History of Montreal
Encyclopedia
The human history of Montreal
, located in Quebec, Canada, spans some 8,000 years. At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians
, a discrete and distinct group of Iroquoian-speaking indigenous people. They spoke Laurentian
. Archeological studies since the 1950s have demonstrated they were a culture distinct from those the French later called the Huron to the west and the Iroquois nations, which formed largely in present-day New York to the south. Jacques Cartier
became the first European to reach the area now known as Montreal in 1535 when he entered the village of Hochelega on the Island of Montreal
while in search of a passage to Asia during the Age of Exploration. He also visited Stadacona
(near present-day Quebec City) and other villages in the valley. He recorded about 200 words of the Laurentian language.
Seventy years later, Samuel de Champlain
found no evidence of the villages or people of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, or any human habitation. He unsuccessfully tried to create a fur
trading post
but the Mohawk
of the Iroquois
defended what they had been using as their hunting grounds. A mission
named Ville Marie was built in 1642 as part of a project to create a French colonial empire
. Ville Marie became a centre for the fur trade
and French expansion into New France
until 1760, when it was surrendered to the British army, following the French defeat of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
. British immigration expanded the city. The city's golden era of fur trading began with the advent of the locally owned North West Company
.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The city's growth was spurred by the opening of the Lachine Canal
and Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849. Growth continued and by 1860 Montreal was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada
. Annexation of neighbouring towns between 1883 and 1918 changed Montreal back to a mostly Francophone city. During the 1920s and 1930s the Prohibition
movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. As with the rest of the world, the Great Depression
brought unemployment to the city but this waned in the mid 1930s and skyscrapers began to be built.
World War II brought protests against conscription and caused the Conscription Crisis of 1944
. Montreal's population surpassed one million in the early 1950s. A new metro
system was added, Montreal's harbour was expanded and the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened during this time. More skyscrapers were built along with museum
s. International status was cemented by Expo 67
and the 1976 Summer Olympics
. A major league baseball team, called the Montreal Expos
started playing in Montreal in 1969 but the team moved to Washington, DC to become the Washington Nationals
in 2005.
The area known today as Montreal had been inhabited by indigenous peoples
for some 8,000 years, while the oldest known artifact found in Montreal proper is about 4,000 years old. About 1000 CE, nomadic Iroquoian and other peoples around the Great Lakes
began to adopt the cultivation of maize and more settled lifestyles. Some settled along the fertile St. Lawrence River, where fishing and hunting in nearby forests supported a full diet. By the 14th century, the people had built fortified villages similar to those described by Cartier on his later visit.
Historians and anthropologists have had many theories about the people encountered by Cartier, as well as the reasons for their disappearance from the valley about 1580. Since the 1950s, archeological and linguistic
comparative studies have established many facts about the people. They are now called the St. Lawrence Iroquoians
and recognized by scholars as distinct from other Iroquoian-language people, such as the Huron or Iroquois
of the Haudenosaunee, although sharing some cultural characteristics. Their language has been called Laurentian
, a distinct branch of the family.
The first European to reach the area was Jacques Cartier
on October 2, 1535. Cartier visited the villages of Hochelaga and Stadacona, and noted others in the valley which he did not name. He recorded about 200 words of the people's language.
Seventy years after Cartier, explorer Samuel de Champlain
went to Hochelaga, but the village no longer existed, nor was there sign of any human habitation in the valley. Although at times historians theorized that the people migrated west to the Great Lakes (or were pushed out by conflict with other tribes, including the Huron), or suffered infectious disease. Since the 1950s, other theories have been proposed. Based on increasing understanding of the political dynamics with other tribes and the French, and more knowledge about the origins of other tribes, many historians have now concluded that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were essentially destroyed by the Mohawk
of the Iroquois, who wanted to dominate hunting and trade in the valley below Tadoussac. The Mohawk had most to gain by moving up from New York into this area Tadoussac, at the confluence of the Saguenay
and St. Lawrence rivers, was controlled by local Montagnais.
Champlain decided to establish a fur
trading post
at Place Royal on the Island of Montreal, but the Mohawk
, based mostly in present-day New York, successfully defended what had by then become their hunting grounds and paths for their war parties. It was not until 1639 that the French created a permanent settlement on the Island of Montreal, started by tax collector Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière
. Under the authority of the Roman Catholic Société Notre-Dame de Montréal
, missionaries
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
, Jeanne Mance
and a few French colonists set up a mission named Ville Marie on May 17, 1642 as part of a project to create a colony
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1644, Jeanne Mance
founded the Hôtel-Dieu
, the first hospital in North America, north of Mexico
.
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
was governor of the colony. On January 4, 1648, he granted Pierre Gadois (who was in his fifties) the first concession of land - some 40 acres (161,874.4 m²). In November of 1653, another 140 French arrived to enlarge the settlement.
By 1651, Ville-Marie had been reduced to less than 50 inhabitants by repeated attacks by the Mohawk. Maisonneuve returned to France that year to recruit 100 men to bolster the failing colony. He had already decided that should he fail to recruit these settlers, he would abandon Ville-Marie and move everyone back downriver to Quebec City
. (Even 10 years after its founding, the people of Quebec City still thought of Montreal as "une folle entreprise" - a crazy undertaking.) These recruits arrived on 16 November 1653 and essentially guaranteed the evolution of Ville Marie and of all New France. In 1653 Marguerite Bourgeoys
arrived to serve as a teacher. She founded Montreal's first school that year, as well as the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, which became mostly a teaching order. In 1663, the Sulpician
seminary became the new Seigneur of the island.
Ville Marie would become a centre for the fur trade
. The town was fortified in 1725. The French and Iroquois Wars threatened the survival of Ville-Marie until a peace treaty (see the Great Peace of Montreal
) was signed at Montreal in 1701. With the Great Peace, Montreal and the surrounding seigneuries nearby (Terrebonne
, Lachenaie
, Boucherville
, Lachine
, Longueuil
, ...) could develop without the fear of Iroquois raids.
surrendered it to the British army under Jeffrey Amherst
. With Great Britain's victory in the Seven Years War, the Treaty of Paris
in 1763 marked its end, with the French being forced to cede Canada
and all its dependencies to the other nation.
