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| Etymology and boundary changes | |
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The arrival of Samuel de Champlain, the father of New France, on the site of Quebec City.
The name "Québec", which comes from the Algonquin word kébec meaning "where the river narrows", originally referred to the area around Quebec City where the Saint Lawrence River narrows to a cliff-lined gap. Early variations in the spelling of the name included Québecq (Levasseur, 1601) and Kébec (Lescarbot 1609).[15] French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the administrative seat for the French colony of New France.[16]
The Province of Quebec was founded in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 after the Treaty of Paris formally transferred the French colony of Canada[17] to Britain after the Seven Years' War. The proclamation restricted the province to an area along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River. The Quebec Act of 1774 restored the Great Lakes and the Ohio River Valley regions to the province. The Treaty of Versailles, 1783, ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to the United States.
After the Constitutional Act of 1791, the territory was divided between Lower Canada (present day Quebec) and Upper Canada (present day Ontario), with each being granted an elected Legislative Assembly.[18] In 1840, these became Canada East and Canada West after the British Parliament unified Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This territory was redivided into the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario at Confederation in 1867.[19] Each became one of the first four provinces.
In 1870, Canada purchased Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company. Over the next few decades the Parliament of Canada transferred to Quebec portions of this territory that more than tripled the size of the province.[20] In 1898, the Canadian Parliament passed the first Quebec Boundary Extension Act that expanded the provincial boundaries northward to include the lands of the Cree. This was followed by the addition of the District of Ungava through the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912 that added the northernmost lands of the aboriginal Inuit to create the modern Province of Quebec. In 1927, the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador was established by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Quebec officially disputes this boundary.
[edit] Tags:French,Canadian Parliament,G,H,J,Province,East,Canada,Ontario,Newfoundland And Labrador,Saint Lawrence River,Samuel De Champlain,New France,Royal Proclamation Of 1763,Treaty Of Paris,French Colony,Britain,Seven Years' War,Great Lakes,Ohio River,Treaty Of Versailles, 1783,Constitutional Act Of 1791,Upper Canada,Legislative Assembly,Canada East,Canada West,Confederation,Rupert's Land,Hudson's Bay Company,Cree,District Of Ungava,Officially Disputes This Boundary,France,Labrador,Hudson,Ungava,Rupert,Inuit,Fir, | |
| Geography | |
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Main article: Geography of Quebec
Map of Quebec
Located in the eastern part of Canada and (from a historical and political perspective) part of Central Canada, Quebec occupies a territory nearly three times the size of France or Texas, most of which is very sparsely populated.[21] Its area is very different from one region to another due to the varying composition of the ground, the climate (latitude and altitude) and the proximity to water. The Saint Lawrence Lowland (south) and the Canadian Shield (north) are the two main topographic regions and are radically different.[22]
[edit] Tags:Central,Eastern Part,Texas,Saint Lawrence Lowland,Canadian Shield, | |
| Present borders | |
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Quebec shares a land border with four northeast states of the United States (Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont) and with three other Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador).[23] However, as said in the Etymology and boundary changes section, a border dispute remains regarding the ownership of Labrador. The border with Labrador is still not officially recognized by the Quebec Government.[24][25] A maritime boundary also exists with the territories of Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Quebec has officially more than 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi) of borders of all types. Half of these are land limits, 12% river limits and 38% marine limits.[23]
[edit] Tags:Nunavut,New Brunswick,Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,New York,Prince Edward Island, | |
| Hydrography | |
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Quebec has one of the world's largest reserves of freshwater,[26], occupying 12% of its surface.[27] It has 3% of the world's renewable fresh water, whereas it has only 0.1% of its population.[28] More than half a million lakes,[26] including 30 with an area greater than 250 km², and 4,500 rivers[26] pour their torrents into the Atlantic Ocean, through the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Arctic Ocean, by James, Hudson and Ungava bays. The largest inland body of water is the Caniapiscau Reservoir, created in the realization of the James Bay Project to produce hydroelectric power. The Lake Mistassini is the largest natural lake in Quebec.[29]
Michel's falls on Ashuapmushuan River in Saint-Félicien, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.
