Quebec City

Welcome to Quebec City!

The site where modern Quebec City now stands was originally an Indian village called Stadacona. Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, lead three voyages to the New World. Originally, he was sent by Francois I to find gold in the New World and to find a sea route to Asia. Cartier set off on 20 April 1534 from St-Malo, France, with two boats. He claimed the land for France. In 1535, he returned with three ships, Grande Hermine, Petite Hermine, and Emerillon. He sailed further up the St. Lawrence River in this voyage. Several years later, in 1541, Cartier returned to set up a colony. He brought some priests with him to try and convert the Indians to the Christian religion.
The mission to set up a colony failed. Cartier and his men returned to France and no one came back for another seventy years.
A man named Samuel de Champlain was the leader of the expedition that set up a colony at the site where Quebec City is today. Champlain had been part of earlier expeditions to colonize the New World. He had tried to settle at Port-Royal in Nova Scotia. Those attempts failed, and Champlain had returned to France. He came back in 1608 to set up a trading post along the St. Lawrence River. He chose the site of Stadacona, for this post. He and his men built a wooden fort which they named "L'Habitation." Because of this trading post, which was still in operation when Champlain died, the region grew and evolved into the beautiful city of Quebec. Samuel de Champlain is now known as the "Father of New France".