Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario

The history of the Waterloo region goes back the 1783, when the British government granted the Grand River Valley to the Iroquois, who had supported the Loyalists in the American War of Independence, to compensate them for the loss of thier land in New York. The Iroquois settled in the Lower Grand River Valley (now Brant County[?]), and sold the land which now comprises Waterloo Regional Municipality to a group of Mennonites from Pennsylvania.

Mennonites settled the in the area founding the Town of Waterloo. By the 1840s, the presence of the German-speaking Mennonites made the area a popular choice for German settlers from Europe. These Germans founded thier own communities in the south of the area settled by the Mennonites, the largest being the Town of Berlin (now Kitchener).

The Waterloo region remained prodominantly German-speaking until the early 20th century, and its German heritage is reflected in the region's large Lutheran community and the annual Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest.

There are still traditional Mennonite communities located north of Kitchener-Waterloo. The most famous is St. Jacobs[?], where an outdoor market is held in the summer.

Towns and Cities in Waterloo Regional Municipality include:

• Breslau[?]
• Cambridge
• Conestogo[?]
• Elmira[?]
• Heidelberg[?]
• Kitchener
• Mannhiem[?]
• New Hamburg[?]
• St. Jacobs[?]
• Waterloo