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• 1608 - Samuel de Champlain arrives in Quebec
  In the year 1541, French explorer Jacques Cartier was the first to arrive in Quebec. He attempted to set up a French colony in Quebec, but failed. The French colony was later founded and set up in the year 1608 by another French explorer named Samuel de Champlain in a series of voyages that he undertook to Canada.
  
  www.buzzle.com/articles/ french-canadian-culture.html
  
  Read more about Samuel DE CHAMPLAIN
• 1617 - Louis Hébert, an apothecary who had stayed at Port Royal twice, brings his wife and children to Québec, thus becoming the first true habitant (permanent settler supporting his family from the soil).
  
  fccs.ok.ubc.ca/about/links/resources/canadian-history/prehistory-to-1800.html
  
  Read more about Louis HÉBERT
• 1639 - Hôtel-Dieu de Québec was founded by Augustinians
  Father Paul Le Jeune made a call in 1635 for women to help evangelize the Indians in the New World. The Superior of the Jesuit Mission’s plan was for the women to work through a hospital and girls’ school to nurse the ailing Indians and educate young girls, and bring them to God. Property for the building was located and clearing of the land began in 1637. Construction got underway the next year, funded by the generous donations of Duchesse d’Aiguillon. The first hospital in Canada, in fact the first in North America above Dominican Republic, Hotel-Dieu de Québec was completed in 1639.
  
  suite101.com/ a/ hoteldieu-of-quebec- canadas-first-hospital-a170813
  
• 1647 - Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral is constructed
  Built on the site of the first chapel constructed by Champlain in 1633, Notre-Dame de Québec Church was erected in 1647 and was called Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix. In 1664, it became the first parish church in North America. In 1674, the church took the title of cathedral, following the appointment of Mgr. de Laval as bishop of the new diocese of Québec. Due to the church’s new title, certain modifications were conducted on the building and on its décor. It was ravaged by the bombardments that occurred during the English Conquest in 1759, and was reconstructed a few years later. On December 22, 1922, a fire once again destroyed the cathedral. In 1923, they began the construction of the present-day church.
  
  www.patrimoine-religieux.com/ en/ our-churches/ notre-dame-de-quebec- basilica-cathedral-/
  
• 1650 - September 1: Father Gabriel Druillettes (1610-1681) departed Quebec for Boston to establish an alliance with New England against the Iroquois, but he was unsuccessful.
  
  www.many-roads.com/ 2010/ 04/ 20/ a-history-of-french-canada- 1650-to-1669/
  
• 1652 - Kebec
  Kebec is 120 miles upstream from Tadusac and is a fortress of the French. It is constructed upon a mountain, at the narrowest point of this St. Lawrence River. There is a French colony there, and, quite recently, a Huron one; and the Barbarians called Algonquin spend several months of the year there before going to their hunt.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/dgarneau/french15.htm
  
• 1660 - Shoes (Quebec)
  The Jesuits claim the engage system was originated some time before this date to increase the population of Quebec. Their terms of employment were 3 years. Many of these engages became Coureurs de Bois. Engages or indentured slaves however were employed as early as 1634.
  
  About this time, the profession of cobblers or harness makers started in Quebec. They started producing French style shoes, but the population wanted Indian footwear. They adopted the Native moccasins and high soft boots that were water resistance. The trades were not governed by statutes and regulations of French guilds, despite repeated attempts by Intendant (I)-Jean Talon (1625-1694) to establish such regulations.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/dgarneau/french17.htm
  
• 1663 - The Great Earthquake (Quebec)
  February 5: Just before the Great Earthquake, Quebec was in carnival, orgies, drinking bouts, and dances, not to speak of some things more serious, which may offend chaste ears and are better passed over in silence than mentioned. Heaven and earth have spoken to us many times during this year.
  
