Québec (city)

Capital and port of Québec province, Canada, at the junction of the Saint-Charles and St Lawrence rivers, Canada; population (2001 est) 169,100, metropolitan area (2001 est) 682,800. It is a major inland seaport, and a commercial, financial, and administrative centre. Industries include printing and publishing, and the production of paper, pulp, wood products, electronic goods, textiles, and leather. Lumber and wheat are exported. It is a centre of French culture, and most of its inhabitants are French-speaking.

Growth of the city
Québec was founded by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain as a fur-trading post in 1608, although Basque whalers and fishermen probably visited the area earlier. The British, under General James Wolfe, captured Québec in 1759 after a battle on the nearby Plains of Abraham; both Wolfe and the French commander Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon, were killed. Québec was capital of Lower Canada 1791–1841; capital of the United Provinces of Canada 1851–55 and 1859–67; and at the formation of the Dominion in 1867, became capital of Québec province. The opening of the St Lawrence Seaway in 1959 reduced the volume of shipping, although it remains a major port. There are two universities: Laval (1663), the oldest in North America; and Québec (1969). The picturesque old town survives below the Citadel, a fortress built 1820–52, which is perched on a 110 m/360 ft cliff above the St Lawrence River.