 Originally named Bytown, Ottawa did not become the Canadian capital until the mid-19th century after the original parliament in Montreal was torched by a rioting mob of English-speaking citizens on April 25, 1849.Its greater distance from the Canada–US border also left the new parliament less vulnerable to foreign attack.Nothing remains of the original 1800 settlement; the downtown Vieux-Hull sector was razed by a destructive fire in 1900 which also destroyed the original "pont des Chaudières" (Chaudière Bridge), a road bridge which has since been rebuilt to join Ottawa to Hull at Victoria Island.