  February 5, 5:30P.M.: A great earthquake, centered near the mouth of the Saguenay River, shook the whole country, and some people thought the world was about to end. The priests used this natural phenomenon as a sign to align the people with their beliefs and values. Father (I)-Jerome Lalemant (1593-1673) wrote: "Mountains were swallowed up, forests were changed into great lakes, rivers disappeared, thunder rumbled beneath our feet, which belched forth flames." The Savages say: "All the woods were drunken." Pikes and lances of fire were seen, waving in the air. At Three Rivers: The first and severest of all the shocks began with a rumbling like that of thunder, the house were... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1664 - Bathing and such (Quebec)
  At this time the colonists rarely bathe, believing a bath would cause colic, headaches and vertigo. This European tradition usually resulted in a May bath with June weddings before they started to smell too bad. The brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hid the body odor. Both male and female wore sachets of dried flowers for the same purpose. The natives bathed fairly often and couldn't understand this strange practice.
  
  The French court was told most of the Quebec population were mainly unmarried males, many of whom interbred freely with the savages, wasting their seed among the pagans, instead of increasing the strength of the colony. Most of these Metis offspring are absorbed into the Indian population and are not recorded in the French records. This situation led to the filles du roi program of sending orphan girls, daughters of debtors, streetwalkers and runaway wives to New France. Only fifteen out of the first 150 could not find husbands and ended up in domestic... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1665 - Notable citizens of Quebec
  ...Michel Filion and Pierre Duquet, notaries; Jean Madry, surgeon to the king's majesty; Jean Le Mire, the future syndic des habitants; Madame d'Ailleboust, widow of a former governor; Madame Couillard, widow of Guillaume Couillard and daughter of Louis Hebert, the first tiller of the soil; Madame de Repentigny, widow of 'Admiral' de Repentigny, to use the grandiloquent expression of old chroniclers; Nicolas Marsollet, Louis Couillard de l'Espinay, Charles Roger de Colombiers, Francois Bissot, Charles Amiot, Le Gardeur de Repentigny, Dupont de Neuville, Pierre Denis de la Ronde, all men of high standing. The chief merchants were Charles Basire, Jacques Loyer de Latour, Claude Charron, Jean Maheut, Eustache Lambert, Bertrand Chesnay de la Garenne, Guillaume Feniou. Charles Aubert de la Chesnaye, the stalwart Quebec trader of the day, was then in France.
  www.canadiangenealogy.net/ chronicles/ new_france.htm
  
• On June 30, 1665, Companies of the Carignan-Saliere Regiment arrived in New France. This contingent consisted of 1,200 soldiers who set out to conquer the Iroquois territories further south.
  
  History of Quebec for Dummies by Eric Bedard, published by John Wiley & Sons, Canada, Ltd.
  
• 1665 - December 13: A peace treaty with the Iroquois is made in Quebec.
  ...1664 was also the year when Louis XIV decided on a final solution to Canada's Iroquois problem. He sent the famous Carignan regiment of troops under the capable command of the veteran Marquis de Tracy with instructions "to carry war even to their firesides in order totally to exterminate them." Such orders were more easily given than executed. When he arrived on the scene, de Tracy determined that his mission would be sufficiently fulfilled by and object lesson. The news of the arrival of his troops was enough to motivate the four western nations of the Iroquois to send embassies to Quebec where they fearfully signed a treaty, December 13, 1665, requesting two Jesuit missionaries to be sent among them, supplicating peace and protection, and agreeing to send "two of the principal Iroquois families" from each of the four western nations to live among the French of Montreal, Quebec, and Three Rivers.
  
