivers, and the Rideau Canal begins there near Parliament Hill. Together, Ottawa and Gatineau form Canada's National Capital Region.
The settlement began as Bytown in 1826 during construction of the Rideau Canal, a military waterway linking the Ottawa River with Kingston and Lake Ontario. Bytown was renamed Ottawa in 1855. Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as the capital in 1857, partly because its position between Canada West and Canada East offered a political compromise and was relatively defensible.
Toronto, Quebec City, and Winnipeg are major Canadian cities, but none is the national capital. Quebec City is the capital of the province of Quebec, while Toronto is the capital of Ontario.