Is Southern Ontario secretly a peninsula?

[DrJoe]

Sure is close.


https://reservations.ontarioparks.co...ralParks%3FMap

Discuss...

[FrAnKs]

In my books, IT IS a peninsula. The Gaspé Peninsula is a peninsula, I don't see why Southwestern Ontario would not be one. It is also surrounded by large bodies of water.

[mistercorporate]

Yes.

[Denscity]

Interesting. Is there a river between Sarnia and the US? I know there is between Windsor and Detroit of course.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Interesting. Is there a river between Sarnia and the US? I know there is between Windsor and Detroit of course.

The St. Clair River.

There are four rivers connecting the Great Lakes:
1)- St. Mary's River (at Sault Ste. Marie)
2)- St. Clair River
3)- Detroit River
4)- Niagara River

Mackinac is considered a strait.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Interesting. Is there a river between Sarnia and the US? I know there is between Windsor and Detroit of course.

Yes, not the same river by name, but essentially the same waterway.

[Denscity]

Aah well if it's all surrounded by water and if rivers count then yes.

[Andy6]

Absolutely not. A peninsula cannot have peninsulas of its own, such as Niagara and Bruce.

[Denscity]

The plot thickens.
Vancouver is on a peninsula that has its own peninsula from what I recall.

[DrJoe]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Absolutely not. A peninsula cannot have peninsulas of its own, such as Niagara and Bruce.

What is the reasoning behind this? If an island has a lake with an island on it they're both still islands.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Absolutely not. A peninsula cannot have peninsulas of its own, such as Niagara and Bruce.

It's a big peninsula, about the size of the UK.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Absolutely not. A peninsula cannot have peninsulas of its own, such as Niagara and Bruce.

If that is indeed the case, then you just have to consider Niagara and Bruce peninsulas as subsections of the larger one.

Past the Isthmus, the whole thing is the Avalon Peninsula:



But we still routinely use Northeast, Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast Avalon as the most common references to each of the little peninsular arms.

[vid]

There are only three places where Ontario has a land border with the US, on either end of South Lake at the Laurentian Divide. Otherwise, the entire boundary from Quebec to Manitoba is water.

Southern Ontario (from a Northerner's perspective) is also separated from Northern Ontario by the French and Mattawa rivers, so aside from a portage south of North Bay, and the bit of Quebec stuck on the other side of the St-Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, Southern Ontario is practically an island.

[hipster duck]

I've argued that Ontario is a cultural island, being separated from the rest of Canada by the vast, unpopulated north and by French-speaking Quebec.

On the other hand, Ontario contains about half of English Canada's population, so if it's an island, it's the "big island" like Honshu in Japan.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Absolutely not. A peninsula cannot have peninsulas of its own, such as Niagara and Bruce.

Really?? Mainland Nova Scotia is a peninsula and there are countless peninsulas on it. The oldest part of Halifax for example.

[DrJoe]

Generally consensus here seems to be that it is indeed a peninsula, which begs the question why is not referred to as one?

[Docere]

In the 19th century, references to the "western Ontario peninsula" were fairly common.

[hipster duck]

One reason might be that, unlike Michigan, it's not a peninsula on the same water level. Lake Huron and Michigan are effectively one lake, while there is a bit of a natural drop between Lake Huron and Erie (and you pass through rather long rivers, which kind of makes SW Ontario less of an obvious peninsula), and you can't sail to Toronto without going through an extensive series of locks.

Another reason might be that the majority of SW Ontarians live in the interior along highway 401 (and did even before automobiles), and don't really interact with the Great Lakes in a meaningful way except as a place to escape to in summer time.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I've argued that Ontario is a cultural island, being separated from the rest of Canada by the vast, unpopulated north and by French-speaking Quebec.

Hey, that's my line. I thought I was the only one. Though I think the isolation is more spatial than cultural. Westerners and Atlantic types fit into southern Ontario seamlessly, you'd never know they were "different" until they told you.

It is interesting how a hundred years ago people were criss-crossing back and forth between New York and Ontario, and Michigan and Ontario, making for closer ties, but nowadays your average person in Kitchener will be on the same wavelength as someone all the way from Vancouver, while you can feel the cultural gulf between southern Ontario and places like Detroit and Buffalo the moment you cross the border.

Originally Posted by hipster duck

On the other hand, Ontario contains about half of English Canada's population, so if it's an island, it's the "big island" like Honshu in Japan.

That's a good analogy too.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Really?? Mainland Nova Scotia is a peninsula and there are countless peninsulas on it. The oldest part of Halifax for example.

I was just trying to establish one of the key intellectual foundations of anti-peninsularism. Now I will have to argue that Nova Scotia isn't one either, which I will do with great gusto, out of blind allegiance to my anti-peninsular Internet tribe.