[8][9][10] Gatineau is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of the same name, whose geographical code is 81.

[13] In fact, it was not until 1783 that the river was mentioned as Lettinoe in a report by Lieutenant David Jones to the Governor of Quebec, Sir Frederic Haldimand.

In 1817, a map by Theodore Davis shows Gatteno, a name taken up with Gatino, Gateno and Gattino on plans by Philemon Wright, the founder of Hull Township, and by Lieutenant-Colonel John By, the engineer responsible for building the Rideau Canal.

It is the oldest European colonial settlement in the National Capital Region, but this area was essentially not developed by Europeans until after the American Revolutionary War, when the Crown granted land through the Leaders and Associates[19] program of the Lower Canada Executive, which brought settlement in the Ottawa Valley.

The log-filled Ottawa River, as viewed from Hull, was featured on the back of the Canadian one-dollar bill; the paper money was replaced by a dollar coin (the "loonie") in 1987.

The territory is also criss-crossed by a dozen streams, including the ruisseau de la Brasserie, which forms an island in the downtown area.

Gatineau has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb)[31] with four distinct seasons and is between Zones 5a and 5b on the Canadian Plant Hardiness Scale.

The cold season lasts 3.2 months, from 3 December to 11 March, with an average daily high temperature of less than 1 degree Celsius.

Contrary to Charest's election promise of full de-amalgamation, Bill 9 restored only selected powers to the de-merged cities (e.g., animal control, garbage pickup, local street maintenance, some cultural facilities).

The bigger expenses (e.g., police, fire, main streets, expansion programs) and the majority of the taxes remained in the hands of urban agglomerations.

The Quebec part of Ottawa-Gatineau Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) – which includes various peripheral municipalities in addition to Gatineau – had a total population of 314,501.

The most common response was Canadian/Canadien; as the term "Canadian" is as much an expression of citizenship as of ethnicity, these figures should not be considered an exact record of the relative prevalence of different ethnocultural ancestries.

Counting both single and multiple responses, French was a mother tongue for 78.27% of residents in 2021, English for 16.96%, Arabic for 2.74%, Portuguese for 0.85% and Spanish for 2.0%.

However, a number of federal and provincial government offices are located in Gatineau, due to its proximity to the national capital, and its status as the main town of the Outaouais region of Quebec.

Other important economic sectors are health care, tourism, education, small business and the provincial public service.

The health care and education sectors are particularly important because they represent the region's largest sources of permanent employment outside the federal government.

In 2020, The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, visited the Outaouais region to announce a total of $1,553,448 in financial assistance.

The complex also houses the Art-Image exhibition center, the municipal library and many other cultural activities, such as dance and the Gatineau archives.

This arena not only hold the QMJHL hockey team Les Olympiques, but also host larger artists such as Flo Rida[58] The Casino du Lac-Leamy is also one of the largest tourist attraction in the city.

In August, the Casino hosts an international fireworks competition which opposes four different countries with the winner being awarded a Prix Zeus prize for the best overall show (based on several criteria)[59] and can return in the following year.

This one-of-a-kind event provides children and adults with 67,000 square feet of gaming, sports, go-karts, trampolines, and other activities.

Some of them are well gardened playgrounds or resting spaces while others, like Lac Beauchamp Park, are relatively wild green areas which often merge with the woods and fields of the surrounding municipalities.

Most of the city is on level ground but the Northern and Eastern parts lie on the beginnings of the foothills of the massive Canadian Shield, or Laurentian Mountains.

The superior court serving the Outaouais region is located in Gatineau across from City Hall on the corner of Laurier and Hôtel-de-Ville.

On February 22, 2024, the mayor of Gatineau, France Bélisle, handed her resignation stating a toxic work environment.

However, it is expected that since Autoroute 50 has been completed,[69] the new link between Gatineau and the Laurentides popular tourist area may serve as part of a Montreal by-pass by the north shore for Outaouais residents.

Gatineau is also the home of two CEGEPs, including the francophone Cégep de l'Outaouais with three campuses across the city and the anglophone Heritage College.

[73][needs update] Although the preparatory year for students entering the undergraduate medical education program from CEGEP was initially planned to be offered solely at the McGill downtown campus in Montreal,[73][75] collaboration with the Université du Québec en Outaouais finally made it possible to offer the program entirely in Gatineau.

[76] Gatineau is the city of licence for several television and radio stations serving the National Capital Region, which is a single media market.

Weekly newspapers published in Gatineau include Le Bulletin d'Aylmer (bilingual) and The West Quebec Post.