Quebec City, Quebec

font size="+1">Ville de Qubec, Qubec, Canada
style="background:#efefef;" align="center" colspan="2" | {| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
align="center" width="140px" | 135px 135px }
align="center" colspan="2" style="border-bottom:3px solid gray;" | Motto: Don de Dieu feray valoir (Gift of God shall make prosper)
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Area: 547.63 sq. km.
a href="/encyclopedia/Population" title="Population">Population  - City (2001)
 - Canadian CD Rank
 - Canadian Municipal Rank
 - Density

507,986
Ranked 10th
Ranked 9th
927.6/km²
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5
Latitude
Longitude
td align = "center" colspan = "2" | MPs
td align = "center" colspan = "2" | Roger Clavet, Bernard Cleary, Guy Ct, Christiane Gagnon, Michel Guimond, Richard Marceau, Christian Simard
td align = "center" colspan = "2" | MNAs
td align = "center" colspan = "2" | Raymond Bernier, Margaret F. Delisle, Michel Desprs, Sam Hamad, France Hamel, Sylvain Lgar, Agns Maltais, ric R. Mercier, Sarah Perreault
Mayor Jean-Paul L'Allier
Governing body Quebec City Council
td align = "center" colspan = "2" | Ville de Qubec
Quebec City (officially, Québec), is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec. Quebec's Old Town (Vieux Qubec), the only fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. The city has a population of 169,076 (2001), while the metropolitan area has a population of 682,757 (2001). To differentiate between Quebec the city and Quebec the province, the city is referred to as Quebec City. In French, the province is called le Québec ("in Quebec" = au Québec) while the city is simply Québec without the le. "In Quebec City" is à Québec. Officially, the city is called Québec (with an acute accent, no "city") by both the provincial and federal governments in both languages. The mayor of Quebec City is Jean-Paul L'Allier.

Geography

See also: List of Quebec City borroughs. The city is perched on Cap Diamant, a large rock outcropping at the edge of the Saint Lawrence River, whose topography encouraged its defensive use. The thinness of the strait between Quebec City and Lévis on the opposite shore give the city and consequently the province its name (kebek is an Algonquian word for "narrow passage").

Attractions

Quebec City's skyline is dominated by the massive Château Frontenac hotel, perched on top of Cap Diamant. The hotel is on the Terrasse Dufferin, a walkway along the edge of the cliff, offering beautiful views of the Saint Lawrence. Near the Château Frontenac is Notre-Dame de Qubec Cathedral, see of the Archbishop of Quebec. It is the first cathedral and first basilica to have been built in the New World, and is the primate church of Canada. The Terrasse Dufferin leads toward the nearby Plains of Abraham, site of the battle in which the British took Quebec from France, and the Citadel of Quebec, a Canadian Forces installation and vice-regal residence. The National Assembly, Quebec's provincial legislature, is also near the Citadelle. The Upper Town is linked by stairways and a funicular to the Lower Town, which includes such sites as the ancient Notre Dame des Victoires church, the historical Petit Champlain district, the port, and the Musée de la Civilisation. Laval University is located in the western end of the city. The central campus of the Universit du Qubec is also located in Quebec City. Quebec City is known for its Winter Carnival and for its Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations. Tourist attractions located near Quebec City include Montmorency Falls and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupr.

Transportation

Quebec City is served by Jean Lesage International Airport, which is located in the borough of Sainte-Foy. The city also has a port on the Saint Lawrence. Two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and Pierre Laporte Bridge, connect the city with the south shore of the Saint Lawrence, as does a ferry service. The city is served by VIA Rail (Gare du Palais), and is the eastern terminus of the railway's main Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The Rseau de transport de la Capitale is responsible of the public transportation by bus.

History

Quebec City is the oldest extant European settlement in Canada. It was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608 on the site of a First Nations settlement called Stadacona. It was to this settlement that the name Canada refers (kanata is an Iroquoian word meaning "village"). Quebec City was captured by the British in 1629 and held until 1632. As mentioned above, this city was the site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham during the Seven Years War, in which British troops under General James Wolfe defeated the French general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and took the city. France later ceded New France to Britain. During the American Revolution, the British garrison at Quebec City was assaulted by American troops in the Battle of Quebec. The defeat of the Americans put an end to their hopes that Canada would also rebel. Quebec City was capital of Canada from 1859 to 1865, the last before Ottawa. The Quebec Conference on Canadian Confederation was held here. In World War II two conferences were held in Quebec City. The first one was held in 1943 with Franklin Delano Roosevelt (United States' president), Winston Churchill (United Kingdom's prime minister), Mackenzie King (Canada's prime minister) and T.V. Soong. (China's minister of foreign affairs). The second one was held in 1944 and was attended by Churchill and Roosevelt. They took place in the buildings of the Citadelle and of nearby Chateau Frontenac. In April 2001, Quebec City hosted the Summit of the Americas to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas; it also hosted massive anti-globalization demonstrations, provoked both by the summit and by the decision to wall off a large portion of the historic city with a four-metre-high chain-link fence for the duration. Police forces were widely accused of excessive use of force during the demonstrations. On January 1, 2002, Quebec City and 12 other municipalities of the Communauté urbaine de Québec were merged into to the new Quebec City "megacity," which is divided into 8 boroughs:
BoroughFormer Cities
La CitéQuebec City
Les RivièresQuebec City, Vanier
Sainte-Foy--SillerySainte-Foy, Sillery
CharlesbourgCharlesbourg
BeauportBeauport
LimoilouQuebec City
La Haute-Saint-CharlesLac-Saint-Charles, Loretteville, Saint-Émile, Quebec City
LaurentienVal-Bélair, Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Cap-Rouge, L'Ancienne-Lorette, Sainte-Foy
Residents of Quebec City are called Québécois. To avoid confusion with Qubcois meaning an inhabitant of the province, the term Québécois de Québec is sometimes used (as opposed to Québécois du Québec - in French, the city is Québec and the province, le Québec.) The motto of Quebec City is Don de Dieu feray valoir, "I shall put God's gift to good use."

Sports Teams

Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Quebec Radio X of the North American Hockey League Capitales de Qubec of the Can-Am League

Former Teams

Quebec Nordiques of the National Hockey League Quebec Citadelles of the American Hockey League

See also

External links

  
North: Shannon, Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Stoneham-et-Tewksbury, Lac-Beauport
West: Saint-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, Pont-Rouge, Neuville Quebec City East: Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval, Boischatel
South: Levis, Saint-Pierre-de-l'Ile-d'Orleans
   
   
   

 

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