As a British colony, and with immigration no longer limited to members of the Roman Catholic religion, the city began to grow from British immigration. American Revolution
ists under General Richard Montgomery
briefly captured the city during the 1775 invasion of Canada
but left when it became obvious they could not hold Canada. Often having suffered loss of property and personal attacks during hostilities, thousands of English-speaking Loyalists migrated to Canada from the American colonies during and after the American Revolution. The government provided most with land, settling them in what became Upper Canada
(Ontario) to the west, as well as Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick
to the east. With 19th century immigration, more and more English-speaking merchant
s and residents continued to arrive in what had by then become known as Montreal. Soon the main language of commerce in the city was English. The golden era of fur trading began in the city with the advent of the locally owned North West Company
, the main rival to the primarily British Hudson's Bay Company
.
The town's population was majority Francophones until around the 1830s. From the 1830s, to about 1865, it was inhabited by a majority of Anglophones, most of recent immigration from the British Isles or other parts of British North America. Fire destroyed one quarter of the town on May 18, 1765.
and founded many of the city's great industries, including Morgan's
, the first department store
in Canada, incorporated within the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1970s; the Bank of Montreal
; Redpath Sugar
; and both of Canada's national railroads. The city boomed as railways were built to New England
, Toronto
, and the west, and factories
were established along the Lachine Canal. Many buildings from this time period are concentrated in the area known today as Old Montreal
. Noted for their philanthropic
work, Scots established and funded numerous Montreal institutions such as McGill University
, the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec
and the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The city's growth was spurred by the opening of the Lachine Canal
, which permitted ships to pass by the unnavigable Lachine Rapids south of the island. Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, bringing even more English-speaking immigrants: Late Loyalists, Irish
, Scottish
, and English. Riots led by Tories led to the burning of the Provincial Parliament
, forcing the government to choose another city to represent the capital of its colony. The decision was taken to move the capital to Toronto. The Anglophone community built one of Canada's first universities
, McGill
, and the wealthy built large mansions at the foot of Mont Royal.
These linked the established port of Montreal with continental markets and spawned rapid industrialization
during the mid 19th century. The economic boom attracted French Canadian
labourers from the surrounding countryside to factories in satellite cities such as Saint-Henri
and Maisonneuve
. Irish
immigrants settled in tough working class neighbourhoods such as Point Saint Charles and Griffintown
, making English and French linguistic groups roughly equal in size. The growing city also attracted immigrants from Italy
, and Eastern Europe.
In 1852, Montreal had 58,000 inhabitants and by 1860, Montreal was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada. From 1861 to the Great Depression of 1930, Montreal went through what some historians call its Golden Age. St. James Street became the most important economic centre of the Dominion of Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway
made its headquarters there in 1880, and the Canadian National Railway
in 1919. At the time of its construction in 1928, the new head office of the Royal Bank of Canada
at 360 St. James Street was the tallest building in the British Empire
. With the annexation of neighbouring towns between 1883 and 1918, Montreal became a mostly Francophone city again. The tradition of alternating between a francophone and an anglophone mayor thus began, and lasted until 1914.
Montrealers volunteered to serve in the army
to defend Canada during World War I, but most French Montrealers opposed mandatory conscription
. After the war, the Prohibition
movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Americans would go to Montreal for drinking, gambling
, and prostitution, unrivalled in North America at this time, which earned the city the nickname "Sin City."
Despite the increase in tourism, unemployment
remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. However, Canada began to recover from the Great Depression in the mid 1930s, and real estate developers began to build skyscrapers, changing Montreal's skyline
. The Sun Life Building
, built in 1931, was for a time the tallest building in the Commonwealth
. During World War II its vaults were the secret hiding place of the gold bullion of the Bank of England
and the British Crown Jewels.
Canada could not escape World War II. Mayor Camillien Houde
protested against conscription. He urged Montrealers to ignore the federal government
's registry of all men and women because he believed it would lead to conscription. Ottawa
, considering Houde's actions treasonable, put him in a prison camp for over four years, from 1940, until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944
).
>
Year
Inhabitants
1911
1921
1931
1941
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2006
Source: Ville de Montréal
A two-year period from 1962 to 1964 saw the completion of four of Montreal's ten tallest buildings: Tour de la Bourse
, Place Ville-Marie
, the CIBC Building and CIL House. Montreal gained an increased international status due to the World's Fair of 1967, Expo 67
. During the 1960s, mayor Jean Drapeau
carried out a series of infrastructure upgrades throughout the city such as the construction of the Montreal Metro
while the provincial government built much of what is today's highway system. Like many other North American cities during these years, Montreal experienced massive growth too quickly for its infrastructures to satisfy its needs.
At the end of the 1960s, the independence movement in Quebec was in full swing due to a constitutional debate between the Ottawa and Quebec governments.
Radical groups formed, most notably the Front de libération du Québec
(FLQ). In October 1970, members of the FLQ's "Liberation Cell
" kidnapped and murdered Pierre Laporte
, a minister in the National Assembly
, and also kidnapped James Cross
, a British diplomat who was later released. Prime Minister of Canada
Pierre Trudeau
ordered the military occupation of Montreal and invoked the War Measures Act
, giving unprecedented peacetime powers to police. These events became known as the October Crisis
of 1970.
