#1Jan 12th, 2007
hen the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founded Quebec City in 1608 atop the strategic cliffs where the St. Lawrence suddenly narrows towards the west, his only intention was to defend the area from rival fur traders. Quebec's role changed dramatically, however, when the French government decided to make it much more than a trading post and bastion against the British. Although the town remained relatively small -- its population was still only 2,000 in 1700 -- it became the administrative, religious, military and cultural centre of the royal colony of New France.
Quebec City continued as an administrative centre after the British conquest in 1759, but gradually declined in economic importance during the 19th century as new settlement further west made Montreal better located to become the commercial centre of British North America. Its ethnic composition also changed dramatically during this period as Anglophones came to account for nearly half the population by 1861. This has since been reversed, however; today the 600,000 strong population of the city and its suburbs is 96% Francophone. Quebec's French cultural life (the province's as well as the city's) has been greatly enriched by the Seminaire de Quebec. Founded in 1663, it was one of the first educational institutions in North America. Some two centuries later it became the nucleus of Laval University (founded 1852).
In appearance Quebec remains the most European of North American cities. Much of its early character has been preserved in the historic centre, still entered through a gate in the remaining portion of the town wall. The commercial and residential buildings of the old Lower Town resemble those of medieval French towns like Rouen in Normandy, while the architecture of the religious institutions of the Upper Town reflects the Baroque style of seventeenth century Paris. Most of the fortifications which dominate the site -- the walls and the citadel -- date from the early 19th century when the Americans were considered a threat. The modern city has grown out into the suburban fringes of Ste-Foy and Charlesbourg, but the old city remains a unique relic of Canada's earliest urban life.