page_title: Peterborough County
section_title: Origins and evolution
hierarchical_section_title: Peterborough County / History / Origins and evolution
caption_attribution_description: English: This is A. J. Johnson and Ward’s 1862 map of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). Divided into two maps. The upper map consists of the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. Features an inset map of the Environs of Montreal. Lower map focuses exclusively on Ontario. Features inset maps of Wolf Island and the Welland Canal. Both maps are color coded by district and detail major roadways, cities, rivers, trains and ferry crossings. Features the strapwork border common to Johnson’s atlas work from 1860 to 1863. Steel plate engraving prepared by A. J. Johnson for publication as page nos. 17-18 in the 1862 edition of his New Illustrated Atlas… This is the first edition of the Johnson’s Atlas to bear the Johnson and Ward imprint.
context_page_description: Peterborough County is located in Southern Ontario, Canada. The county seat is Peterborough, which is independent of the county.
  The southern section of the county is mix of agriculture, urban and lakefront properties. The northern section of the county is mostly sparsely populated wilderness with numerous rivers and lakes, mostly within the recently expanded Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.
  The County contains the Lang Pioneer Village, and the Kawarthas are a major tourist region.
context_section_description: In 1615, Samuel de Champlain was one of the first western explorers who traveled through the area, coming down from Lake Chemong and portaging down a trail, which is approximated by present-day Chemong Road, to the Otonabee River and stayed for a brief time near the present-day site of Bridgenorth, just north of Peterborough.
  The area was initially part of the Newcastle District, formed in 1802. In 1841, the northern part of the District was detached to form the Colborne District, consisting of the County of Peterborough and other lands. It consisted of the following territory:
  The county was named in honor of Col. Peter Robinson, who in 1825 brought 2,000 settlers from Ireland. The route taken was by way of Port Hope, Rice Lake and the Otonabee River, the same route used by the first settlers that entered this region in 1818.
  The centre of the County was originally the courthouse, which is still considered an important historical site.
  In 1851, Peterborough County was divided into the counties of Peterborough and Victoria, which were united for municipal purposes as the United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria.
  A plebiscite was authorized in 1856 to facilitate the creation of a provisional county council for Victoria, but, as the united counties council delayed conducting it, a further Act was passed in 1861 to compel its being held, following which the provisional council was formed. and its formal separation took place in 1863.
  Further townships were surveyed, thus extending the reach of the County northwards. In 1874, the townships of Bruton, Cardiff, Dysart, Dudley, Glamorgan, Guilford, Harburn, Harcourt, Minden, Monmouth, Snowden and Stanhope were withdrawn from the County and transferred to the new Provisional County of Haliburton.
  After the transfer of the northern townships to Haliburton, the remainder of the County consisted of the following:
  The Town of Peterborough became a City in 1905, and was subsequently withdrawn from the County for municipal purposes.
  In 1974, as a result of the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham, the township of Cavan and the village of Millbrook were withdrawn from Durham County, and the township of South Monaghan was withdrawn from Northumberland County, to be transferred to Peterborough County.
caption: 1862 Johnson Map of Ontario and Quebec. The full extent of Peterborough County at that time is highlighted in pink.
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