Sovereignty was then addressed through the ballot box, with the Parti Québécois
holding two referendums on the question, in 1980 and in 1995. About 300,000 English-speaking Quebecers left Quebec in those decades. The extent of the transition was greater than the norm for major urban centres, with social and economic impacts, as a significant number of (mostly Anglophone) Montrealers, as well as businesses, migrated to other provinces, away from an uncertain political climate. Bill 101
was passed in 1977 and gave primacy to French as Quebec's (and Montreal's) only official language for government, the main language of business and culture, and enforced the exclusive use of French for public signage and business communication.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth
than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
As the city celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1992, construction began on two new skyscrapers: 1000 de La Gauchetière
and 1250 René-Lévesque
. Montreal's improving economic conditions allowed further enhancements of the city infrastructure
, with the expansion of the metro system, construction of new skyscrapers and the development of new highways including the start of a ring road around the island. The city also attracted several international organisations to move their secretariats into Montreal's Quartier International: International Air Transport Association
(IATA), International Council of Societies of Industrial Design
(Icsid), International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda), International Bureau for Children's Rights (IBCR), International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) and the UNESCO
Institute for Statistics (UIS). With developments such as Centre de Commerce Mondial (World Trade Centre), Quartier International, Square Cartier, and proposed revitalization of the harbourfront, the city is regaining its international position as a world class city.
in the 1960s. The idea was strongly opposed in many suburbs, although three towns (Rivière-des-Prairies, Saraguay (Saraguay) and Ville Saint Michel, now the Saint-Michel
neighbourhood) were annexed to Montreal between 1963 and 1968. Pointe-aux-Trembles
was annexed in 1982.
In 2001, the provincial government announced a plan to merge major cities with their suburbs. As of January 1, 2002, the entire Island of Montreal
, home to 1.8 million people, as well as the several outlying islands that were also part of the Montreal Urban Community, were merged
into a new "megacity". Some 27 suburbs as well as the former city were folded into several boroughs, named after their former cities or (in the case of parts of the former Montreal) districts.
During the 2003 provincial elections
, the winning Liberal Party
had promised to submit the mergers to referendums. On June 20, 2004, a number of the former cities voted to demerge from Montreal and regain their municipal status, although not with all the powers they once had. Baie-d'Urfé
, Beaconsfield
, Côte-Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval
, the uninhabited L'Île-Dorval
, Hampstead
, Kirkland
, Montreal East, Montreal West
, Mount Royal
, Pointe-Claire
, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue
, Senneville
, and Westmount
voted to demerge. The demergers came into effect on January 1, 2006.
Anjou, LaSalle
, L'Île-Bizard
, Pierrefonds
, Roxboro, Sainte-Geneviève, and Saint-Laurent had a majority in favour of demerger, but the turnout was insufficient to permit demerger, so those former municipalities will remain part of Montreal. No referendum was held in Lachine
, Montreal North, Outremont, Saint Leonard, or Verdun - nor in any of the boroughs that were part of the former city of Montreal.
There are now 16 municipalities on the Island of Montreal (the city of Montreal proper plus 15 independent municipalities). The post-demerger city of Montreal (divided into 19 boroughs) has a territory of 366.02 km² (141.3 sq mi) and a population of 1,583,590 inhabitants (based on 2001 census figures). Compared with the pre-merger city of Montreal, this is a net increase of 96.8% in land area, and 52.3% in population.
The city of Montreal still has almost as many inhabitants as the old unified city of Montreal (the suburban municipalities now recreated are less densely populated than the core city), even though population growth will be slower for some time. They also say that the overwhelming majority of industrial sites are now located on the territory of the post-demerger city of Montreal. Nonetheless, the post-demerger city of Montreal is only about half the size of the post-1998 merger city of Toronto (both in terms of land area and population).
However, it should be noted that the 15 recreated municipalities do not have as many powers as they did before the merger. Many powers remain with a joint board covering the entire Island of Montreal, in which the city of Montreal has the upper hand.
Despite the demerger referendums held in 2004, the controversy continues, with politicians focusing on the cost of demerging. Several studies show that the recreated municipalities will incur substantial financial costs, thus forcing them to increase taxes (which is a startling prospect in the generally wealthier demerging English-speaking municipalities). Proponents of the demergers contest these surveys, and point to reports from other merged municipalities across the country that show that contrary to their primary raison d'être, the fiscal and societal costs of mega-municipalities far exceed any imagined benefit.
In the modern Iroquois language, Montreal is called Tiohtià:ke. Other native languages, such as Algonquin, refer to it as Moniang.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, located in Quebec, Canada, spans some 8,000 years. At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians
St. Lawrence Iroquoians
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians were a prehistoric First Nations/Native American indigenous people who lived from the 14th century until about 1580 CE along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and New York State, United States. They spoke Laurentian...
, a discrete and distinct group of Iroquoian-speaking indigenous people. They spoke Laurentian
Laurentian
Laurentian may refer to:*Anything related to Saint Lawrence or the Saint Lawrence River*Laurentia, the craton at the heart of the North American continent...
. Archeological studies since the 1950s have demonstrated they were a culture distinct from those the French later called the Huron to the west and the Iroquois nations, which formed largely in present-day New York to the south. Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...
became the first European to reach the area now known as Montreal in 1535 when he entered the village of Hochelega on the Island of Montreal
Island of Montreal
The Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....
while in search of a passage to Asia during the Age of Exploration. He also visited Stadacona
Stadacona
Stadacona was a 16th century St. Lawrence Iroquoian village near present-day Quebec City.French explorer and navigator Jacques Cartier, travelling and charting the Saint Lawrence River, reached it on 7 September 1535. He returned to Stadacona to spend the winter there with his group of 110 men...
(near present-day Quebec City) and other villages in the valley. He recorded about 200 words of the Laurentian language.
Seventy years later, Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
found no evidence of the villages or people of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, or any human habitation. He unsuccessfully tried to create a fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
but the Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
of the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
defended what they had been using as their hunting grounds. A mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
named Ville Marie was built in 1642 as part of a project to create a French colonial empire
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
. Ville Marie became a centre for the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
and French expansion into New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
until 1760, when it was surrendered to the British army, following the French defeat of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War...
. British immigration expanded the city. The city's golden era of fur trading began with the advent of the locally owned North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
.
Lachine Canal
The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud-Ouest.The canal gets its name from the French word for China...
and Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849. Growth continued and by 1860 Montreal was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Annexation of neighbouring towns between 1883 and 1918 changed Montreal back to a mostly Francophone city. During the 1920s and 1930s the Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. As with the rest of the world, the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
brought unemployment to the city but this waned in the mid 1930s and skyscrapers began to be built.
World War II brought protests against conscription and caused the Conscription Crisis of 1944
Conscription Crisis of 1944
The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service in Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but was not as politically damaging....
