Québec (city) - Geography. I INTRODUCTION Québec (city), capital of the province of Québec, Canada, in Québec County, located at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Saint Charles rivers in the southern part of the province. Québec is dominated by a dramatic promontory, Cap Diamant (Cape Diamond), situated 98 m (320 ft) above a narrowing of the St. Lawrence River; the city's name is from an Algonquian word meaning "where the river narrows." It is the only fortified city in North America north of Mexico and was chosen as a world heritage site by the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Québec has long, cold winters and short, mild summers. The average daily temperature range is -17°C (1°F) to -8°C (18°F) in January and 13°C (56°F) to 25°C (77°F) in July. II QUÉBEC AND ITS METROPOLITAN AREA Québec proper covers a land area of 89 sq km (34 sq mi); its metropolitan area covers 3,150 sq km (1,216 sq mi). Québec is considered one of the most beautiful cities in North America and contains some of the continent's oldest houses, streets, and churches. The old houses have thick stone walls, steep copper roofs, and ax-hewn wooden beams. The oldest street in Canada, Rue de Notre Dame (built in 1615), is located on a narrow strip of land between a cliff and the port, in a district known as the Basse-Ville (Lower Town). French author Louis Hémon, writing about the old part of the city, has described its layout as a collection of narrow, winding streets that do not sacrifice an iota to the rectilinear standards of a new continent. Above the cliff in the Haute-Ville (Upper Town), settlers built the first colonial government buildings and religious institutions in Canada, such as the Ursuline Convent (1639) and the Québec Seminary (1663), both of which are still intact. On the highest point above the river is the Citadel (begun 1820), which gave Québec its 19thcentury nickname, "Gibraltar of North America." From there, Dufferin Terrace, a 427-m (1,400-ft) boardwalk, follows the cliff edge past the Château Frontenac (1893), a château-style hotel built by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The parliament buildings, home of the National Assembly (provincial legislature), lie just outside the 17th-century Saint Louis Gate. Beyond these buildings are the Plains of Abraham, now part of the 89-hectare (220-acre) Battlefields Park, where the British defeated the French in 1759. Other points of interest include the church of Nôtre-Dame-des-Victoires (1688, restored 1759), the church of Nôtre-Dame-de-Québec (1650), and an Anglican cathedral (1793). Hotels, convention centers, and office buildings extend north and west toward various suburbs, including Sainte-Foy, Cap-Rouge, and Charlesbourg. III POPULATION Québec proper had a population of 169,076 at the 2001 census, a slight increase from the 1991 census figure of 167,517. The population of its metropolitan area was 696,400 in 2001, a 7.4 percent increase from 645,550 in 1991. The population is overwhelmingly French and Roman Catholic: In the 1991 census, 96 percent of metropolitan-area residents reported that French was their primary language, 90.4 percent reported that they were ethnically French, and 94.3 percent were members of the Roman Catholic religion. The English language was a distant second at 1.7 percent, those with British ancestry were 2.3 percent, and the Protestant religions were 1.7 percent. Those reporting "no religion" totaled 3.4 percent. IV EDUCATION AND CULTURE Québec has long been an important educational center. Laval University (Université Laval), chartered in 1852, is an outgrowth of the Grande Séminaire (1663), the first Canadian institution of higher learning. Both Laval and the Télé-université campus of the Université du Québec are located in the suburb of Sainte-Foy. The metropolitan area also has eight community colleges, which in the province of Québec are known as CEGEPs (Collèges d'Enseignement Général et Professionel, or Colleges of General and Occupational Education). The city's public elementary and secondary schools, like others throughout the province, are divided into French-speaking and Englishspeaking school systems. Québec is an important religious center. Its Roman Catholic bishopric (1674) is the oldest in North America north of Mexico, and there are more churches and shrines per square kilometer here than in Rome. The nearby healing shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré attracts thousands of Roman Catholic pilgrims each year. The city contains numerous museums, such as the Museum of Civilization, designed by Israeli-born, Canadian-trained architect Moshe Safdie; Québec Museum in Battlefields Park; and the Musée de l'Amérique Française in the old Québec Seminary. The Grand Théâtre is the home of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. In sports, the city hosts the Rafales of the International Hockey League. Several downhill and cross-country ski centers are located just outside the metropolitan area. For two weeks each February the city is taken over by the Winter Carnival, which features a grueling canoe race across the usually semi-frozen St. Lawrence River. V ECONOMY Although overshadowed by Montréal, Québec has a thriving economy; it is a major inland seaport and a commercial and financial center. Manufacturing and primary industries constitute only 11 percent of employment, mostly in pulp and paper manufacturing; printing; food and beverages; metal, wood, and chemical products; and oil refining. Eighty-two percent of employment is in the services sector. As Québec is the provincial capital and a regional center, public administration accounts for 11 percent of services-sector jobs. With the downsizing of public service industries, the city is developing new high-technology industries, such as lasers, fiber optics, and pharmaceutical research. Tourism plays a large role in seasonal employment. Québec is a freight terminal for two railways, the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian National. A third railway, VIA Rail, provides passenger service westward to Montréal and eastward to the Maritime Provinces. Québec Harbour is 16 km (10 mi) long and docks large oceangoing freighters and cruise