Old Quebec

Among North American cities, there is a place that transports the traveler through time and space to eighteenth-century France. This is Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec), the historic center of Quebec City, the only surviving fortified city north of Mexico and a living testament to the European colonial heritage in the Americas. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this unique architectural and historical complex attracts millions of tourists from around the world each year. 29. The St. Lawrence River and its role in the city’s history The history of Old Quebec begins when, in 1608, French explorer and diplomat Samuel de Champlain chose this site to build Chateau Saint-Louis, the future seat of government of New France. The name of the city comes from the word “Quebec”, which in the language of the Algonquin Indians means “where the river narrows”. Indeed, Quebec is located on a rocky promontory where the St. Lawrence River narrows significantly, which provided a strategic advantage in defending the territory. From its founding, Quebec became the political, military and administrative center of the French possessions in North America. While traders and artisans settled in the Lower Town, government officials and priests settled in the Upper Town. In 1617, a family of the first voluntary civilian settlers from France arrived in the fort. They were pharmacist Louis Hébert and his wife Marie Rollet and their three children, of whom two daughters, Anne and Guillemette, became the first French Quebec brides. Guilhemette Couillard later became the first French woman to give birth to French-Canadian children, beginning the indigenous population of French Canada. Religion played an important role in shaping Quebec society. on May 6, 1627, Cardinal Richelieu issued an edict that forbade Protestants from settling in Quebec. He feared that Protestants would collaborate with Anglo-Americans from the rapidly developing British colonies. This decision kept Quebec from the religious conflicts that plagued neighboring Acadia, where a civil war broke out between Franco-Protestant and Franco-Catholic settlers in 1635. The history of Old Quebec was not a cloudless one. on July 19, 1629, English pirate David Kirk captured ships carrying provisions from France and forced Champlain to capitulate under threat of starvation. The period of the first British occupation (1629-1632) came. However, by the Treaty of Saint-Germain of March 29, 1632, the British withdrew from Old Quebec, returning it to French rule for the next 127 years. During this period of relative peace and prosperity, there was a renewed influx of French colonists. By 1665, the town’s population was already about 550 people in 70 dwellings. A quarter of the inhabitants were members of religious orders: secular priests, Jesuits, and Ursulines, who ran the local hospital Hôtel-Dieu. At the end of French rule in 1758, Old Quebec was a contrasting sight. Forests, villages, fields and pastures surrounded the urban fortress with a population of 8,000-9,000 (by comparison, Montreal’s population at the time was only about 5,000). Despite its status as the capital, Quebec remained a small colonial city closely connected to the countryside. on September 18, 1759, 5 days after the French army’s defeat of Anglo-American forces at the Battle of Quebec, the city capitulated and was occupied by the British administration. An attempted French counterattack in 1760 was unsuccessful, and the Treaty of Paris in 1763 placed Quebec, as well as all of New France, under British administration. Old Quebec is a unique historical ensemble surrounded by about 4.6 kilometers of stone walls. It is the only city in North America that has preserved its ramparts with numerous bastions, gates and defenses. The history of Quebec’s fortifications dates back to 1690, when the first temporary belt of fortifications was built at the request of the Count of Frontenac. The attack by Admiral Phipps and his New England fleet cause