. Montreal's population surpassed one million in the early 1950s. A new metro
Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired metro system, and the main form of public transportation underground in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
system was added, Montreal's harbour was expanded and the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened during this time. More skyscrapers were built along with museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s. International status was cemented by Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
and the 1976 Summer Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
. A major league baseball team, called the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
started playing in Montreal in 1969 but the team moved to Washington, DC to become the Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
in 2005.
Pre-contact
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
for some 8,000 years, while the oldest known artifact found in Montreal proper is about 4,000 years old. About 1000 CE, nomadic Iroquoian and other peoples around the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
began to adopt the cultivation of maize and more settled lifestyles. Some settled along the fertile St. Lawrence River, where fishing and hunting in nearby forests supported a full diet. By the 14th century, the people had built fortified villages similar to those described by Cartier on his later visit.
Historians and anthropologists have had many theories about the people encountered by Cartier, as well as the reasons for their disappearance from the valley about 1580. Since the 1950s, archeological and linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
comparative studies have established many facts about the people. They are now called the St. Lawrence Iroquoians
St. Lawrence Iroquoians
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians were a prehistoric First Nations/Native American indigenous people who lived from the 14th century until about 1580 CE along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and New York State, United States. They spoke Laurentian...
and recognized by scholars as distinct from other Iroquoian-language people, such as the Huron or Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
of the Haudenosaunee, although sharing some cultural characteristics. Their language has been called Laurentian
Laurentian
Laurentian may refer to:*Anything related to Saint Lawrence or the Saint Lawrence River*Laurentia, the craton at the heart of the North American continent...
, a distinct branch of the family.
The arrival of the French
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...
on October 2, 1535. Cartier visited the villages of Hochelaga and Stadacona, and noted others in the valley which he did not name. He recorded about 200 words of the people's language.
Seventy years after Cartier, explorer Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
went to Hochelaga, but the village no longer existed, nor was there sign of any human habitation in the valley. Although at times historians theorized that the people migrated west to the Great Lakes (or were pushed out by conflict with other tribes, including the Huron), or suffered infectious disease. Since the 1950s, other theories have been proposed. Based on increasing understanding of the political dynamics with other tribes and the French, and more knowledge about the origins of other tribes, many historians have now concluded that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were essentially destroyed by the Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
of the Iroquois, who wanted to dominate hunting and trade in the valley below Tadoussac. The Mohawk had most to gain by moving up from New York into this area Tadoussac, at the confluence of the Saguenay
Saguenay River
The Saguenay River is a major river of Quebec, Canada.It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east, and passes the city of Saguenay. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River at Tadoussac....
and St. Lawrence rivers, was controlled by local Montagnais.
Champlain decided to establish a fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
at Place Royal on the Island of Montreal, but the Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
, based mostly in present-day New York, successfully defended what had by then become their hunting grounds and paths for their war parties. It was not until 1639 that the French created a permanent settlement on the Island of Montreal, started by tax collector Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière
Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere
Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière was a Jesuit who was head of the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal.- Youth :...
. Under the authority of the Roman Catholic Société Notre-Dame de Montréal
Société Notre-Dame de Montréal
The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal was a religious organisation responsible for founding Ville-Marie, the original name for the settlement that would later become Montreal....
, missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve was a French military officer and the founder of Montreal.- Early career :...
, Jeanne Mance
Jeanne Mance
Jeanne Mance was a French settler of New France. She was one of the founders of Montreal who secured its survival and was the founder and head of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.-Origins:...
and a few French colonists set up a mission named Ville Marie on May 17, 1642 as part of a project to create a colony
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1644, Jeanne Mance
Jeanne Mance
Jeanne Mance was a French settler of New France. She was one of the founders of Montreal who secured its survival and was the founder and head of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.-Origins:...
founded the Hôtel-Dieu
Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is the oldest hospital in Montreal, Quebec. Since 1996 it has been one of the three hospitals making up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal ....
, the first hospital in North America, north of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve was a French military officer and the founder of Montreal.- Early career :...
was governor of the colony. On January 4, 1648, he granted Pierre Gadois (who was in his fifties) the first concession of land - some 40 acres (161,874.4 m²). In November of 1653, another 140 French arrived to enlarge the settlement.
By 1651, Ville-Marie had been reduced to less than 50 inhabitants by repeated attacks by the Mohawk. Maisonneuve returned to France that year to recruit 100 men to bolster the failing colony. He had already decided that should he fail to recruit these settlers, he would abandon Ville-Marie and move everyone back downriver to 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...
. (Even 10 years after its founding, the people of Quebec City still thought of Montreal as "une folle entreprise" - a crazy undertaking.) These recruits arrived on 16 November 1653 and essentially guaranteed the evolution of Ville Marie and of all New France. In 1653 Marguerite Bourgeoys
Marguerite Bourgeoys
Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys was the founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame.- Biography :...
arrived to serve as a teacher. She founded Montreal's first school that year, as well as the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, which became mostly a teaching order. In 1663, the Sulpician
Society of Saint-Sulpice
The Society of Saint-Sulpice is a Catholic Society of Apostolic Life named for Eglise Saint-Sulpice, Paris, in turn named for St. Sulpitius the Pious. Typically, priests become members of the Society of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. Uniquely, Sulpicians retain...
seminary became the new Seigneur of the island.
Ville Marie would become a centre for the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
. The town was fortified in 1725. The French and Iroquois Wars threatened the survival of Ville-Marie until a peace treaty (see the Great Peace of Montreal
Great Peace of Montreal
The Great Peace of Montreal was a peace treaty between New France and 40 First Nations of North America. It was signed on August 4, 1701, by Louis-Hector de Callière, governor of New France, and 1300 representatives of 40 aboriginal nations of the North East of North America...
) was signed at Montreal in 1701. With the Great Peace, Montreal and the surrounding seigneuries nearby (Terrebonne
Terrebonne, Quebec
Terrebonne is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shores of the Rivière des Mille-Îles and of the Rivière des Prairies, North of Montreal and Laval....
, Lachenaie
Lachenaie, Quebec
Lachenaie is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the Rivière des Prairies. It is located within the city of Terrebonne, and is in the Regional County Municipality of Les Moulins...
