What's little known about Ottawa is just how much it's actually given to the world. We've invented sports, given presidents cookies and we were once even responsible for the birth of a European princess.
Laugh as you will, but the world really would be so different without Ottawa. We're pretty awesome as it is, but here are 10 gifts Ottawa gave to the world that will make you so much prouder to be an Ottawan:
1. BeaverTails
The first and the original BeaverTails stand opened up in Ottawa and has spread all across the country (and even to Japan). Like, look at them.
2. Basketball
James Naismith, the man who founded basketball in 1891, was born in Almonte, Ontario, just 45 minutes from downtown Ottawa.
3. Walkie-Talkies
Donald L. Hings invented a portable radio signaling system in Ottawa in 1937. Most people ignored it until the Second World War broke out two years later. The invention would later become the “Walkie-Talkie.”
4. The world's largest skating rink
The Rideau Canal was recognized by the Guinness World Records in 2005 for being the largest natural frozen skating rink in the world.
Born Dec. 25, 1971 in Ottawa. You're welcome.
6. Shane Smith
The co-founder and CEO of VICE News. Born and raised here. Again, you're welcome.
7. Obama Cookies
President Obama brought three of them back to the White House as treats for his family in 2009.
8. The electric stove
Thomas Adhearn in 1892 invented and first used the electric stove at Ottawa's former Windsor Hotel. So, every time you cook bacon and eggs, think about your nation's capital.
9. Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
The Canadian government made a section of the Ottawa Civic Hospital "extraterritorial" so that the heir to the Dutch royal family would have Dutch citizenship. Princess Juliana and her family had fled to Ottawa in 1940 after Germany invaded the Netherlands. If the government hadn't given her the space in the hospital, Margriet could never had succeeded her mom on the throne. The Netherlands, since 1945, continues to give 20, 000 tulips to Ottawa each year. Hence, the Tulip Festival.
10. Sandra Oh
Born and raised in Ottawa. Without her, no Grey's Anatomy. And just imagine how empty your life would be then.
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