2010 ASME International Design Engineering Technical - Events

A BRIEF HISTORY OF QUEBEC AND MONTREAL
Quebec is the largest province in Canada by area, bordering Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland (Labrador was attributed
to Newfoundland in 1927 by the British Privy Council). The territory of Quebec represents 15.5% of the surface area of Canada,
and totals 1.5 million km2. This is equal to the size of France, Germany and Spain combined. The province also neighbors 4 of the
United States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
Despite its impressive size, the territory of Quebec today is only a portion of what was once New France. The French North American
empire before 1763 was a vast territory including the St. Lawrence River valley, the Great Lakes region and territories around the
Missouri and Mississippi rivers from the Ohio River valley to the Gulf of Mexico. The James Bay region and the northern part of
Quebec were officially British territories after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, half a century before the Conquest of 1760. The word
Canada (meaning “village” in Iroquoian), not Quebec, was used by the French to refer to the territory of New France that lay along
the St. Lawrence River. There was a strong sense among the French population of belonging to North America. The inclusion of
the vast interior of the continent, reinforced by the fur trade and French exploration, has never completely disappeared from the
complex sense of identity of francophone Quebeckers.
The name Quebec referred, until 1763 and the Royal Proclamation, to the city of Quebec only. The name was inspired by an
Algonquian word meaning “where the river narrows.” It was the British, not the French, who first used the word Quebec in a broader
sense.
Figure 1: Province of Quebec 1774
QUEBEC/MONTREAL HISTORY
Montreal, an island located in the Saint Lawrence River, was originally inhabited by the Iroquois, who had lived in Quebec for
thousands of years. In 1535, Jacques Cartier (an explorer from France) was among the first Europeans to set foot on the island.
Jacques Cartier and his men climbed up the mountain to place a cross and claim the land in the name of France. Cartier named
the mountain “Mont-Royal”. In the early 1600’s, the French colonized the island, and the city of Montreal (originally named Ville Marie)
was founded.
3