Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

QUEBEC

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 729 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

QUEBEC , the See also:

capital of the See also:Canadian See also:province of the same name, situated on the See also:north See also:bank of the See also:river St See also:Lawrence, at its junction with the St See also:Charles, about 300 M. from the gulf of St Lawrence and 18o m. by river N.E. of See also:Montreal, in 71° 12' 19"• 5 W. and 46° 48' 17"• 3 N. The origin of the name Quebec has been much disputed, but it is apparently the Algonkian word for a strait, or sudden narrowing, the river at its junction with the St Charles being about 2500 yds. wide, but narrowing opposite Cape See also:Diamond to 1314. Quebec is built on the See also:northern extremity of an elevated tableland which forms the See also:left bank of the St Lawrence for a distance of 8 m. The highest See also:part of the headland is Cape Diamond, 333 ft. above the level of the See also:water, and crowned by the citadel; towards the St Lawrence it presents a bold and precipitous front, while on the landward See also:side and towards the St Charles the declivity is more sloping and See also:gradual. The See also:harbour of Quebec is spacious and deep enough to hold the largest See also:ships, and, with the See also:Louise See also:basin and Lorne graving-See also:dock,—the latter on the opposite See also:shore at See also:Levis,—forms one of the best harbours in See also:America. It is usually open from the end of See also:April to the See also:middle of See also:December, being closed by See also:ice during the See also:winter. The Louise basin consists of twin wet-docks and tidal harbours, with areas of 40 and 20 acres respectively, and a minimum See also:depth of 26 ft. The harbour is protected towards the north-See also:east by the See also:island of See also:Orleans, on either side of which there is an approach, though that to the north of the island is used only by small vessels. The See also:spring tides rise and fall about 18 ft. Quebec is divided intoupper and See also:lower See also:town,—See also:access to the former being obtained by steep and winding streets, by several flights of narrow steps, or by an elevator. Much of the lower town still recalls the older portions of such See also:French provincial towns as See also:Rouen or St Malo. The streets, with one or two exceptions, are narrow and irregular; but it remains the See also:principal business See also:quarter of the See also:city.

In the upper town, where the streets are wider and well paved, are the better class of dwelling-houses and public buildings, most of the churches, the public walks and gardens, and many of the See also:

retail shops. To the See also:west are the suburbs of St See also:John and St See also:Roch. The latter occupies the lower See also:plain, and is of some commercial importance; the former is on the same level as the upper town. See also:South-west of St John stretch the historic Plains of See also:Abraham. On this battleground stands a See also:simple See also:column 40 ft. high, marking the spot where See also:General See also:Wolfe See also:fell. It was erected in 1849 by the See also:British See also:army in See also:Canada, to replace a See also:monument erected in 1832 by the See also:governor-general, See also:Lord See also:Aylmer, which had been broken and defaced by ruffians. Till 1908 the Plains were also disfigured by a See also:gaol and a See also:rifle factory, but these have been removed, and the battleground converted into a public See also:park. In the governor's See also:garden, which overlooks the St Lawrence, is a monument 65 ft. in height, erected in 1828 under the See also:administration of Lord See also:Dalhousie, dedicated to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm. An See also:iron See also:pillar surmounted by a See also:bronze statue, the See also:gift of See also:Prince See also:Jerome See also:Napoleon, stands on the Ste See also:Foy road, and was erected in 1855–6o to commemorate the achievements of the British and French troops in the brilliant but fruitless French victory of April 28, 176o. The See also:chief point of See also:interest in the upper town is Dufferin See also:Terrace, a magnificent See also:promenade overlooking the St Lawrence, 1400 ft. See also:long and 200 ft. above the level of the river. Part of this terrace occupies the site of the old See also:Chateau St See also:Louis, which was destroyed by See also:fire in 1834. At the eastern end of the terrace stands a See also:fine statue of See also:Champlain, erected in 1898.

Near by, and conspicuous from the river, is the Hotel Frontenac, erected by the Canadian Pacific railway on the See also:

