Charlevoix ( , ) is a

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

and

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecology, ecological point of view, the naturally occurring fl ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, on the north shore of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

as well as in the

Laurentian Mountains The Laurentian Mountains ( French: ''Laurentides'') are a mountain range in southern Quebec, Canada, north of the St. Lawrence River and Ottawa River, rising to a highest point of at Mont Raoul Blanchard, northeast of Quebec City in the Laurentid ...

area of the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands, and bays; the region was designated a

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in 1989. Administratively, it comprises the

Charlevoix Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...

and

Charlevoix-Est Charlevoix-Est is a regional county municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada. The seat is Clermont. Subdivisions There are 9 subdivisions within the RCM: ;Cities & Towns (2) * Clermont * La Malbaie ;Municipalities (5 ...

regional county municipalities The term regional county municipality or RCM (''french: municipalité régionale de comté, MRC'') is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county r ...

within the larger

Capitale-Nationale Capitale-Nationale (; en, National Capital region) is one of the 17 List of Quebec regions, administrative regions of Quebec. It is anchored by the provincial capital, Quebec City, and is largely coextensive with that city's Communauté métropol ...

administrative region Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

History

The region was named after Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix, a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

explorer and historian who travelled through the area in the 18th century. The community of

La Malbaie La Malbaie is a municipality in the Charlevoix-Est Regional County Municipality in the Province of Quebec, Canada, situated on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at the mouth of the Malbaie River. It was formerly known as Murray Bay. La Ma ...

was known as the first resort area in Canada. As early as 1760, Scottish noblemen Malcolm Fraser and John Nairn hosted visitors at their manors. For much of its history, Charlevoix was home to a thriving

summer colony The term summer colony is often used, particularly in the United States, to describe well-known resorts and upper-class enclaves, typically located near the ocean or mountains of New England or the Great Lakes. In Canada, the term cottage countr ...

of wealthy Americans, including President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

Geography

From an administrative point of view, the "Charlevoix region" does not exist in itself, but is rather made up of the

and

. Features of note include: *

Baie-Saint-Paul Baie-Saint-Paul ( 2011 Population 7,332; UA population 4,535) is a city in the Province of Quebec, Canada, on the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Baie-Saint-Paul is the seat of Charlevoix Regional County Municipality. The city is ...

, an important arts centre * Le

Domaine Forget Le Domaine Forget de Charlevoix is an international Music Festival as well as a music and dance Academy located in Saint-Irénée, Charlevoix, in Quebec, in Canada. This domain is a operated by a non-profit organization occupying a large set of ...

music festival and academy * Île aux Coudres * the Parc des Grands-Jardins * the Haute-Gorges de la Rivière Malbaie * the

Manoir Richelieu The Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu is a historic hotel operated by Fairmont Hotels in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada. The hotel was first built in 1899 but then burned down in 1928. The hotel was rebuilt in 1929 in the Châteauesque style, designed by ...

and the Casino de Charlevoix * the fjord of the

Saguenay River __NOTOC__ 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; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. T ...

* the Commission scolaire de Charlevoix * the Museum of Charlevoix

Natural history

The topography of this region was dramatically altered by a

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

impact that occurred 350 million years ago creating the

Charlevoix impact structure The Charlevoix impact structure is a large eroded meteorite impact structure in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, Canada. Only part of the impact structure is exposed at the surface, the rest lying beneath the Saint Lawrence River. Description ...

The impact created the forty-mile-wide crater that is the heart of Quebec's Charlevoix region, ranging from just west of Baie-Saint-Paul to just east of La Malbaie. Today, the area inside the crater is home to 90 percent of Charlevoix residents and is a very pastoral setting by comparison to what it could have been.

This area was subsequently reshaped by

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

during the last ice age. There have been several major

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s in the region in recorded history: *on February 5, 1663, centred south of

. See

1663 Charlevoix earthquake The 1663 Charlevoix earthquake occurred on February 5 in New France (now the Canadian province of Quebec), and was assessed to have a moment magnitude of between 7.3 and 7.9. The earthquake occurred at 5:30 p.m. local time and was estimated ...

. *on December 6, 1791, centred near

*on October 17, 1860, centred under the Saint Lawrence River *on October 20, 1870, centred near Baie-Saint-Paul. See 1870 Charlevoix earthquake *on February 28, 1925, centred under the Saint Lawrence River. See

1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake The 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake struck northeastern North America on February 28, reaching 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale. It was one of the most powerful measured in Canada in the 20th century, with a maximum perceived intensity o ...

Ecological characteristics

Situated some 80 km east of Quebec City, Charlevoix Biosphere Reserve borders the Saint Lawrence River to the south. Extending from 5 to 1,150 metres above sea level, the area comprises agricultural areas, river ecosystems,

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

tidal marsh A tidal marsh (also known as a type of "tidal wetland") is a marsh found along rivers, coasts and estuaries which floods and drains by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean. Tidal marshes are commonly zoned into lower marshes ( ...

es and flats, coniferous and mixed forests, stunted vegetation (

krummholz ''Krummholz'' (german: krumm, "crooked, bent, twisted" and ''Holz'', "wood") — also called ''knieholz'' ("knee timber") — is a type of stunted, deformed vegetation encountered in the subarctic and subalpine Montane ecosystems are fou ...

) and

mountain tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

ecosystems. Maple forests including paper birch (''

Betula papyrifera ''Betula papyrifera'' (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named for the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper like ...

e''), alder ('' Alnus spp.'') and elm ('' Ulmus spp.'') and with an understory of sumac (''

Rhus typhina ''Rhus typhina'', the staghorn sumac, is a species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae, native to eastern North America. It is primarily found in southeastern Canada, the northeastern and midwestern United States, and the Appalachian M ...