liners. Since 1960 the harbor has been kept open year round, despite the cold winters, with the help of icebreakers. Two bridges span the St. Lawrence in the metropolitan area: The Québec Bridge (1917) is the largest cantilevered bridge in the world, and the Laporte Bridge (1970) is Canada's longest suspension bridge. There is an international airport at Sainte-Foy, 16 km (10 mi) southwest of the city. A ferry links Québec with the town of Lévis on the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence. VI GOVERNMENT The city is governed by a municipal council, with a mayor and 21 councillors, who are elected by popular vote for four-year terms. The councillors represent specific wards of the city. A regional government, the Québec Urban Community (QUC), includes 13 municipalities on the north shore of the St. Lawrence and 12 on the south. It represents about 17 percent of the metropolitan area (544.8 sq km/210.3 sq mi) and 76 percent of its population (511,805 out of 671,889). The QUC is led by a council made up of the mayors of the constituent communities, who elect a council president from among themselves. Presidents serve two-year terms, and the office rotates between the mayors of small, medium, and core municipalities. The QUC is responsible for zoning, regional development, property valuation, waste disposal, and tourism promotion. City planning and public transit are handled in collaboration with the municipalities. Other municipal functions such as public works, libraries, water, parks, fire and police services, street repair, and traffic control are left to the municipalities. VII CONTEMPORARY ISSUES In recent years the St. Lawrence River has been polluted by sewage overflow. Two new sewage plants were constructed in 1995 to improve treatment, but, because of budget shortfalls, they do not have the retention tanks that are essential for preventing spillage into the river during heavy rains. Québec city dwellers, along with many others throughout the province of Québec, are concerned with the issue of separate sovereignty for the province. Sovereignty is the goal of many adherents of French Canadian nationalism, the movement that views the province of Québec as the homeland of the French Canadian people. In a 1995 referendum on whether the province should seek sovereignty, 55 percent of those voting in the Québec city region voted yes. For the province as a whole, sovereignty was defeated by a narrow margin. VIII HISTORY The Iroquois occupied the village of Stadacona occupied the site of Québec when French explorer Jacques Cartier visited the area in 1535. Finding the village abandoned in 1608, fellow Frenchman Samuel de Champlain built a fur-trading post there. This was the first permanent European settlement in the region called Canada, although the French had had summer trading and fishing camps at Tadoussac and elsewhere for 50 years or more. Despite a small population, Québec became the administrative, military, and religious center of the French empire in North America, as well as a major transfer point for trade and immigration. When the colonies of Canada, Acadia, and Newfoundland were formed into the royal province of New France in 1663, Québec was made its capital. Québec was attacked several times over the years by forces of Britain, the chief rival of France in North America. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, in which the British captured the city for the last time, was the decisive event of the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Four years later France formally ceded all of its mainland territories in North America to Britain. Québec retained its importance under the British, who found a highly developed and stable social order in the city and introduced few changes. The Québec Act of 1774 permitted freedom of worship and recognized many of the French customs and laws. During the American Revolution (1775-1783), American troops failed to take the city in a campaign of 1775 and 1776. Although American general Richard Montgomery swore to eat his Christmas dinner "in Québec or in Hell," neither he nor his second in command, Colonel Benedict Arnold, could take the ramparts where the Citadel now stands. Montgomery was killed in the attack. Thus Canada remained in British hands after the colonies to the south won their independence. In 1791 the British divided the colony into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, and from 1791 to 1841 Québec was the capital of Lower Canada and the seat of its legislature. In the early 19th century the city prospered as a result of the timber trade: Squared timber from Canadian forests was sent to Britain on ships built in the city's own shipyards. Incorporated in 1833, Québec was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1851 to 1855 and from 1859 to 1866. In 1867, when the Dominion of Canada was formed, the city became the capital of the province of Québec. In the late 19th century, however, it entered a long period of stagnation as the timber trade with Britain declined. Despite the growth of shoe manufacturing and other industries in the early 20th century, Québec fell far behind its upriver rival, Montréal. During World War II (1939-1945), Québec was the site of two conferences of Allied leaders, in 1943 and 1944. However, it was only after 1960 that Québec recaptured its early dynamism. That year marked the beginning of the Quiet Revolution, a period of rapid modernization associated with French Canadian nationalism. The size and scope of the provincial government expanded dramatically during this period, and the city benefited from its position as the provincial capital. Suburban growth led to the creation of the Québec Urban Community in 1970. Also in that year, a second bridge, the Laporte Bridge, was completed across the St. Lawrence. At 668 m (2,190 ft), it is the longest suspension bridge in Canada. Place Québec, an extensive modern hotel and convention center, was completed opposite the parliament buildings in 1974 and was followed by other tourist facilities. Such developments have made the city a popular tourist destination and convention site. Contributed By: Robert Chodos Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