model of an old French chateau. Nothing remains of the fortifications erected under the French regime. The See also:present walls and the citadel, which covers an See also:area of about 40 acres, were built in 1823–32 at a cost of over £7,000,000. Since then, several of the See also:gates have been destroyed, and others rebuilt, but in other respects the walls are practically intact, and, though obsolete as fortifications, add greatly to the picturesque beauty of the city. Between 1865 and 1871 three forts were built on the Levis side of the river, but were neither manned nor armed. Quebec's natural position still makes it one of See also:great military strength, though depending on See also:naval See also:control of the See also:sea and of the gulf of St Lawrence. Besides numerous See also:Protestant churches, including a small See also:Anglican See also:cathedral, there is a Jewish See also:synagogue; but the bulk of the See also:population is See also:Roman See also:Catholic. The cathedral, founded in 1647, and enlarged at intervals, is a large but not very striking See also:building in the upper town. It contains some See also:good oil paintings and some much-prized See also:relics, but is rather garish in its ornamentation. Of the numerous other churches, the most interesting is Notre See also:Dame See also:des Victoires, in the lower town, erected in 1688, and named in See also:honour of the defeat of Phips in 1690 and the shipwreck of See also:Sir See also:Hovenden See also:Walker in 1711. See also:Laval University, which derives its name from See also:Francois de See also:Montmorency Laval, the first See also:bishop of Quebec, who founded in 1663 a See also:seminary for the training of priests, is under strict Roman Catholic control. It was instituted in 1852 by a royal See also:charter from See also:Queen See also:Victoria and in 1876 received a charter from See also:Pope See also:Pius IX.

The building is large and spacious, and the university includes faculties of See also:

theology, See also:law, See also:medicine and arts, a library of 125,000 volumes, a museum and a picture See also:gallery. A large See also:branch of the university has been established at Montreal, and has often, but vainly, sought permission to become an See also:independent Catholic university. In connexion with Laval are the See also:grand seminary founded in 1663, where theology is taught, and the See also:minor seminary for literature and See also:philosophy. Other Roman Catholic institutions are Laval Normal and Model School, the Ursuline See also:Convent, the Convent of the Good Shepherd and several nunneries. The convent and See also:church of the See also:Ursulines, founded in 1641, contains nearly zoo nuns and See also:lay sisters, and nearly 600 pupils. It possesses some excellent paintings and a number of relics, among which is the See also:skull of the French general, Montcalm. Morrin See also:College, founded in 1859 by Dr Morrin, was for some years an efficient college in arts and theology, under Presbyterian control, but is now defunct. High See also:schools for boys and girls and numerous See also:academies are supported by the Protestants, under the dual See also:system of See also:education in the province. The See also:Literary and See also:Historical Society—the See also:oldest chartered institution of the See also:kind in Canada, founded by Lord Dalhousie in 1824—the Canadian See also:Institute, the See also:Geographical Society, the See also:Young Men's See also:Christian Association, the See also:Advocates' Library and the See also:Parliamentary Library, have valuable collections of books, the latter containing 70,000 volumes, and numerous See also:MSS. chiefly See also:relating to the.See also:early See also:history of the province. The principal benevolent institutions are the marine See also:hospital, the Hotel Dieu, founded in 1639 by the duchess of See also:Aiguillon, the general hospital (1693), the See also:Jeffrey See also:Hale Hospital, and the lunatic See also:asylum at Beauport controlled by the See also:Grey Nuns (sisters of charity). The provincial See also:parliament buildings, erected in 1878-92, are situated in extensive grounds on Grande Allee. The See also:main building is quadrangular in See also:form, and is ornamented with numerous statues.

The seat of the See also:

lieutenant-governor is at Spencerwood, a pleasant See also:country See also:estate outside the city. Other prominent buildings are the See also:palace of the Roman Catholic See also:Archbishop, which adjoins Laval University, the See also:court See also:house, See also:post See also:office, See also:custom house, city See also:hall (1890—95) and masonic hall. Quebec is well lighted with See also:gas and electric See also:light, and has a system of electric tramcars, a plentiful See also:supply of See also:power being obtained from the Montmorency Falls (268 ft. in height), 6 m. N.E. The See also:climate is severe, but bracing, the mean temperature in winter being 10°, in summer 68°, and the mean of the See also:year 39° The main lines of the Grand See also:Trunk, Canadian Pacific and Inter-colonial See also:railways are on the south bank of the St Lawrence, but branch lines connect the city with Montreal, and it is the headquarters of the Quebec and See also:Lake St John, and various smaller railways. See also:Steam ferries connect the city with Levis on the opposite bank, but the project of a See also:bridge, though of great importance to the city, has been in various ways delayed. In See also:August 1907 the portion completed fell into the St Lawrence. The city returns three members to the Canadian House of See also:Commons, and three to the Provincial House of See also:Assembly. It is governed by a See also:mayor and See also:council of aldermen, who hold office for two years, and are usually re-elected, one mayor having held office for eleven successive years. Quebec is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and of an Anglican bishop. Economically, Quebec was long the chief See also:port of Canada. A See also:series of strikes almost ruined its export See also:trade, and numerous severe fires, of which that of 1845 was the chief, also lessened its importance.

