| During Ice Age, 18,000 years ago, southern Ontatio | | | | warfare and the European's invasion, the Niagara |
| was covered by ice sheets 2-3 kilometers thick. But, | | | | territory ceased to be an area in which people lived in |
| as ice sheets begun to melt, huge glaciers traveled | | | | harmony with nature and the territory became rather |
| southward at the Great Lakes Basin of which an | | | | volatile. Today, spited between two nations, the |
| integral part is the Niagara River. As melting process | | | | United States and Canada, the Niagara Falls is part of |
| continued, vast quantities of water were released | | | | the tourist industry that is witnessing a time of great |
| into this area's basins, creating the spectacular | | | | growth. |
| scenery of today's famous Niagara Falls. | | | | Yet, the battle of man and nature has not come to |
| According to scientists and based on their research, | | | | an end. In fact, during the past ten years, two |
| the first humans arrived in the Niagara region almost | | | | people have lost their lives trying to conquer Niagara's |
| 12,000 years ago, just in time to witness the birth of | | | | forces. But, although man has not been able to |
| the Falls The peninsula around the basins had, | | | | completely control the flow of the water that is |
| according to the experts, become free of ice about | | | | coming at great speed over the falls, modern |
| 12,500 years ago and as the ice retreated northward, | | | | engineers have attempted to take up this difficult |
| the water released began flowing down creating | | | | challenge. The outcome, which was constructed by |
| well-known tourist destinations today, like Lake Erie, | | | | the human hand in order to use the water's volume |
| the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, down to the St. | | | | and speed to provide power, took the form of the |
| Laurence River and ultimately towards the sea. Back | | | | hydroelectric power stations existing now in the area. |
| then, the land was much different than what it looks | | | | These power plants are located near the basins, in |
| like today, but people were part of the environment, | | | | order to use the water that comes down from the |
| as evidence suggests. Nomadic hunters, named by | | | | Niagara Falls. These immense water quantities are |
| historians as the Clovis people, were in fact Niagara's | | | | fed, through underground channels and pipes, into |
| first inhabitants. Much later, when the European | | | | factories, which in turn use them to produce |
| explorers arrived at the beginning of the 17th | | | | electricity. The visitor remains speechless during the |
| century, they found another tribe living at the area, | | | | summer evenings, when intense spotlights, with |
| known as the Iroquois. The word "Niagara" is derived | | | | different shades of color, bathe the falls creating a |
| from the Iroquois Indian word "Onguiaahra," which | | | | breathtaking spectacle. |
| means "the strait." However, due to inter-tribal | | | | |