Primary influences on the Canadian identity trace back to the arrival, beginning in the early seventeenth century, of French settlers to Acadia and the St. Lawrence River Valley, English settlers to Newfoundland and the British conquest and settlement of New France from the early eighteenth century. 

Ottawa started as a humble lumber town, then called Bytown, named after Colonel John By who oversaw the construction of the Rideau Canal, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, much of which was done by hand, between 1826 and 1832. Lumber mills were built along the Ottawa River in the mid-nineteenth century and those brought employment and wealth to the growing population. The center of action then, as now, was the Byward Market. While it's still the centre of the city's nightlife, it has changed appreciably from the rough and tumble early days of brothels and taverns.