GEORGE-ETIENNE Cartier (1814–73) was a Father of Confederation and one of the most important French-Canadian politicians of his day.

WHEN MONTREAL’S 11th governor, Claude de Ramezay, arrived in the city in 1702, he was homesick for Normandy and decided to build a residence that was reminiscent of the châteaux back home, with stone walls, dormer windows, and copper roof. The squat round towers, added in the 19th century, reinforce the effect. Many of de [...]

EXTENDING FROM THE Gulf of St. Lawrence on the Atlantic coast to Duluth at the western end of Lake Superior in Minnesota, the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes System flows across North America for over 3,700 km (2,300 miles). The St. Lawrence Seaway itself stretches 553 km (344 miles) from Montreal to Lake Erie [...]

BUILT BETWEEN 1713 AND 1744, the magnificent Fortress Louisbourg was France’s bastion of military strength in the New World. Today, it is the largest military reconstruction in North America. Visitors stepping through the fortress gate enter the year 1744, when war had just been declared between France and England.

In 1936 the Canadian Government set aside the 950 sq km (366 sq miles) of magnificent highlands in the northern tip of Cape Breton Island to form Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The park contains some of Canada’s most famous scenery, with its mountains, green wilderness, and windswept coastal beauty.

AFTER THE TRAGIC deportation of 1755–63, Acadians slowly returned to the Maritimes, clearing new farmlands and rebuilding their way of life. The Village Historique Acadien portrays a rural Acadian community between 1770 and 1939. The village’s 45 restored historic buildings, including several working farms, cover 364 ha (900 acres).

THESE TWO SMALL islands are not Canadian but French, and have been under Gallic rule since 1783. Saint-Pierre, the only town on the island of the same name, is a charming French seaside village, complete with gendarmes, bicycles, and fine French bakeries where people line up every morning for fresh baguettes.

FEW STORIES SURROUNDING the settlement of the New World evoke as many feelings of tragedy and triumph as the tale of the Acadians. Colonizing Nova Scotia’s fertile Annapolis Valley in the 1600s, 500 French settlers adopted the name Acadie, hoping to establish an ideal pastoral land. They prospered and, by 1750, numbered 14,000, becoming the [...]

 
Quebec City is the capital of the province of Quebec and is situated in the Capitale-Nationale district. It is the second biggest city in the province, following Montreal. Quebec City is about 233 kilometers away from Montreal. The fortifications nearby Old Quebec are the only remaining fortified  walls in the North America, and were acknowledged [...]

Recorded Canadian history, while short relative to much of the world, is full of intrigue. Colourful, dramatic, tragic, and wonderful occurrences and stories abound. Much of it has been well documented by historians and writers for those who wish to delve further.

Quebec is probably what all North America would have been like if the French rather than the English had won the Seven Years’ War.