, Boucherville
Boucherville, Quebec
Boucherville is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the South shore of the Saint Lawrence River....
, Lachine
Lachine, Quebec
Lachine was a city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is now a borough within the city of Montreal.-History:...
, Longueuil
Longueuil, Quebec
Longueuil is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly across from Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census totaled 229,330, making it the third largest city in...
, ...) could develop without the fear of Iroquois raids.
Surrender of the colony
Ville-Marie remained French settlement until 1760, when Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-CavagnalPierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal
Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal was a Canadian-born French colonial governor in North America...
surrendered it to the British army under Jeffrey Amherst
Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst
Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst KCB served as an officer in the British Army and as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.Amherst is best known as one of the victors of the French and Indian War, when he conquered Louisbourg, Quebec City and...
. With Great Britain's victory in the Seven Years War, the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
in 1763 marked its end, with the French being forced to cede Canada
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...
and all its dependencies to the other nation.
As a British colony, and with immigration no longer limited to members of the Roman Catholic religion, the city began to grow from British immigration. American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
ists under General Richard Montgomery
Richard Montgomery
Richard Montgomery was an Irish-born soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a brigadier-general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is most famous for leading the failed 1775 invasion of Canada.Montgomery was born and raised in Ireland...
briefly captured the city during the 1775 invasion of Canada
Invasion of Canada (1775)
The Invasion of Canada in 1775 was the first major military initiative by the newly formed Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The objective of the campaign was to gain military control of the British Province of Quebec, and convince the French-speaking Canadiens to join the...
but left when it became obvious they could not hold Canada. Often having suffered loss of property and personal attacks during hostilities, thousands of English-speaking Loyalists migrated to Canada from the American colonies during and after the American Revolution. The government provided most with land, settling them in what became Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
(Ontario) to the west, as well as Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
to the east. With 19th century immigration, more and more English-speaking merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s and residents continued to arrive in what had by then become known as Montreal. Soon the main language of commerce in the city was English. The golden era of fur trading began in the city with the advent of the locally owned North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
, the main rival to the primarily British Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
.
The town's population was majority Francophones until around the 1830s. From the 1830s, to about 1865, it was inhabited by a majority of Anglophones, most of recent immigration from the British Isles or other parts of British North America. Fire destroyed one quarter of the town on May 18, 1765.
Scottish contributions
Scots constructed Montreal's first bridge across the Saint Lawrence RiverSaint 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...
and founded many of the city's great industries, including Morgan's
Henry Morgan (merchant)
Henry Morgan was a Scots-Quebecer department store pioneer in Canada who founded Henry Morgan & Company....
, the first department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
in Canada, incorporated within the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1970s; the Bank of Montreal
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...
; Redpath Sugar
Redpath Sugar
Redpath Sugar was an important company in the economic history of Canada.-History:Redpath Sugar was established as the Canada Sugar Refining Company in 1854 in Montreal, Quebec by Scots-Quebecer entrepreneur, John Redpath . Located on the bank of the Lachine Canal, the giant complex was the first...
; and both of Canada's national railroads. The city boomed as railways were built to New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and the west, and factories
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
were established along the Lachine Canal. Many buildings from this time period are concentrated in the area known today as Old Montreal
Old Montreal
Old Montreal is the oldest area in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dating back to New France. Located in the borough of Ville-Marie, the area is bordered on the west by McGill St., on the north by Ruelle des Fortifications, on the east by Berri St. and on the south by the Saint Lawrence River...
. Noted for their philanthropic
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
work, Scots established and funded numerous Montreal institutions such as McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec
Literary and Historical Society of Quebec
-External links:*, managed by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.*, virtual exhibit on the history of Canadian learned societies.*, virtual library containing all publications from 1824-1924....
and the Royal Victoria Hospital.
The City of Montreal
Lachine Canal
The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud-Ouest.The canal gets its name from the French word for China...
, which permitted ships to pass by the unnavigable Lachine Rapids south of the island. Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, bringing even more English-speaking immigrants: Late Loyalists, 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...
, Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and English. Riots led by Tories led to the burning of the Provincial Parliament
Burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal
The burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal occurred on the night of April 25, 1849. Inaugurated on June 24, 1845, St. Anne's Market building lodging the Parliament of the Province of Canada was burned down by rioters while the members of the Legislative Assembly were sitting in session.-...
, forcing the government to choose another city to represent the capital of its colony. The decision was taken to move the capital to Toronto. The Anglophone community built one of Canada's first universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, McGill
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, and the wealthy built large mansions at the foot of Mont Royal.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
during the mid 19th century. The economic boom attracted French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
labourers from the surrounding countryside to factories in satellite cities such as Saint-Henri
Saint-Henri
Saint-Henri is a neighbourhood in southwestern Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest.Saint-Henri is usually considered to be bounded to the east by avenue Atwater, to the west by Autoroute 15, to the north by Autoroute 720, and to the south by the Lachine Canal.- Description...
and Maisonneuve
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is a district of Montreal, Quebec, situated on the eastern half of the island, generally to the south and south-west of the city's Olympic Stadium. A part of the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, its borders are roughly rue Moreau to the west, rue Sherbrooke to the...
. Irish
Irish Canadian
Irish Canadian are immigrants and descendants of immigrants who originated in Ireland. 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived, 1825 to 1970, at least half of those in the period from 1831-1850. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group , and comprised 24% of Canada's population...
immigrants settled in tough working class neighbourhoods such as Point Saint Charles and Griffintown
Griffintown
Griffintown is the popular name given to the former southwestern downtown part of Montreal, Quebec, which existed from the 1820s until the 1960s and was mainly populated by Irish immigrants and their descendants....
, making English and French linguistic groups roughly equal in size. The growing city also attracted immigrants from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and Eastern Europe.
In 1852, Montreal had 58,000 inhabitants and by 1860, Montreal was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada. From 1861 to the Great Depression of 1930, Montreal went through what some historians call its Golden Age. St. James Street became the most important economic centre of the Dominion of Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
made its headquarters there in 1880, and the Canadian National Railway
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
in 1919. At the time of its construction in 1928, the new head office of the Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...
at 360 St. James Street was the tallest building in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. With the annexation of neighbouring towns between 1883 and 1918, Montreal became a mostly Francophone city again. The tradition of alternating between a francophone and an anglophone mayor thus began, and lasted until 1914.