  The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1666 - January 9 - M. de Courcelles started from Quebec with 300 men from the regiment of Carignan-Salieres and 200 volunteers, habitants,
  using sledges drawn by mastiff dogs, for Fort St. Theresa, nine miles above the present village of Chambly, The weather was so severe that the soldiers nearly perished from cold.
  Three centuries in Champlain valley.. Plattsburgh, N. Y. : Saranac chapter, D. A. R., 1909
  
• 1667 - February 4 - The officers of the Carignan Regiment gave a ball at Quebec the first given in Canada, sixty years after the founding of the colony.
  After the coming of the Carignan Regiment, there was a decline in the standard of morals.
  Three centuries in Champlain valley.. Plattsburgh, N. Y. : Saranac chapter, D. A. R., 1909
  
• 1667 - Filles Du Roi Arrive
  October 27: One hundred and nine (109) young ladies (Filles du Roi) arrived in Quebec from Dieppe and La Rochelle; 84 from Dieppe, 25 from La Rochelle. Only 15-20 were from good families, several are real young ladies and well brought, up according to Jean Talon (1625-1694). He had requested 50 from good families. The term young ladies could include girls from 12 to 30 years of age. Real young ladies must suggest less than 12 years of age? This shipment of girls arrived in poor condition, being badly fed and robbed of half their clothing. Jean Talon (1625-1694) tried to charm them out of their sadness and helped them regain their vigor and plumpness. He did this to ensure early marriage and to prevent this becoming an obstacle to sending young ladies next year.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/dgarneau/french20.htm
  
• 1673 - Final Group of Filles du Roi Arrive
  September: The last shipment of Filles du Roi arrived Quebec from France, and the program ended. The population of New France had risen to 6,700 people, an increase of 168% in the eleven years since the program had begun. This didn't include the thousands of Coureurs des Bois who took native wives and escaped to freedom of the interior (Indian Country). Not to mention the growing Metis population. Acadians who married native women numbered 400-500 about this time.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/dgarneau/french21.htm
  
• 1676 - Quebec
  October 13: Quebec at this time is a very pretty village being divided into Upper and Lower village. The Lower Village contain warehouses and the homes of the merchants. The Upper Village houses the Bishop who is building a fine edifice for himself. The Governor and Intendent live in Upper Village, as do the Ursulin Nuns, who are magnificently lodged. Their are about 100 houses containing some 800 people.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/dgarneau/french22.htm
  
• Until the year 1682, the houses in the Lower Town (of Quebec) were of wood.
  On the 5th August, in that year, a fire took place which consumed the whole of the buildings, except one house. All the merchandise in the stores, which were full, was destroyed ; and as expressed in our French manuscript, " they lost that night more valuables than all Canada at present possesses." The house which escaped the flames belonged to M. Aubert De Lachenaye. He was a rich and generous merchant, and liberally assisted his countrymen with his power and means in rebuilding their houses. He lent his money so freely that there was scarcely a house in the Lower Town which was not mortgaged to him ; and this he did for no sordid purpose, but for the good of the Colony, and of his fellow citizens.
  Hawkins's Picture of Quebec: With Historical Recollections,Alfred Hawkins John Charlton Fisher, 1834
  
• 1690 - Frontenac repels Phips' (sent from Massachusetts) attack on Québec (October)
  
  fccs.ok.ubc.ca/about/links/resources/canadian-history/prehistory-to-1800.html
  
• 1698 - October 14 - New France census shows: 1,460 houses in the city of Québec, 1,988 inhabiants
  
  canadachannel.ca/ todayincanadianhistory/ index.php/ October_14
  
• 1700 (Quebec)
  The French population in the Colony of Canada numbered about fifteen thousand. The Crown ceded almost all the riverfront; from Quebec to Montreal. This opened nearly two hundred seigneurs for rural settlement, and three of four families engage in farming. Every year, four or five hundred voyagers received permission to enter the fur trade around the Great Lakes, and as many as five to six times that number went without permission.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/ dgarneau/ french26.htm
  
• 1709 - Quebec merchants establish a Chamber of Commerce for the first time. Prior to this time meetings or public assemblies were not allowed.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/ dgarneau/ french27.htm
  
• 1711 - Québec Expedition
  The Québec Expedition was a British attempt to attack Québec during Queen Anne's War. On July 30, a fleet of ships set sail from Boston, Massachusetts. They reached the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence River without incident. On August 22, 850 soldiers and sailors drowned in the Saint Lawrence during a storm, thus putting an end to the planned attack on Québec.
  