''), ''

Acer pensylvanicum ''Acer pensylvanicum'', known as the striped maple, moosewood, moose maple or goosefoot maple, is a small North American species of maple. The striped maple is a sequential hermaphrodite, meaning that it can change its sex throughout its lifetime ...

'' and ''

Cornus alternifolia ''Cornus alternifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the dogwood family Cornaceae, native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland west to southern Manitoba and Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Mississippi. It is rare in the ...

''; mixed fir ('' Abies sp.'') forest with ''

Corylus cornuta ''Corylus cornuta'', the beaked hazelnut (or just ''beaked hazel''), is a deciduous shrubby hazel with two subspecies found throughout most of North America. Description The beaked hazelnut can reach tall with stems thick with smooth gray ...

'', ''

Sambucus pubens ''Sambucus pubens'', the American red elder, is a species of elder (''Sambucus'') native to eastern North America. The inflorescence is a rounded panicle, making the plant easy to distinguish from the more common '' S. canadensis'', which has a ...

'' and ''

Taxus canadensis ''Taxus canadensis'', the Canada yew or Canadian yew, is a conifer native to central and eastern North America, thriving in swampy woods, ravines, riverbanks and on lake shores. Locally called simply "yew", this species is also referred to as Am ...

'';

boreal forests Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces ...

up to an altitude of 300 metres with fir and spruce ( ''Picea spp.''); estuarine tidal marsh and flats dominated by ''

Scirpus americanus ''Schoenoplectus americanus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus americanus'') is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names chairmaker's bulrush and Olney's three-square bulrush. It is native to the Americas, where it is known fro ...

'' meadows including ''

Zizania palustris Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of Poaceae, grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eate ...

'', ''

Sagittaria cuneata ''Sagittaria cuneata'' is a species of flowering plant in the water plantain family known by the common name arumleaf arrowhead or duck potato. Like some other ''Sagittaria'' species, it may be called wapato. It is native to much of North Americ ...

'' and '' S. latifolia''; tundra with ericaceous zones consisting of '' Kalmia spp.'', ''

Ledum groenlandicum ''Rhododendron groenlandicum'' (bog Labrador tea, muskeg tea, swamp tea, or in northern Canada, Hudson's Bay tea; formerly ''Ledum groenlandicum'' or ''Ledum latifolium'') is a flowering shrub with white flowers and evergreen leaves that is used ...

''; stunted vegetation community (krummholz) with ''

Picea mariana ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...

'' and ''

Abies balsamea ''Abies balsamea'' or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to ...

''; agro-ecosystems with cereals, fruits and legumes, and river ecosystems. Animal species in the area include beluga whale ('' Delphinapterus leucas''), wolf (''

Canis lupus The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

''), boreal woodland caribou ('' Rangifer tarandus caribou''),

North American cougar The North American cougar (''Puma concolor couguar'') is a cougar subspecies in North America. It was once common in eastern North America, and is still prevalent in the western half of the continent. This subspecies includes populations in weste ...

(''Puma concolor couguar'') and blue whale (''

Balaenoptera musculus ''Balaenoptera'' () is a genus of rorquals containing eight extant species. ''Balaenoptera'' comprises all but two of the extant species in its family (the humpback whale and gray whale); the genus is currently polyphyletic, with the two afore ...

'').

Socio-economic characteristics

About 30,000 people live in the biosphere reserve (1988), which covers 457,000 hectares. In former times, the population of Charlevoix used to rely on the river and the sea, for example on coastal navigation, marine constructions and fisheries (e.g. beluga, eel). Today, the economic landscape has diversified and major factors in the local economy are now forestry, silica mining, agriculture and tourism. The forest education centre ‘Les Palissades’ or the ecological centre ‘Port-au-Saumon’ are important institutions for environmental education in the area.

Transportation

Quebec Route 138 Route 138 is a major highway in the Canadian province of Quebec, following the entire north shore of the Saint Lawrence River past Montreal to the temporary eastern terminus in Kegashka on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The western terminus is in El ...

is the major highway through the region, which closely follows the shoreline of the

. Between

and

, the highway turns inland with

Quebec Route 362 Route 362 is a scenic 50 km two-lane highway which follows the Saint Lawrence River in the Charlevoix region in Quebec, Canada. It starts at the junction of Route 138 in Baie-Saint-Paul and ends again at the junction of Route 138 in La Malb ...

serving the riverside communities of

Les Éboulements Les Éboulements is a municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada. Its population centres include Les Éboulements (located along Route 362 on the plateau overlooking the Saint Lawrence River), Éboulements-Est (at the feet ...

and Saint-Irénée. The

Train de Charlevoix The Train de Charlevoix is a tourist rail service between Beauport ( Chutes Montmorency) and La Malbaie, Quebec, with an additional stop in Baie-Saint-Paul and in the winter at the Le Massif ski area, a distance of about . It is owned and operat ...

, a tourist rail service, links the coastal communities of Charlevoix to

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. Charlevoix Airport is a small regional airport serving the region.

Sources

References

External links

Official Charlevoix tourism site

Charlevoix Biosphere Reserve, Canada

UNESCO Charlevoix Biosphere Reserve Information
{{Authority control Biosphere reserves of Canada Geographic regions of Quebec

History

Geography

Natural history

Ecological characteristics

Socio-economic characteristics

Transportation

See also

Sources

Further reading

References

External links