War and the Great Depression
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
to defend Canada during World War I, but most French Montrealers opposed mandatory conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
. After the war, the Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Americans would go to Montreal for drinking, gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
, and prostitution, unrivalled in North America at this time, which earned the city the nickname "Sin City."
Despite the increase in tourism, unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. However, Canada began to recover from the Great Depression in the mid 1930s, and real estate developers began to build skyscrapers, changing Montreal's skyline
Skyline
A skyline is the overall or partial view of a city's tall buildings and structures consisting of many skyscrapers in front of the sky in the background. It can also be described as the artificial horizon that a city's overall structure creates. Skylines serve as a kind of fingerprint of a city, as...
. The Sun Life Building
Sun Life Building
The Sun Life Building is a historic office building on Dorchester Square in downtown Montreal, Canada.-History and construction:...
, built in 1931, was for a time the tallest building in the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
. During World War II its vaults were the secret hiding place of the gold bullion of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
and the British Crown Jewels.
Canada could not escape World War II. Mayor Camillien Houde
Camillien Houde
Camillien Houde was a Quebec politician, a Member of Parliament, and a four-time mayor of Montreal.-Political career:...
protested against conscription. He urged Montrealers to ignore the federal government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
's registry of all men and women because he believed it would lead to conscription. Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, considering Houde's actions treasonable, put him in a prison camp for over four years, from 1940, until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944
Conscription Crisis of 1944
The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service in Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but was not as politically damaging....
).
| > | Year | Inhabitants |
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| 1811 | |
| 1821 | |
| 1831 | |
| 1841 | |
| 1851 | |
| 1861 | |
| 1871 | |
| 1881 | |
| 1891 | |
| 1901 |
The Quiet Revolution and the modernization of Montreal
By the beginning of the 1960s, a new political movement was rising in Quebec. The newly elected Liberal government of Jean Lesage made reforms that helped francophone Quebecers gain more and more influence in politics and in the economy, thus changing the face of the city. More businesses were starting to be owned by francophones as Montreal became the centre of French culture in North America.A two-year period from 1962 to 1964 saw the completion of four of Montreal's ten tallest buildings: Tour de la Bourse
Tour de la Bourse
La tour de la Bourse is an International Style skyscraper by Luigi Moretti and Pier Luigi Nervi at 800 Victoria Square in Montreal, Quebec, connected by the underground city to Square-Victoria Metro Station...
, Place Ville-Marie
Place Ville-Marie
1 Place Ville-Marie , formerly Royal Bank Tower taken from its anchor tenant, is a with 47-storey, cruciform office tower built in the International style in 1962, arguably the most distinctive building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in the 1960s as the headquarters of the Royal Bank of...
, the CIBC Building and CIL House. Montreal gained an increased international status due to the World's Fair of 1967, Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
. During the 1960s, mayor Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986...
carried out a series of infrastructure upgrades throughout the city such as the construction of the Montreal Metro
Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired metro system, and the main form of public transportation underground in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
while the provincial government built much of what is today's highway system. Like many other North American cities during these years, Montreal experienced massive growth too quickly for its infrastructures to satisfy its needs.
Quebec Independence Movement
Radical groups formed, most notably the Front de libération du Québec
Front de libération du Québec
The Front de libération du Québec was a left-wing Quebecois nationalist and Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group in Quebec, Canada. It was active between 1963 and 1970, and was regarded as a terrorist organization for its violent methods of action...
(FLQ). In October 1970, members of the FLQ's "Liberation Cell
Liberation Cell
The Liberation Cell was a Montreal-based cell that was part of Front de libération du Québec terrorist group in Quebec whose members were responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies in the 1960s that led to what became known as the October Crisis.As part of a violent attempt to...
" kidnapped and murdered Pierre Laporte
Pierre Laporte
Pierre Laporte was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician who was the Deputy Premier and Minister of Labour of the province of Quebec before being kidnapped and killed by members of the group Front de libération du Québec during the October Crisis. Mr...
, a minister in the National Assembly
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
, and also kidnapped James Cross
James Cross
James Richard Cross, CMG was a British diplomat in Canada who was kidnapped by the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group during the October Crisis of October 1970....
, a British diplomat who was later released. Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
ordered the military occupation of Montreal and invoked the War Measures Act
War Measures Act
The War Measures Act was a Canadian statute that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers in the event of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended"...
, giving unprecedented peacetime powers to police. These events became known as the October Crisis
October Crisis
The October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec during October 1970 in the province of Quebec, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.The circumstances ultimately culminated in the only peacetime use...
of 1970.
Sovereignty was then addressed through the ballot box, with the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
holding two referendums on the question, in 1980 and in 1995. About 300,000 English-speaking Quebecers left Quebec in those decades. The extent of the transition was greater than the norm for major urban centres, with social and economic impacts, as a significant number of (mostly Anglophone) Montrealers, as well as businesses, migrated to other provinces, away from an uncertain political climate. Bill 101
Charter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
was passed in 1977 and gave primacy to French as Quebec's (and Montreal's) only official language for government, the main language of business and culture, and enforced the exclusive use of French for public signage and business communication.
Economic recovery
Economic growth
In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
As the city celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1992, construction began on two new skyscrapers: 1000 de La Gauchetière
1000 de La Gauchetière
1000 de la Gauchetière is a skyscraper in the Canadian city of Montreal and is the tallest building in Montreal. It is named for its address at 1000 De la Gauchetière Street West in the city's downtown. It rises to the maximum height approved by the city at 205 m and 51 floors...
and 1250 René-Lévesque
1250 René-Lévesque
1250 Boulevard René-Lévesque, also known as La Tour IBM-Marathon, is a , 47-story skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.The building was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates for IBM Canada and Marathon Realty, hence the former name "IBM-Marathon." It is now named for its address at 1250 René...
