Kingston is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River. The city is midway between Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec. The Thousand Islands tourist region is nearby to the east. Kingston is nicknamed the "Limestone City" because of the many heritage buildings constructed using local limestone.
Growing European exploration in the 17th century, and the desire for the Europeans to establish a presence close to local Native occupants to control trade, led to the founding of a French trading post and military fort at a site known as "Cataraqui" in 1673. This outpost, called Fort Cataraqui, and later Fort Frontenac, became a focus for settlement. Since 1760, the site of Kingston, Ontario, was in effective British possession. Cataraqui would be renamed Kingston after the British took possession of the fort, and Loyalists began settling the region in the 1780s.
Kingston was named the first capital of the United Province of Canada on February 10, 1841. While its time as a capital city was short, the community has remained an important military installation.