Peterborough

Peterborough is known as the gateway to the Kawarthas "cottage country", a large recreational region of the province. It is named in honour of Peter Robinson, an early Canadian politician who oversaw the first major immigration to the area. The city is the seat of Peterborough County, though it is politically independent from the county.

Peterborough's nickname in the distant past was "The Electric City" as it was the first town in Canada to use electric streetlights. This nickname also underscores the historical and present-day importance of technology and manufacturing as an economic base of the city, which has operations from large multi-national companies such as Siemens, Rolls-Royce Limited, General Electric, and local businesses such as Merit Precision Ltd., Dynacast, and Bryston.