For many years the export trade passed almost entirely to Montreal, but the increasing See also:

size of sea-going vessels makes See also:navigation above Quebec more and more difficult, especially for fast passenger steamships, and for such vessels Quebec - is again becoming the See also:terminus. Quebec's See also:staple export is See also:timber, the greater portion of which comes from the See also:Ottawa and St See also:Maurice districts. Formerly the rafts floating down the river were collected in the coves which extend along both sides of the river, above the city, and were fastened by booms along the See also:banks. Now much of the timber is sent by See also:rail. On the right bank of the stream, not far from Quebec, are extensive sawmills. Deals and square timber form the bulk of the export, but some See also:furniture is also sent, and an increasing quantity of See also:wheat is shipped. The building of wooden ships was formerly one of the chief See also:industries of Quebec. The principal manufactures are iron castings, machinery, See also:cutlery, nails, See also:leather; rifles, See also:gunpowder, musical See also:instruments, boots and shoes, See also:paper, See also:india-See also:rubber goods, See also:ropes, See also:tobacco, See also:steel. The population increases but slowly, having risen from59,699 in 1871 to 68,84o in 1901; of these over 60,000 are French and Roman Catholic. The first known See also:white See also:man to visit Quebec was Jacques See also:Cartier, the French navigator, in 1535, who found on the site a large See also:Indian See also:village, called Stadacona. In See also:July 1608 the present city was founded, and named by Champlain. Its growth was slow, and in 1629 it had but two permanently settled families, with a shifting population of monks, officials and See also:fur traders.

In that year it was captured by the See also:

English under Sir See also:David See also:Kirke (1597–1656; see H. Kirke, The First English See also:Conquest of Canada, See also:London, 1871, reprinted 1908), but in 1632 it was restored to the French by the treaty of St Germain-en-Laye. In 1663 the See also:colony of New See also:France was created a royal province, and Quebec became the capital. In 1690 Sir See also:William Phips, governor of See also:Massachusetts, attempted to reconquer it with a See also:fleet and army fitted out by New See also:England, but was defeated by the French governor, Frontenac. In 1711 a great British expedition sent against it under Sir Hovenden Walker was shipwrecked in the gulf of St Lawrence, and the French held See also:possession till 1759 (see below), when it was captured by the British troops on the 18th of See also:September, five days after the See also:battle of the Plains of Abraham; it was finally ceded to Great See also:Britain by the treaty of See also:Paris in 1763. In 1775 the See also:American generals See also:Montgomery and See also:Benedict See also:Arnold attacked the city, but Montgomery was killed (December 31, 1775) and Arnold was compelled to See also:retreat in the following spring. In 1763–1841, in 1851–55, and in 1859–65 Quebec was the capital of Canada, and it is still its most historic and picturesque city. See Quebec under Two Flags, by A. G. Doughty and N. E. Dionne (Quebec, 1903).

Canada, an See also:

Encyclopaedia, by J. C. See also:Hopkins (See also:Toronto, 1898-1900), has a good See also:account (vol. v. pp. 241-248). (W. L. G.) Wolfe's Quebec Expedition, 1759.—Both in itself and also as the central incident of the British conquest of Canada, the taking of Quebec is one of the epics of See also:modern military history. The American See also:campaigns of the Seven Years' See also:War, hitherto somewhat spasmodic, were, after See also:Amherst's See also:capture of Louis-See also:burg in 1758, co-ordinated and directed to a See also:common end by that general, under whom See also:James Wolfe, a young See also:major-general of See also:thirty-three years of See also:age, was to command an expedition against Quebec from the lower St Lawrence, while Amherst himself led a force from New England by Lake Champlain on Montreal. Wolfe's column consisted of about 7000 troops, and was convoyed by a powerful fleet under See also:Admiral Saunders. The expedition sailed 300 M. Up the St Lawrence, disembarked on the Isle of Orleans and encamped facing the city. The defenders were commanded by Montcalm, a soldier whose See also:character and abilities, like Wolfe's, need no comment here.

The French were See also:

superior in See also:numbers, though a considerable part of their force was irregular; but they had the defender's difficult task of being strong everywhere. Wolfe began the attack by seizing Point Levis, and thence bombarding Quebec. This, however, affected the main defences of the upper city but little, and they were moreover protected from closer attack by the St Lawrence and the St Charles. The third side of the triangle was the "plains of Abraham," to which it was thought there was no approach from the river. After wasting some See also:weeks, therefore, Wolfe decided to See also:cross the St Lawrence 7 M. below Quebec and to fight his way to the city by the St Charles side. But Montcalm's fortified posts spread out from Quebec through Beauport as far as the Montmorency, and this formidable obstacle checked the English advance at the outset. No artifice could lure the defenders away, and at last Wolfe attacked the See also:line of the Montmorency and was repulsed with heavy loss (July 31). Wolfe's fragile See also:health gave way under the disappointment, and despondency set in in the English See also:camp. But as soon as the young See also:leader had recovered a little, he summoned his brigadiers and worked out a See also:plan for attacking by the upper See also:waters and the heights of Abraham. Access to the heights could be obtained, it was found, by a tiny See also:cove (Wolfe's cove), from which a steep footpath QUEDLINBURG, a town of See also:Germany in the Prussian province of See also:Saxony, situated on the See also:Bode, near the N.W. See also:base of the Harz Mountains, 12 See also:miles S.E. by rail from See also:Halberstadt on the line See also:Magdeburg-See also:Thale. Pop. (1905) 24,798, almost all Protestants.