•   1733 - May 29 - The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City.
  
  onthisday.com
  May 29, 1733
  
• 1737 - A road is completed between Quebec and Montreal.
  The Chemin du Roy was the first road linking Quebec City to Montreal. Today the old roads which where established in 1737, serves as a tourist route, passing through three of the provinces principal tourist areas, Lanaudiere, Mauricie and Quebec. The Chemin du Roy streches over 260km, criss-crossing small French Quebec communities rich in Quebec's history.
  
  www.demotix.com/ news/ 83386/ chemin-du-roy#media-83362
  
• 1743 - Several people are crushed to death at the bakers shop in Quebec due to scarcity of food in New France.
  
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/ dgarneau/ french33.htm
  
• 1759 - British troops defeated French troops in Battle of Plains of Abraham near Quebec City
  
  Québec a Nation History (Part 15) (www.youtube.com)
  
• 1759 - Quebec Falls
  In the year 1759, Quebec was conquered by the British forces, and the various foreign policies threatened French-Canadian culture and their rights.
  www.buzzle.com/ articles/ french-canadian-culture.html
  
  October: The news reaches London that Quebec has fallen, and the people rejoice for days. The French view the loss of Quebec as one less problem for France. It is noteworthy that Canada is considered by France to be an economic entity, as the Canadians are not considered French citizens. The Canadians again request for help against the English from France and firmly believe it will be forthcoming.
  www.telusplanet.net/ public/ dgarneau/ french37.htm
  
• 1775 - American Occupation
  April 17: In Lexington, Massachusetts, the New England rebellion begins, and the rebel leader, George Washington, is determined to seize Quebec before Britain can use it as a spring board to invade the thirteen colonies. He also declares that he wants to possess all of Canada, not just an opposition to the British. Most Canadians want no part of this English family squabble over power. Most French Canadians refuse to take up arms; no more than 600 French Canadians in all of Quebec are prepared to support the British English from the American English.
  
  May 1: In Montreal, Quebec, a bust of King George III was adorned with beads, a cross and miter inscribed with the words Pope of Canada, Sot of England. A reward of five hundred guineas did not lead to the culprit. An American description of rural French Quebec is that they are very stupid; not one in four hundred could read one word, but that they were very precise in saying their prayers, counting their beads and crossing... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1807 - St. Andrew's Church is constructed in Québec City.
  
  
• 1832 - QUEBEC CITY
  ...It may, however be stated here that Quebec is the capital not only of the province of Lower Canada, but of the whole of the British dominions in North America, and as such it is the place of residence for the governor in chief and commander of the forces in those colonies. Its natural position, strongly fortified by regular works, renders it almost impregnable; and its citadel is not unusually mentioned as a parallel in strength with the fortress of Gibraltar. The population of the city now exceeds 30,000 souls... Quebec is also the most important seaport of British America, excepting, probably, Halifax. Its harbor, situated upwards of 400 miles from the sea, in the gulf is perfectly safe and calculated to receive the largest fleet. The average of British shipping seen annually in port exceeds 500 sail, and indeed more than 600 sea-going vessels have been known to be entered inwards in the course of one year. There are an archdeacon and curate for the church of England and one... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1832 - June - Immigrants with Cholera land at Quebec. By September the disease will kill 3,800 there.
  
  www.canadahistory.com/ timeline.asp
  
• Québec City had two fires, on 28 May and 28 June 1845, which killed at least 23 and left 15,000–18,000 people homeless.
  The old walled section and Lower Town were spared, but the surviving city was smaller than that captured by James Wolfe 86 years earlier. The city was rebuilt with more stone and wider streets.
  www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
  