The Saint Lawrence River has some of the world's largest sustaining inland Atlantic ports at Montreal (the province's largest city), Trois-Rivières, and Quebec City (the capital). Its access to the Atlantic Ocean and the interior of North America made it the base of early French exploration and settlement in the 17th and 18th centuries. Since 1959, the Saint Lawrence Seaway has provided a navigable link between the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes. Northeast of Quebec City, the river broadens into the world's largest estuary, the feeding site of numerous species of whales, fish and sea birds.[30] The river empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. This marine environment sustains fisheries and smaller ports in the Lower Saint Lawrence (Bas-Saint-Laurent), Lower North Shore (Côte-Nord), and Gaspé (Gaspésie) regions of the province. The Saint Lawrence River and its estuary forms the basis of Quebec's development through the centuries. At the same time, many affluent rivers testify to the exploration of land, among them Ashuapmushuan, Chaudière, Gatineau, Manicouagan, Ottawa, Richelieu, Rupert, Saguenay, Saint-François, Saint-Maurice.
[edit] Tags:Largest City,Montreal,James Bay,Ungava Bay,Gulf Of Saint Lawrence,Gaspé,Atlantic Ocean,Arctic Ocean,James,Caniapiscau Reservoir,James Bay Project,Ashuapmushuan River,Saint-félicien,Saguenay–lac-saint-jean,French Exploration And Settlement,Estuary,Lower Saint Lawrence,Lower North Shore,Ashuapmushuan,Chaudière,Gatineau,Manicouagan,Ottawa,Richelieu,Saguenay,Saint-françois,Saint-maurice, | |
| Topography | |
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Autumn Landscape of Haute-Gaspésie.
Quebec's highest point at 1,652 meters is Mont d'Iberville, known in English as Mount Caubvick, located on the border with Newfoundland and Labrador in the northeastern part of the province, in the Torngat Mountains.[31] The most populous physiographic region is the Saint Lawrence Lowland. It extends northeastward from the southwestern portion of the province along the shores of the Saint Lawrence River to the Quebec City region, limited to the North by the Laurentian Mountains and to the South by the Appalachians. It mainly covers the areas of the Centre-du-Québec, Laval, Montérégie and Montreal, the southern regions of the Capitale-Nationale, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Mauricie and includes Anticosti Island, the Mingan Archipelago,[32] and other small islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests ecoregion.[33] Its landscape is low-lying and flat, except for isolated igneous outcrops near Montreal called the Monteregian Hills, formerly covered by the waters of Lake Champlain. The Oka hills also arise from the plain. Geologically, the lowlands formed as a rift valley about 100 million years ago and are prone to infrequent but significant earthquakes.[22] The most recent layers of sedimentary rock were formed as the seabed of the ancient Champlain Sea at the end of the last ice age about 14,000 years ago.[34] The combination of rich and easily arable soils and Quebec's relatively warm climate make the valley Quebec's most prolific agricultural area. Mixed forests provide most of Canada's maple syrup crop every spring. The rural part of the landscape is divided into narrow rectangular tracts of land that extend from the river and date back to settlement patterns in 17th century New France.
The Canadian Shield extends over much of Quebec's land surface
More than 95% of Quebec's territory lies within the Canadian Shield.[35] It is generally a quite flat and exposed mountainous terrain interspersed with higher points such as the Laurentian Mountains in southern Quebec, the Otish Mountains in central Quebec and the Torngat Mountains near Ungava Bay. The topography of the Shield has been shaped by glaciers from the successive ice ages, which explains the glacial deposits of boulders, gravel and sand, and by sea water and post-glacial lakes that left behind thick deposits of clay in parts of the Shield. The Canadian Shield also has a complex hydrological network of more than a million lakes, bogs, streams and rivers. It is rich in the forestry, mineral and hydro-electric resources that are a mainstay of the Quebec economy. Primary industries sustain small cities in regions of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, and Côte-Nord.
The Labrador Peninsula is covered by the Laurentian Plateau (Canadian Shield), dotted with mountains such as Otish Mountains. The Ungava Peninsula is notably composed of D'Youville mountains, Puvirnituq mountains and Pingualuit crater. While low and medium altitude peak from western Quebec to the far north, high altitudes mountains emerge in the Capitale-Nationale region to the extreme east, along its longitude. In the Labrador Peninsula portion of the Shield, the far northern region of Nunavik includes the Ungava Peninsula and consists of flat Arctic tundra inhabited mostly by the Inuit. Further south lie the subarctic taiga of the Eastern Canadian Shield taiga ecoregion and the boreal forest of the Central Canadian Shield forests, where spruce, fir, and poplar trees provide raw materials for Quebec's pulp and paper and lumber industries. Although the area is inhabited principally by the Cree, Naskapi, and Innu First Nations, thousands of temporary workers reside at Radisson to service the massive James Bay Hydroelectric Project on the La Grande and Eastmain rivers. The southern portion of the shield extends to the Laurentians, a mountain range just north of the Saint Lawrence Lowland, that attracts local and international tourists to ski hills and lakeside resorts.