It consists of the old town, which is still partly surrounded by a turreted See also:

wall, the new town and four suburbs. On the west it is commanded by the See also:castle, formerly the See also:residence of the abbesses of Quedlinburg, connected with which is the interesting Schlosskirche, which was dedicated in 1129 and completely restored in 1862-82. The See also:German See also:king, See also:Henry the See also:Fowler, his wife See also:Matilda, and See also:Aurora, countess of See also:Konigsmark, the See also:mistress of See also:Augustus the Strong, are buried in the Schlosskirche. There are many interesting articles in the See also:treasury. The See also:Gothic town hall, a 14th-See also:century building, restored and enlarged in 1900, contains a collection of antiquities, and near it stands a See also:stone figure of See also:Roland. The town also possesses a gymnasium founded in 1540 and now containing the See also:abbey library and a municipal museum. It has a fine memorial of the war of 1870-71. Quedlinburg is famous for its nurseries and See also:market gardens, and exports See also:vegetable and See also:flower seeds to all parts of See also:Europe and America. Its chief manufactures are iron goods, machinery and See also:cloth, and it has a trade in See also:grain and See also:cattle. Near the town is the church of St Wipertus, which See also:dates from the 12th century, and has a See also:crypt of the loth century. Quedlinburg was founded as a fortress by Henry the Fowler about 922, its early name being Quitlingen. Soon it became a favourite residence of the Saxon emperors and was the See also:scene of several diets.

It afterwards joined the Hanseatic See also:

League. The abbey of Quedlinburg was planned by Henry the Fowler, although its actual See also:foundation is due to his son See also:Otto the Great. It was a house for the daughters of See also:noble Saxon families and was richly endowed, owning at one See also:time a territory about 40 sq. m. in area. The abbesses, who were frequently members of the imperial house, the second of them being Otto's daughter Matilda, ranked among the princes of the See also:empire, and had no ecclesiastical superior except the pope. The town at first strove vigorously to maintain its See also:independence of them, and to this end invoked the aid of the bishop of Halberstadt. In 1477, however, the See also:abbess Hedwig, aided by her See also:brothers, Ernest and See also:Albert of Saxony, compelled the bishop to with-draw, and for the next 200 years both town and abbey were under the See also:protection of the elector of Saxony. In 1539 the townsmen accepted the reformed doctrines and the abbey was converted into a Protestant sisterhood. In 1697 the elector of Saxony sold his rights over Quedlinburg to the elector of See also:Brandenburg for 240,000 thalers. The abbesses, however, retained certain rights of See also:jurisdiction, and disputes between them and the Prussian See also:government were frequent until the secularization of the abbey in 1803. The last abbess was See also:Sophia Albertina (d. 1829), See also:sister of King Charles XIII. of See also:Sweden. After forming for a few years part of the See also:kingdom of See also:Westphalia, the abbey lands were incorporated with See also:Prussia in 1815.

See the Urkundenbuch der Stadt Quedlinburg, edited by Janicke (See also:

Halle, 1873–82); See also:Ranke and Kugler, Beschreibung and Geschichte der Schlosskirche zu Quedlinburg (See also:Berlin, 1838) ; Lorenz, Alt- Quedlinburg, 1485–1698 (Halle, 1900) ; and Huchs, Fiihrer durch Quedlinburg. For the history of the abbey see Fritsch, Geschichte des Reichsstifts and der Stadt Quedlinburg (Quedlinburg, 1828).

End of Article: QUEBEC

Additional information and Comments

I have heard this theory of the origin of the name Quebec… ...there was a place called Kvillebäck (old spelling Quillebaeck) an historic Norwegian Viking-settlement, now within Swedish borders in the old province Viken (ergo "Vikings" men from Viken). Around 900AD the companions of Gange-Rolf (aka Rollo the Viking or 'the walker' because he was apparently too big for any horse to carry) took the name with them when they moved to Normandy. 600 years later Samuel Champlain landed in eastern North America and dusted off the name 'Quebec'. In its French form, Kvillebäck is naturally, Quebec.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
QUAY, MATTHEW STANLEY (1833-1904) 		[next]
QUEBEC ACT

Site © 2006 - Net Industries