Berthier-sur-Mer is a town in the Montmagny Regional County Municipality

Montmagny Regional County Municipality, Quebec

Montmagny is a county regional municipality of Quebec in Canada. Montmagny is the seat.This area was named after Charles de Montmagny, the second governor of New France.According to the 2001 Statistics Canada Census:*Population: 23,438...

 within the Chaudière-Appalaches

Chaudière-Appalaches

Chaudière-Appalaches is an administrative region in Quebec, Canada. It comprises most of what is historically known as the "Beauce" |the electoral district of Beauce]]). It is named for the Chaudière River and the Appalachian Mountains....

 region of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada. It is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River

Saint Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

, east of Quebec City

Quebec City

Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

 on Route 132

Quebec route 132

Route 132 is the longest highway in Quebec. It follows the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River from the border with the state of New York in the hamlet of Dundee , west of Montreal to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and circles the Gaspé Peninsula...

.

A strip of rather interesting underlying sedimentary bedrock maintains a relatively straight shoreline through which a natural harbour, quite round in shape, has been eroded. The bedrock is set at about a 60 to 80° angle and is composed of hundreds of very thin layers of red shale interspersed every meter or so with 5 to 10cm layers of what appears to be limestone. It is quite dramatic in places where it hasn't been worn down by human activities.

Berthier-sur-Mer was named after Alexandre Berthier

Alexandre Berthier

Alexandre Berthier was a captain in the French army who was born Isaac Berthier and a Huguenot; became known as Alexandre after his arrival in New France in 1665. The name change appears to be because of his conversion to the Roman Catholic religion...

, a captain in the Carignan-Salières Regiment

Carignan-Salières Regiment

The Carignan-Salières Regiment was a Piedmont French military unit formed by merging the Carignan Regiment and the Salières Regiment in 1659. The regiment began their existence in combat against the Ottoman Empire before being reorganized to consist of twenty-four companies before being sent to...

, who was given title to this area in 1672, then known as the seigneury of Berthier-en-bas.

During the 19th century, Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 immigrants were quarantine

Quarantine

Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....

d at nearby Grosse Île

Grosse Ile

Grosse Ile may refer to:* Grosse Ile Township, Michigan*Grosse Ile , the largest island in the township* Grosse Ile, Quebec, an island where many Irish Immigrants to Canada were housed and the site of the Grosse Isle Disaster...

, now a National Historic site.

According to the Canada 2001 Census

Canada 2001 Census

The Canada 2001 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 15, 2001. On that day, Statistics Canada attempted to count every person in Canada. The total population count of Canada was 30,007,094. This was a 4% increase over 1996 Census of 28,846,761. In...

:

• Population: 1,307
• % Change (1996-2001): 6.5
• Dwellings: 678
• Area (km².): 26.80 km²
• Density (persons per km².): 48.8