•   1866 - THE QUEBEC FIRE. Twenty-three Hundred Buildings Destroyed - Six Persons Known to Have Been Burned to Death - Public Meeting in Quebec - Contributions Solicited.
  QUEBEC, Tuesday, Oct. 16. The Mayor of Quebec issued a proclamation yesterday morning for a meeting to be held last evening, to devise means to assist the sufferers by the great fire. A more numerous and influential assembly never convened in this city. The citizens whose property escaped injury are doing everything in their power to provide relief for those who have been rendered houseless and penniless by the greatest fire that has ever been in America. The sufferings at Portland cannot be compared to those endured at Quebec. The people in the province have no one to rely on. The inhabitants of Lower Canada being poor, cannot assist the sufferers as they would wish...
  
  Coroner Prendergast held an inquest on the four bodies taken from the ruins. The first body taken out was that of a woman named MARGARET WEARD, the wife of JEAN BAPTISTE, of St. Lareareur, whose husband was killed by the explosion in Arago-street.
  
  The remains of three women were discovered after a search of six... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1868 - Quebec believes that it suffers more from street beggers than any other city on the globe.
  
  St Joseph Herald
  Saint Joseph, Michigan
  September 5, 1868
  
• 1871 - J.A. Moisan Epicier dating back to 1871 (Quebec City) is the oldest grocery store in North America.
  
  www.hikebiketravel.com/ 22149/ 30-fun-weird-interesting-facts-quebec-city/
  
• 1873
  QUEBEC, after Montreal the most populous city in the Dominion of Canada, capital of the province of Quebec, is situated on the left bank of the River St. Lawrence, which here receives the St. Charles, 400 milts from the mouth of the River St. Lawrence at Point des Monts, 180 miles N.E. of Montreal, and 328 miles N.N.W. of Portland, Me. Lat. (of N.E. bastion) 46° 40' 6' N., lon. 71° 13' 45" W. Mean temperature in winter l1°, in summer 68° Fahrenheit. Mean of the year 39.
  
  The city has a remarkably picturesque situation between, the two rivers at the N.E. extremity of a narrow but elevated table land, which, for about 8 miles, forms the left bank of the St. Lawrence. Cape Diamond, the extremity of the table land, is 333 feet above the level of the river, to which it presents a nearly precipitous face; the descent to the St Charles is more gradual. The distance from one river to the other across the ridge is rather more than a mile. Opposite Cape Diamond the St. Lawrence is contracted ... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1877 - Illegal Turnips
  On Saturday last a young farmer from Quebec, named Robert Wright, arrived in town with several friends, bringing with him a large quantity of turnips for sale in the city. Totally ignorant of the bylaws, he sold two barrels of turnips on the street this morning without having a license to do so. One of his supposed friends named Cauldwell immediately informed a policeman of the occurrence and pointed Wright out to him at a distance.
  The Saturday Budget
  Quebec, Canada
  September 29, 1877
  
•   1881 - A FAMOUS CITY IN FLAMES - MORE THAN SIX HUNDRED BUILDINGS BURNED IN QUEBEC.
  THE OLD WALLED CITY AGAIN DEVASTATED BY FIRE - A TOTAL OF 657 HOUSES DESTROYED - THE LOSS ESTIMATED AT $1,500,000 - FIVE LIVES LOST AND SEVERAL PERSONS MISSING.
  