. Montreal's improving economic conditions allowed further enhancements of the city infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
, with the expansion of the metro system, construction of new skyscrapers and the development of new highways including the start of a ring road around the island. The city also attracted several international organisations to move their secretariats into Montreal's Quartier International: International Air Transport Association
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
(IATA), International Council of Societies of Industrial Design
International Council of Societies of Industrial Design
International Council of Societies of Industrial Design was founded in 1957 from a group of international organizations focused on industrial design. Today Icsid is a worldwide society that promotes better design around the world...
(Icsid), International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda), International Bureau for Children's Rights (IBCR), International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) and the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Institute for Statistics (UIS). With developments such as Centre de Commerce Mondial (World Trade Centre), Quartier International, Square Cartier, and proposed revitalization of the harbourfront, the city is regaining its international position as a world class city.
Merger and demerger
The idea of uniting the island of Montreal under one municipal government was first proposed by Jean DrapeauJean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986...
in the 1960s. The idea was strongly opposed in many suburbs, although three towns (Rivière-des-Prairies, Saraguay (Saraguay) and Ville Saint Michel, now the Saint-Michel
Saint-Michel, Montreal
Saint-Michel is a neighborhood in the Montreal borough ofVilleray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. Its boundaries corresponds to the former city of Ville Saint Michel, which was annexed to Montreal in 1968. This former independent city was known as Saint-Michel-de-Laval from its inception in 1912 to...
neighbourhood) were annexed to Montreal between 1963 and 1968. Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization of districts and municipalities as boroughs....
was annexed in 1982.
In 2001, the provincial government announced a plan to merge major cities with their suburbs. As of January 1, 2002, the entire Island of Montreal
Island of Montreal
The Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....
, home to 1.8 million people, as well as the several outlying islands that were also part of the Montreal Urban Community, were merged
Municipal reorganization in Quebec
The most recent episode of municipal reorganization in Quebec, Canada, was undertaken in 2002 by the Parti Québécois Government of Quebec, headed by Premier Lucien Bouchard and his successor Bernard Landry....
into a new "megacity". Some 27 suburbs as well as the former city were folded into several boroughs, named after their former cities or (in the case of parts of the former Montreal) districts.
During the 2003 provincial elections
Quebec general election, 2003
The Quebec general election of 2003 was held on April 14, 2003, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec . The Parti libéral du Québec , led by Jean Charest, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Bernard Landry.-Unfolding:...
, the winning Liberal Party
Parti libéral du Québec
The Quebec Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955....
had promised to submit the mergers to referendums. On June 20, 2004, a number of the former cities voted to demerge from Montreal and regain their municipal status, although not with all the powers they once had. Baie-d'Urfé
Baie-d'Urfé, Quebec
Baie-D'Urfé is a suburb located near to the western tip of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. After the amalgamation of the Island's 27 distinct municipalities, it was merged on January 1, 2002 with neighbouring Beaconsfield to create the borough of Beaconsfield–Baie-D'Urfé, in the new...
, Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield, Quebec
Beaconsfield , 2006 Population 19,194) is a municipality on the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of Lake Saint-Louis and is bordered on the west by Baie-D'Urfé, on the north by Kirkland and on the east by Pointe-Claire...
, Côte-Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval
Dorval, Quebec
Dorval is a city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, the population increased by 2.2% to 18,088. Although the city has the largest surface area in the West Island, it is among the least densely populated...
, the uninhabited L'Île-Dorval
L'Île-Dorval, Quebec
L'Île-Dorval is a municipality and an island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, in Lac Saint-Louis off the Island of Montreal.A cottaging spot, it had only two permanent residents as of the 1996 census, making it the smallest municipality in Canada both in area and population. By the 2001 census the...
, Hampstead
Hampstead, Quebec
-History:The Town of Hampstead was founded in 1914. It was designed to be an exclusive garden city. There are no retail shops within municipal boundaries. Houses were assigned relatively large lots to allow space for trees and shrubbery. The town's roads were designed with curves in order to slow...
, Kirkland
Kirkland, Quebec
Kirkland is a town on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. As of 2006, the population was 20,491. It is named after Charles-Aimé Kirkland, a Quebec provincial politician....
, Montreal East, Montreal West
Montreal West, Quebec
Montreal West is a town in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the Island of Montreal. On January 1, 2002 it, along with its neighboring suburbs of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead, was merged into a borough of the City of Montreal to be known as Côte-Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Montréal-Ouest, though 97% of the...
, Mount Royal
Mount Royal, Quebec
Mount Royal is a town located on the northwest side of Mount Royal, north of downtown Montreal, on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The town is completely surrounded by Montreal. The population was 18,933 at the 2006 census...
, Pointe-Claire
Pointe-Claire, Quebec
Pointe-Claire is a municipality located on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. As of 2006, it had a population of 30,161. On January 1, 2002, it, along with all other separate municipalities on the Island of Montreal were merged into the city of Montreal by the provincial...
, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is a town located at the western tip of the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is the second oldest community in Montreal's West Island, having been founded as a parish in 1703...
, Senneville
Senneville, Quebec
Senneville is a village on the western tip of the Island of Montreal. It is the wealthiest town on the West Island, closely followed by Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Baie D'Urfé...
, and Westmount
Westmount, Quebec
Westmount is a city on the Island of Montreal, an enclave of the city of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada; pop. 20,494; area 4.02 km²; population density of 5,092.56 inhabitants/km²....
voted to demerge. The demergers came into effect on January 1, 2006.
Anjou, LaSalle
LaSalle (borough)
LaSalle is a community in the Greater Montreal Region of Quebec, Canada. Of which, for quite a lengthy time was once a municipality following the town's inaugural foundation in 1912 until the classification as a borough of the city of Montreal during the 2002 amalgamation.All of which was a...
, L'Île-Bizard
Île Bizard
Île Bizard is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region.It was formerly a separate municipality named Ville de L'Île-Bizard, but is now part of the city of Montreal, in the borough of L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève....
, Pierrefonds
Pierrefonds, Quebec
Pierrefonds was a city on the Island of Montreal. It ceased to exist on January 1, 2002. The city was located along the Rivière des Prairies at the western end of the island...
