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Quebec Boundaries Extension: It extends from the 45th parallel of north latitude, its boundary with the United States, to latitude 62° 35' north, at Cape Wolstenholme; and from long' tude 79° 33' 20" west, its westernmost boundary with Ontario, to longitude 57° 7' west, at the Strait of Belle Isle, opposite Newfoundland. Its area is 594,860 square miles, or 15.5 per cent of Canada's area, and comprises 523,860 square miles of land and 71,000 square miles of water.1 A great part of the area consists of the Territory of Ungava (351,780 square miles) annexed in 1912 under the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act.
The fall of Quebec City to the British in 1759 and the surrender of Montreal in 1760 marked the end of the Seven Years' War in America. By the Treaty of Paris (1763), Quebec became a British colony, and was governed under the terms of a royal proclamation until the adoption in London of the Quebec Act in 1774. The territory of Quebec, as defined in this act, extended to the Labrador coast and included in the west and south the areas of the present states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana. The act guaranteed the maintenance of French civil law and customs and the freedom of the Roman Catholic Church.
The history of the Province of Quebec dates back to 1534 when Jacques Cartier, in search of a western passage to the East, discovered the eastern shores of Quebec and landed at Gaspe. Later he visited the sites of Quebec and Montreal but established no permanent settlement. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Quebec, the first permanent settlement in the St. Lawrence Valley. Champlain soon conducted trading expeditions, established trading posts, began the exploration of the St. |
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