  QUEBEC, June 9. - One of the most disastrous fires which this unfortunate city has been afflicted with broke out last night, and was only got under control at 6 o'clock this morning. The first alarm was from the corner of St. Olivier and St. Claire streets at 10:50 o'clock. A few minutes later the bells from Basilica, St. John, and St. Roch's Churches rang out a second alarm, and the whole force of the Fire Brigade was soon upon the ground. The reflection of the flames was so visible that in a short time half the city appeared to be attracted to the scene, and by 11:30 o'clock all the avenues around and leading to the fire were so completely packed with people that it was next to impossible to force a way through them. The scene near the conflagration was one of utter confusion. Half of those present seemed panic-stricken,... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1887 - The first provincial Premiers' conference takes place in Québec City.
  
  fccs.ok.ubc.ca/about/links/resources/canadian-history/1868-to-1918.html
  
• 1888 - Steamship Missing
  ...At Quebec, the gale is raging furiously and the iron ferry boats that ply between that point and Point Lewis are caught in the ice, which threatens to crush them. The steamship "Polino," bound from Cape Breton to Quebec, was seen 320 miles below Quebec at daylight yesterday. She soon disappeared and has not been seen or reported since. She had forty passengers, a crew of thirty and general cargo.
  The Fort Wayne Sentinel
  Fort Wayne, Indiana
  Tuesday, November 27, 1888
  
• 1889 - Rockslide in Quebec City killed 45 people
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ province/ pqztimeln.htm
  
• 1893 - Château Frontenac opens in Québec City
  
  
• 1895 - Quebec
  Quebec, a city and port, and, after Montreal, the most populous city in the Dominion of Canada, capital of the province of Quebec, is situated on the left bank of the river St. Lawrence (which here receives the St. Charles), 400 miles from its mouth, 180 miles N.E. of Montreal, and 328 miles N.N.W. of Portland, Me. Lat. 46° 49' 6" N.; lon. 71° 13'45" W. Mean temperature in winter 10°, in summer 68° Fahrenheit; mean of the year, 39°. The city has a remarkably picturesque situation between the two rivers, at the N.E. extremity of an elevated table-land which forms the left bank of the St. Lawrence. Cape Diamond, the extremity of the table-land, is 333 feet above the level of the river, to which it presents a nearly precipitous face. Quebec is divided into two parts, called Upper and Lower Towns. The upper town occupies the highest part of the promontory, and is surrounded with walls and otherwise fortified, having an ancient citadel, which crowns the summit of Cape Diamond and covers... Read MORE...
  
  
• VILLE DE QUÉBEC, CANADA
  
  
• 1902 - The first symphony orchestra in Canada is created in Quebec City.
  
  www.canadahistory.com/ timeline.asp
  
•   1907 - August 29 – The partially completed superstructure of the Quebec Bridge collapses entirely, claiming the lives of 76 workers.
  
  wikipedia.org
  August 29, 1907
  
•   1914 - Severe Earthquake is Felt in Canada
  Quebec, Feb. 14. - An earthquake shock was felt all over the city and district of Quebec at 5:40 a. m., to-day. The shock was violent enough to wake hundreds of citizens.
  
  Messages from Levis, Baie St. Paul and L'Islet recorded the same disturbance. No damage was reported.
  Asheville Gazette-News
  Asheville, North Carolina
  February 14, 1914
  
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• 2023 - Quebec City is a charming and historic destination with plenty to see and do. Here's a list of places to visit and activities to enjoy:
  Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec): Explore the cobbled streets of this UNESCO World Heritage site, divided into Upper Town (Haute-Ville) and Lower Town (Basse-Ville), and admire the well-preserved architecture.
  
  Château Frontenac: Marvel at this iconic hotel, which is also the most photographed hotel in the world. You can take a guided tour or simply stroll around its grandeur.
  
  Plains of Abraham (Les Plaines d'Abraham): This historic park offers beautiful green spaces, ideal for picnics, leisurely walks, and winter sports. It's also the site of the famous 1759 battle between the French and British.
  
  Montmorency Falls (Chutes Montmorency): These falls are taller than Niagara Falls! Take a cable car or hike up the trail for breathtaking views, or visit in the winter when the falls freeze over.
  
  Parliament Hill (Colline Parlementaire): Admire the Quebec Parliament Building and its stunning architecture. You can also take a guided tour to learn about the province's political... Read MORE...