Québec

I

Introduction

Québec, largest province of Canada. Québec is located in the eastern part of Canada and extends north from the United States border to Hudson Strait and east from the shores of Hudson Bay to the region of Labrador. Québec is nicknamed La Belle Province (The Beautiful Province) because of the splendor and diversity of its landscape and architecture. The site of the first permanent French settlement in North America, Québec is unique among the Canadian provinces in that the vast majority of its population is of French descent and speaks French as a first language. To many French Canadians, Québec is far more than a province; it is a cultural homeland.

The province’s enormous size and geographical variety have resulted in a wide range of climates and economic activities, and a wide distribution of population. Québec’s landscape is divided into three major regions: the Canadian Shield, the St. Lawrence Lowlands, and the Appalachian Region.

The Canadian Shield, which lies in the northern part of the province, makes up the overwhelming majority of Québec’s territory. This region is sparsely inhabited as cold temperatures and permafrost (permanently frozen ground) make it unsuitable for agriculture. However, the Canadian Shield and the southeastern Appalachian Region are rich in natural resources. As a result, mining, forestry, and hydroelectric power production predominate in those areas. The St. Lawrence Lowlands, sandwiched between the other two regions, form the agricultural, industrial, and commercial center of Québec. The province’s population is largely concentrated in this region, which is where most of Québec’s largest cities are located.

Québec is the oldest province in Canada, settled by the French in the 1600s. It was one of the four original provinces that united in 1867 to form the Dominion of Canada. Its capital, Québec City, is the oldest city in Canada, and its largest city, Montréal, is the second largest metropolitan area in the country after Toronto, Ontario.

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II

Physical Geography

Québec is located in eastern Canada. It is bordered on the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay, and Hudson Bay; on the east by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; on the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; and on the south by the province of New Brunswick and the states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Québec covers an area of 1,542,056 sq km (595,391 sq mi), including 176,928 sq km (68,312 sq mi) of inland fresh water. This huge territory has a triangular shape and occupies approximately one-sixth of Canada’s landmass. At its greatest extreme, the province measures 1,957 km (1,216 mi) from north to south and 1,687 km (1,048 mi) from east to west. Québec’s territory includes the Magdalen Islands and Anticosti Island, both in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

A

Natural Regions

Québec is divided into three natural regions: the Canadian Shield in the north; the Appalachian Region in the south and southeast; and, between these two regions, the St. Lawrence Lowlands, see Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands.

About 90 percent of Québec’s territory lies on the Canadian Shield. Geologically, this area consists of an underlying layer of hard rock from Precambrian times, the earliest geologic era, that has been subjected to prolonged erosion. The Canadian Shield is a vast, somewhat rough, and low-lying plateau that contains small rounded hills, interior plains and valleys, and numerous lakes, rivers, and marshes. Elevations range from sea level at James Bay and Hudson Bay to more than 1,500 m (5,000 ft) in the Torngat Mountains along the Québec-Labrador border. The Torngat range includes Mount d’Iberville, Québec’s highest peak, which rises 1,652 m (5,420 ft). On the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, northeast of Québec City, elevations are lower, but several peaks still exceed 1,160 m (3,810 ft). Although the region is rich in minerals and forestland, the vast majority of its land is not agriculturally productive. Wind and water have worn away much of its soil, although there are pockets of soil suitable for cultivation scattered throughout. In many places, the rocks are devoid of soil; in others, bedrock juts through the podzolized, or nutrient deficient, soil.

Geologically, the Appalachian Region is part of the Appalachian Mountains that extend from the Gaspé Peninsula in the southeastern part of the province south to Alabama in the United States. It includes the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The topography of the region is characterized by parallel alignments of long, narrow ridges and valleys with pockets of fertile land. Although most of the sharp mountains that once characterized the area have been smoothed by erosion, elevations can still be imposing. In the Gaspé Peninsula, the Notre Dame Mountains merge into the Shickshock Mountains, which contain Québec’s second highest peak, Mount Jacques-Cartier (1,268 m/4,160 ft).

The St. Lawrence Lowlands are the heart of Québec in terms of agriculture, commerce, and population. This narrow region of fertile land looks like a triangular-shaped basin with its apex around Québec City. These lowlands straddle the St. Lawrence River, the third longest river in Canada after the Mackenzie and the Yukon. Geologically the lowlands are composed of eroded sedimentary rocks and are fractured by faults. In the southwest part of the lowlands, the topography is remarkably level. It consists of a large plain that is only about 30 m (100 ft) high at Montréal. From Mount Royal (234 m/768 ft) in Montréal a series of isolated hills made up of igneous rock, known as monadnocks, extends eastwards into the Appalachian Region; these are called the Monteregian Hills. On the north shore of the St. Lawrence, the plain narrows and extends only a short distance beyond Québec City, where it is 90 m (300 ft) high. On the river’s south shore, the lowlands reach as far as Matane, in the Gaspé Peninsula. The northeast part of the St. Lawrence Lowlands includes Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

B

Rivers and Lakes

During the last recorded ice age, glaciers covered the entire province of Québec. The glaciers receded when the climate began to warm about 18,000 years ago. This deglaciation is largely responsible for the formation of the thousands of lakes for which Québec is famous. Among the largest are Lakes Mistassini, Eau-Claire, Saint-Jean, and Bienville, which are all located in the Canadian Shield. Québec also has many artificial lakes that serve as reservoirs for hydroelectric facilities. The Caniapiscau and the Manicouagan, also in the Canadian Shield, are two of the largest artificial lakes.

Québec’s most important river is the St. Lawrence River, which flows northeast from Lake Ontario to the North Atlantic Ocean. The St. Lawrence is 1,300 km (800 mi) long and traverses the entire province, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. From Montréal to Québec City, the river is seldom less than 1 km (0.6 mi) wide. Upstream from Montréal, it broadens into Lakes St.-Louis and Saint-François and downstream into Lake Saint-Pierre. At Québec City, the river widens to several kilometers and becomes a tidal estuary, or an arm of the sea. It opens into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. One of Canada’s most important commercial waterways, the St. Lawrence serves as a major route for ships traveling to the interior of North America. Most of the province’s chief ports lie along the St. Lawrence, which is also an important source of hydroelectric power.

The most important tributaries north of the St. Lawrence are the Ottawa, the Saint-Maurice, and the Saguenay rivers. Québec’s fur trade, timber industry, and early rural settlement developed along these rivers. Further east and north, the Manicouagan, Outardes, and Betsiamites rivers are known for their large hydroelectric facilities. Tributaries south of the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. The Rimouski and Matane rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are the Rupert, Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge hydroelectric complex.

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