The Appalachian region of Quebec has a narrow strip of ancient mountains along the southeastern border of Quebec. The Appalachians is actually a huge chain that extends from Alabama to Newfoundland. In between, it covers in Quebec near 800 km, from the Montérégie hills to the Gaspé Peninsula. In western Quebec, the average altitude is about 500 meters, while in the Gaspé Peninsula, the Appalachian peaks (especially the Chic-Choc) are among the highest in Quebec, since they exceed 1000 meters.
[edit] Tags:Utc,Nation,Mont D'iberville,Mount Caubvick,Torngat Mountains,Physiographic,Laurentian Mountains,Appalachians,Centre-du-québec,Laval,Montérégie, | |
| Climate | |
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"Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver" ("My country isn't a country, it's winter") Gilles Vigneault
Quebec has three main climate regions. Southern and western Quebec, including most of the major population centres, have a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with four distinct seasons having warm to occasionally hot and humid summers and often very cold and snowy winters.[36] The main climatic influences are from western and northern Canada and move eastward, and from the southern and central United States that move northward. Because of the influence of both storm systems from the core of North America and the Atlantic Ocean, precipitation is abundant throughout the year, with most areas receiving more than 1000 mm (40 in) of precipitation, including over 300 centimetres (120 in) of snow in many areas.[37] During the summer, severe weather patterns (such as tornadoes and severe thunderstorms) occur occasionally.[38] Most of central Quebec has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc). Winters are long, very cold, and snowy, and among the coldest in eastern Canada, while summers are warm but very short due to the higher latitude and the greater influence of Arctic air masses. Precipitation is also somewhat less than farther south, except at some of the higher elevations. The northern regions of Quebec have an arctic climate (Köppen ET), with very cold winters and short, much cooler summers. The primary influences in this region are the Arctic Ocean currents (such as the Labrador Current) and continental air masses from the High Arctic.
The four seasons in Quebec are spring, summer, autumn and winter, with conditions differing by region. They are then differentiated according to the brightness, temperature and precipitation of snow and rain.[39]
Daily sunshine duration is eight hours in December, the time of year when it is the shortest.[40] From temperate zones to the northern territories of the Far North, the brightness varies with latitude, as well as the Northern Lights and Midnight Sun.
Baie-Saint-Paul during winter.
Quebec is divided into four climatic zones: arctic, subarctic, humid continental and East maritime. From south to north, average temperatures range in summer between 25 °C (77 °F) and 5 °C (41 °F) and, in winter, between −10 °C (14 °F) and −25 °C (−13 °F).[41][42] In periods of intense heat and cold, temperatures can reach 35 °C (95 °F) in the summer[43] and −40 °C (−40 °F) during the Quebec winter,[43] it may vary depending on the Humidex or Wind chill.
The all-time record of the greatest precipitation in winter was established in winter 2007-2008, with more than five meters[44] of snow in the area of Quebec city, while the average amount received per winter is around three meters.[45] It is, however 1971 that saw the "Century's Snowstorm" with more than 40 centimetres (16 in) (Montreal) to 80 centimetres (31 in) (Mont Apica) of snow within 24 hours in many regions of southern Quebec. Also, the winter of 2010 was the warmest and driest ever recorded in more than 60 years.[46]
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| Wildlife | |
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The large land wildlife is mainly composed of the White-tailed Deer, the Moose, the Musk ox, the Caribou, the American black bear and the polar Bear. The average land wildlife includes the Cougar, the Coyote, the Eastern Wolf, the Bobcat (wild cat), the Arctic Fox, the Fox, etc. The small animals seen most commonly include the Eastern gray squirrel, the Snowshoe Hare, the Groundhog (siffleux), the Skunk, the Raccoon, the Chipmunk and the Canadian Beaver.
Biodiversity of the estuary and gulf of St. Lawrence River[47] consists of an aquatic mammal wildlife, of which most goes upriver through the estuary and the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park until the Île d'Orléans (French for Orleans Island), such as the blue Whale, the Beluga, the Minke Whale and the Harp seal (Earless seal). Among the Nordic marine animals, there are two particularly important to cite: the Walrus and the Narwhal.[48]
Snowy owl : official bird of Quebec
Inland waters are populated by small to large fresh water fish, such as the Tags:Snowy Owl, | |
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