History of Quebec City

[2] In 1535, Cartier and his crew first visited an Iroquois settlement of 500 people named Stadacona, in a site located in present-day Quebec City.

[2][3][4] He came back in 1541 with some 400 persons to establish Fort Charlesbourg-Royal, the earliest known French settlement in North America (whose site is located in the former town of Cap-Rouge, which merged into Quebec City in 2002).

The reconstruction started a year later, and Charles de Montmagny, the first governor, was eventually dispatched in the town to oversee the development of the colony[9]: 50 After the settlement of Port Royal in Acadia (1605), the next colonization effort by the French occurred in 1608.

Among the first successful French settlers were Marie Rollet and her husband, Louis Hébert, credited as "les premier agriculteurs du Canada"[10] by 1617.

[15] As in other locations throughout New France, the population could be split into the colonial elites, including clergy and government officials, the craftsmen and artisans, and the engagés (indentured servants).

[16] Quebec was designed so that the inhabitants of better quality lived in the upper city, closer to the centres of power such as the government and Jesuit college, whereas the lower town was primarily populated by merchants, sailors and artisans.

[19] By the 18th century, Quebec also saw a rise in the number of rental dwellings, to help accommodate a mobile population of seamen, sailors, and merchants, aptly described by historian Yvon Desloges as "a town of tenants.

[22] In 1629, the Kirke brothers under English order took control of Quebec City, holding the town until 1632 when the French resumed possession.

[23] In 1690, Admiral Phipps' Anglo-American invasion force failed to capture Quebec City during King William's War.

In 1711, during Queen Anne's War, Admiral Walker's fleet also failed in its attempt to besiege Quebec City, in this case due to a navigational accident.

The very short battle of the Plains of Abraham lasted approximately 15 minutes and culminated in a British victory and the surrender of Quebec.

[27] Following the Royal Takeover of 1663 by King Louis XIV and his minister Jean Baptiste Colbert, Quebec City became the seat of a reformed colonial government which included the Governor General of New France, responsible for military and diplomatic matters, and an intendant responsible for administrative functions involving law and finance.

[28] Both the governor and the intendant were directly answerable to the Minister of the Navy (Ministres Francais de la Marine et des Colonies) and were appointed by the king of France.

[30] Quebec City became the seat of Sovereign Council which served legislative and legal functions in the colony through its role in the ratification of royal edicts and as final court of appeal.

[32] Noteworthy is the fact that, under the French regime, Quebec did not have a municipal government; the centralizing Bourbon monarchy was determined to prevent the emergence of autonomous centres of power in the colony, even local city councils.

In trade with France, Quebec received wine, textiles and cloth, metal products such as guns and knives, salt, and other small consumer and luxury goods not manufactured in the colony.

In order to offset its debts, Quebec City exported furs to France, as well as lumber and fish to the West Indies.

At one point, the colony began the use of playing cards as money in order to reimburse soldiers and other government employees for services rendered when shipments of hard currency failed to arrive.

Contentions that the residents of Quebec were poor merchants have, in recent years, been refuted, as historians describe a sharp business acumen, severely circumscribed by a lack of finances and excessive distance from external markets.

As Quebec City was the seat of religion throughout New France, inhabitants followed the strict schedule of fasting, holy days, and celebrating sacraments, in addition to the censorship of books, dancing, and theatre.

In 1763, France formally ceded its claims to le Canada, and Quebec City's French-speaking Catholic population came under the rule of Protestant Britain.

The Quebec Act, passed in 1774, allowed 'les Canadiens' (today, also referred to as the Québécois) to have religious and linguistic freedoms, to openly practice their Catholicism and use their French.

Benedict Arnold refused to accept the defeat in the Battle of Quebec and a siege against the city continued until May 6, 1776, when the American army finally retreated.

This conference was expected to be filled with confrontations between the police and anti-globalization groups, which meant that the location of walled Quebec City was vital for security reasons.