, Roxboro, Sainte-Geneviève, and Saint-Laurent had a majority in favour of demerger, but the turnout was insufficient to permit demerger, so those former municipalities will remain part of Montreal. No referendum was held in Lachine
Lachine, Quebec
Lachine was a city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is now a borough within the city of Montreal.-History:...
, Montreal North, Outremont, Saint Leonard, or Verdun - nor in any of the boroughs that were part of the former city of Montreal.
The city of Montreal still has almost as many inhabitants as the old unified city of Montreal (the suburban municipalities now recreated are less densely populated than the core city), even though population growth will be slower for some time. They also say that the overwhelming majority of industrial sites are now located on the territory of the post-demerger city of Montreal. Nonetheless, the post-demerger city of Montreal is only about half the size of the post-1998 merger city of Toronto (both in terms of land area and population).
However, it should be noted that the 15 recreated municipalities do not have as many powers as they did before the merger. Many powers remain with a joint board covering the entire Island of Montreal, in which the city of Montreal has the upper hand.
Despite the demerger referendums held in 2004, the controversy continues, with politicians focusing on the cost of demerging. Several studies show that the recreated municipalities will incur substantial financial costs, thus forcing them to increase taxes (which is a startling prospect in the generally wealthier demerging English-speaking municipalities). Proponents of the demergers contest these surveys, and point to reports from other merged municipalities across the country that show that contrary to their primary raison d'être, the fiscal and societal costs of mega-municipalities far exceed any imagined benefit.
Origin of the name
During the early 18th century, the name of the island came to be used as the name of the town. Two 1744 maps by Nicolas Bellin name the island Isle de Montréal and the town, Ville-Marie; but a 1726 map refers to the town as "la ville de Montréal." The name Ville-Marie soon fell into disuse to refer to the town, though today it is used to refer to the Montreal borough that includes downtown.In the modern Iroquois language, Montreal is called Tiohtià:ke. Other native languages, such as Algonquin, refer to it as Moniang.
See also
- Boroughs of Montreal
- Districts of MontrealDistricts of MontrealThis is the list of the neighbourhoods in the city of Montreal. They are sorted by the borough they are located in.-Ahuntsic-Cartierville:* Ahuntsic* Nouveau-Bordeaux* Cartierville* Île de la Visitation* Sault-au-Récollet-Anjou:...
- History of QuebecHistory of QuebecQuebec has played a special role in Canadian history; it is the site where French settlers founded the colony of Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries.-Paleoindian Era :...
- Old Port of MontrealOld Port of MontrealStretching for over two kilometres along the St-Lawrence River in Old Montreal, the Old Port Of Montreal has been the social, economic and cultural soul of Montreal ever since early French fur traders used it as a trading post in 1611...
- Port of MontrealPort of MontréalThe Port of Montreal, is a port located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on the St Lawrence river. It one of the largest inland ports in the world, it is the second busiest port in Canada , and it is one of the busiest ports in North America....
- Timeline of Montreal historyTimeline of Montreal historyThe timeline of the history of Montreal shows the significant events in the history of Montreal which transformed it from a small fort into a big city of North America.-Pre-European period:...
- List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Montreal
In English
- Pauline Desjardins, Geneviève Duguay (1992). Pointe-à-Callière—from Ville-Marie to Montreal, Montreal: Les éditions du Septentrion, 134 pages ISBN 2-921114-74-7 (online excerpt)
- Patricia Simpson (1997). Marguerite Bourgeoys and Montreal, 1640-1665, McGill-Queen's University Press, 247 pages ISBN 0-7735-1641-7 (online excerpt)
- Eric McLean, R. D. Wilson (1993). The Living Past of Montreal, McGill-Queen's Press, 60 pages ISBN 0-7735-0981-X (online excerpt)
- Louise Dechêne (1992). Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal, McGill-Queen's Press, 428 pages ISBN 0-7735-0951-8 (online excerpt)
- Jean-Claude Marsan (1990). Montreal in Evolution. Historical Analysis of the Development of Montreal's Architecture and Urban Environment, McGill-Queen's Press, 456 pages ISBN 0-7735-0798-1 (online excerpt)
- John Irwin Cooper (1969). Montreal, a Brief History, McGill-Queen's University Press, 217 pages
- François Dollier de Casson (1928). A History of Montreal 1640-1672, New York: Dutton & Co., 384 pages
In French
- Deslandres, Dominique et al., ed. (2007). Les Sulpiciens de Montréal : Une histoire de pourvoir et de discrétion 1657-2007, Éditions Fides, 670 pages ISBN 2-7621-2727-0
- Lauzon, Gilles and Forget, Madeleine, ed. (2004). L’histoire du Vieux-Montréal à travers son patrimoine, Les Publications du Québec, 292 pages ISBN 2-551-19654-X
- Linteau, Paul-André (2000). Histoire de Montréal depuis la Confédération. Deuxième édition augmentée, Éditions du Boréal, 622 pages ISBN 2-89052-441-8
- Ville de Montréal (1995). Les rues de Montréal : Répertoire historique, Éditions du Méridien, 547 pages
- Darsigny, Maryse et al., ed. (1994). Ces femmes qui ont bâti Montréal, Éditions du Remue-Ménage, 627 pages ISBN 2-89091-130-6
- Marsolais, Claude-V. et al., (1993). Histoire des maires de Montréal, VLB Éditeur, Montréal, 323 pages ISBN 2-89005-547-7
- Burgess, Johanne et al., ed. (1992) Clés pour l’histoire de Montréal, Éditions du Boréal, 247 pages ISBN 2-89052-486-8
- Benoît, Michèle and Gratton, Roger (1991). Pignon sur rue : Les quartiers de Montréal, Guérin 393 pages ISBN 2-7601-2494-0
- Landry, Yves, ed. (1992). Pour le Christ et le Roi : La vie aux temps des premiers montréalais, Libre Expression, 320 pages ISBN 2-89111-523-6
- Linteau, Paul-André (1992). Brève histoire de Montréal, Éditions du Boréal 165 pages ISBN 2-89052-469-8