Quebec, The Province, The People, The History

Essay by GP1High School, 10th gradeA, July 1996

download word file, 2 pages 3.7 2 reviews

Downloaded 191 times

Quebec, The Province, The People, The History

Quebec is a province in eastern Canada, bordered on the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; on the east by Labrador (Which is a part of Newfoundland), the Strait of Belle Isle, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; on the south by New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Ontario; and on the west by Ontario, James Bay, and Hudson Bay.

The name Quebec is derived from an Algonquian term for 'place where the river narrows,' referring to the Saint Lawrence River near the site of present-day Quebec City, the capital of the province.

Quebec is sometimes called 'the Storied Province,' Quebec became part of the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, as one of the four original provinces.

The province of Quebec was first colonized by France and was formally acquired by Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763. The mass majority of Quebec's population today use French as their first language. Beginning in the 1960s the Quebecois (French-speaking residents of Quebec) made strong efforts to preserve their French heritage as well as to gain additional powers for the province, which led to conflicts with the national government that have yet to be fully resolved. This is apparent in the recent 'Referendum' where theQuebecois tried to get Quebec special provincial concederations based on the fact the mass majority of Quebec residents speak French.

Quebec is the largest of all the Canadian provinces. Its large area of 1,540,680 sq km (594,858 sq MI) accounts for 15.5 percent of Canada's total area and includes 183,890 sq km (71,000 sq MI) of inland freshwater surface. This is a major draw for Industry in Quebec. Elevations in Quebec range from sea level to 1622 m (5322 ft),