It is home to the earliest known French settlement in North America, Fort Charlesbourg-Royal, established in 1541 by explorer Jacques Cartier with some 400 persons but abandoned less than a year later due to the harsh winter and resistance of indigenous inhabitants to colonial incursion on their land.

Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and diplomat, on 3 July 1608,[26][27] and at the site of a long abandoned St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement called Stadacona.

[28] Samuel de Champlain argued that the English seizing of French lands was illegal as the war had already ended, and worked to have them returned to France.

As part of the ongoing negotiations following the end of the Anglo-French War, in 1632 the English king Charles I agreed to return captured lands in exchange for Louis XIII paying his wife's dowry.

[33] The city experienced an economic golden age in the 1800s, due to its favorable location on the Saint Lawrence River which gave rise to industries of wooden sailing ships manufacture, export of squared timber logs.

Contributing factors included the rise of steel-hulled steamships, the expansion of railroads at the expense of waterways for continental commerce; the depletion of forest resources near major rivers upstream of Québec City and in the west of the province, which were transported to Québec's port by log driving; the construction of locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, opening up trade routes to the U.S. from Montreal; and the city's inability to retain immigrant populations.

[34] This unfavourable context, coupled with the departure of the British army from the city's Citadel in 1871, contributed to the exodus of English speaking populations, such as local bourgeoisie of Scottish origin or workers of Irish background, to Montreal in the second half of the 19th century.

In 2008 the city celebrated its 400th anniversary and was gifted funds for festivities and construction projects by provincial and federal governments, as well as public artwork by various entities, including foreign countries.

On 1 January 2002, the 12 former towns of Sainte-Foy, Beauport, Charlesbourg, Sillery, Loretteville, Val-Bélair, Cap-Rouge, Saint-Émile, Vanier, L'Ancienne-Lorette, Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures and Lac-Saint-Charles were annexed by Quebec City.

[citation needed] The city's traditional working-class areas are found in the lower town below Old Quebec (Saint-Sauveur and Saint-Roch) and directly across the Saint-Charles River to the north (Vanier and Limoilou).

[73] Principal products include pulp and paper, processed food, metal/wood items, chemicals, electronics and electrical equipment, and printed materials.

The city hosts the headquarters of a variety of prominent companies, including: fashion retailer La Maison Simons, engineering firms BPR and Norda Stelo; Cominar real estate investment trust; Beneva, Industrial Alliance, Promutuel, and Union Canadienne in the insurance sector; Beenox, Gearbox Software, Frima Studio, Sarbakan and Ubisoft in the computer games industry; AeternaZentaris and DiagnoCure in pharmaceuticals; Amalgame, Cossette and Vision 7 in marketing and advertising; Institut National d'Optique (INO), EXFO, OptoSecurity in technology.

While the traditional central business districts and their large office buildings are found on Parliament Hill (especially for provincial administration) and just below in Saint-Roch (nowadays notable for IT and the video game industry), a newer one has emerged in the Boulevard Laurier [fr] area of Sainte-Foy, where a number of accounting and law firms have moved since the 2000s.

[75] Parc Aquarium du Québec, which reopened in 2002 on a site overlooking the Saint Lawrence River, features more than 10,000 specimens of mammals, reptiles, fish and other aquatic fauna of North America and the Arctic.

Other tourist attractions include Montmorency Falls, and, just outside the city limits, the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, the Mont-Sainte-Anne ski resort, and the Ice Hotel.

Given the mass of Cap Diamant and the presence of la Citadelle atop it, overlooking the waters of the St. Lawrence River, Charles Dickens described Quebec City as the "Gibraltar of North America".

The upper and lower town are linked by numerous stairs such as the Escalier « casse-cou » ("breakneck stairway") or the Old Quebec Funicular on the historic Rue du Petit-Champlain, where many small boutiques are found.

A small town square nearby, the Place Royale, now surrounded by picturesque stone buildings, is the site of Champlain's founding of the city in 1608.

The park offers views of the St. Lawrence River and has multiple historical structures and statues like the Joan of Arc on Horseback and a couple of Martello Towers.

At Chauveau, activities such as canoeing, fishing and cross-country skiing are offered depending on the season, in addition to an interior soccer stadium.

[85] In December 2011, Quebec City hosted the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final at the Pavillon de la Jeunesse at ExpoCité.

[93] Various lines of thought were offered, including the popularity of the talk radio stations CHOI and FM93 expressing fiscally conservative and non-politically correct opinions.

[95] Also, compared to the rest of the province, people of the area may favour harsher criminal sentences, and lower-class households may share political views more in line with those earning more.

[90] Another researcher put forward the historical factors that led to Montreal surpassing Quebec as the metropolis of British North America in the early 19th century.

It has jurisdiction with matters such as local road maintenance, leisure, waste collection, and small grants for community projects and others, but cannot tax or borrow money.

[106] For the year 2017, the number of reported incidents investigated as hate crimes by the city police increased from 57 to 71, and for those specifically targeting Muslims from 21 to 42.

Quebec City is an important hub in the province's autoroute system, as well as boasting one of the highest "expressway lane kilometres per 1000 persons" in the country (1.10 km), behind Calgary (1.74), Hamilton (1.61) and Edmonton (1.24).

Autoroute 20 parallels the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, linking Quebec City with Montreal and Toronto to the west and Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, and the Maritime Provinces to the east.

The Université du Québec system administrative headquarters and some of its specialized schools (École nationale d'administration publique, Institut national de la recherche scientifique and Télé-université) are in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood.

These include Saint Petersburg in Russia, Guanajuato City in Mexico, Huế in Vietnam, Paris, Xi'an in China, and Liège and Namur in francophone Belgium.