Indeed, the past few years have been among the most eventful in the history of The Globe, which began publishing in Toronto during the 1840s.

The history of The Globe began in Toronto in 1843 with the arrival of George Brown, a tall, angular Edinburgh Scot of 25. He had come to North America in 1837 with his father, and helped the family run the British Chronicle in New York, an antislavery paper directed at British immigrants. It was while drumming up circulation for the Chronicle that Brown visited Toronto and, sensing a fertile market, persuaded his father to dispose of the New York paper and move to Toronto with him.

In August 1843, they established The Banner, a four-page weekly designed to promote the interests of the Presbyterian Church; but the younger Brown had more secular aims, and founded The Globe on March 5, 1844, as a political vehicle. It began as a weekly with a circulation of 300, and by Oct. 1, 1853, had become a daily with a circulation of 6,000.

In 1880, Brown was shot in the leg by a disgruntled former employee, George Bennett, and died weeks later from an infection in the wound. The Globe was then bought by a syndicate whose members included Senator Robert Jaffray. In 1888, the Jaffray family obtained control and kept it until 1936, during which time the newspaper adopted the slogan Canada's National Newspaper as its influence and circulation grew.

In 1936, the paper (with a circulation of 78,000) was sold to a young financier named George McCullagh. McCullagh acquired The Mail and Empire (circulation 118,000) a few weeks later, and absorbed it into The Globe under the new name, The Globe and Mail. (The Mail had been established by Conservative backers in 1872, at the urging of Sir John A. Macdonald, to counter the influence of Brown's Globe, and had merged with another Conservative paper, The Empire, in 1895.)

Three years after McCullagh's death in 1952, the executors of his estate sold the paper to Montreal financier R. Howard Webster. Oakley Dalgleish, who had been the paper's editor for some years, was made editor and publisher in 1957. It was during Dalgleish's tenure, in 1962, that the newspaper added Report on Business, distributed as a separate publication outside Ontario and as a distinct section of the newspaper within the province. In 1967, Report on Business appeared on a daily basis, becoming Canada's first national daily business newspaper.

When Mr. Dalgleish died in 1963, Mr. Webster assumed the post of publisher. In 1965, he appointed James L. Cooper as publisher and Editor-in-chief. Later that year, through an exchange of shares, Mr. Webster associated The Globe and Mail with a newspaper group, FP Publications Ltd. of Toronto, headed by John Sifton, Richard S. Malone and Max Bell.

In 1974, Mr. Cooper retired and Mr. Malone became publisher and Editor-in-chief.

In 1978, A. Roy Megarry succeeded Mr. Malone as publisher, and Richard J. Doyle, who had been editor of the newspaper since 1963, assumed the post of Editor-in-chief.

In 1979, The Globe became the first newspaper in the world to produce a full text commercial database containing every story from each issue (dating back to 1977), and the first to publish electronically and in print on the same day. An electronic information division called InfoGlobe was established to offer on-line access to this database and a variety of other information sources. In the late 1990's, InfoGlobe merged with Dow Jones Interactive.

Thomson Newspapers Ltd. of Toronto acquired control of FP Publications and The Globe and Mail in 1980. Mr. Doyle (who was later appointed to the Senate) was succeeded as Editor-in-chief in 1983 by Norman Webster, who was in turn succeeded by William Thorsell in 1989. In 1992, Mr. Megarry was succeeded as publisher by David Clark. Mr. Megarry returned as interim publisher in November 1993. In May 1994, Roger Parkinson was named publisher and chief executive.

In 1980, The Globe and Mail became Canada's first space-age newspaper. It printed a national edition in Montreal, including general news, features and Report on Business, with the contents transmitted from the main publishing centre in Toronto to the Montreal printing plant via the Anik satellite. Since then, additional satellite printing plants have been established across the country, permitting rapid same-day distribution of the newspaper in the 10 provinces and the two territories.

In 1985, The Globe and Mail entered the consumer magazine field in a major way with the publication of Report on Business Magazine, a high-quality colour magazine distributed with the newspaper. This was soon joined by other Globe magazines covering a variety of fields.

The Globe and Mail newspaper underwent a major redesign in 1990, both graphically and editorially, beginning with the issue dated June 12. It was as part of this redesign process that resulted in the newspaper's editorial style book was completely revised and first published in its current form. The Globe and Mail also produced its first visual style guide. In both 1995 and 1996, the Society of Newspaper Design named The Globe and Mail the World's Best Designed Newspaper.

The Globe and Mail has been communicating news and information far and wide long before the dawn of the Internet. However, in 1995, The Globe and Mail launched our family of integrated websites, built around a central hub of globeandmail.com. In addition to our news service, the website contained a suite of cutting edge and highly influential financial sites such as globeinvestor.com and globefund.com, which are still the preferred destination for Canadians who track their stocks and mutual funds via the web.

On July 9, 1998, The Globe and Mail's commitment to evolution and innovation was demonstrated yet again with the introduction of editorial colour photography, new typography styles, enhancements in graphic design and many exciting editorial additions - creating a livelier, even more involving newspaper for Canada's most loyal and discerning readership.

Phillip Crawley was chosen to lead The Globe in October 1998, just weeks before a newspaper war against a new national rival was to begin. Mr. Crawley, the Globe's publisher and chief executive officer, had held senior editorial and executive positions with major newspapers on four continents. Under his guidance, The Globe and Mail has remained firmly in place as Canada's leading national newspaper and has made impressive gains in circulation and readership despite increased competition.

In July 1999, Richard Addis, a veteran of London's fierce newspaper wars, was named the newspaper's editor. Also in this year, the Globe and Mail moved into the television business with the launch of Report on Business Television, a cable channel devoted to business news and opinion.

We added a breaking news service to globeandmail.com in June 2000, a move which saw our websites assume the position of leading in the Canadian internet news field.

Edward Greenspon was appointed Editor-in-Chief in May 2002. Under his leadership, The Globe and Mail introduced a number of new sections, including Globe Real Estate, Globe Careers, and Globe Toronto. These new features and expanded coverage set the stage for a significant redesign of the newspaper in April 2007, which also launched our successful Globe Life section.

In May of 2009, The Globe and Mail appointed a new Editor-in-Chief, John Stackhouse. Mr. Stackhouse has served as editor of Report on Business since 2004. His appointment will ensure that The Globe and Mail continues to deliver Canada's best, deepest coverage of major national and international events and push further into new media, at an accelerated pace.

The Globe and Mail newspaper's traditional motto was selected by George Brown in 1844, and can still be found at the top of the editorial page: "The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." The quotation is from Junius, the pseudonym of an English writer of the 18th century. We believe, as Brown did when he founded the newspaper, that only an informed public can defend itself against power seekers who threaten its freedoms.

Our mandate remains unchanged. We will continue to represent the only definitive consumer choice of newspaper, magazines and websites that truly engages Canada in a conversation. We are the definitive word on both world and domestic events, supplying deep analysis, insight and perspective.