The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (; ), is a peninsula along the south 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, connecting ...

that extends from the

Matapedia Valley The Matapedia Valley (French: ''vallée de la Matapédia'') was formed by the Chic-Choc Mountains of eastern Québec. Its name is derived from the river that traverses the valley, as well as the lake that lies in its center. It is situated in ...

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 thirte ...

, Canada, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is separated from

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

on its southern side by

Chaleur Bay frame, Satellite image of Chaleur Bay (NASA). Chaleur Bay is the large bay in the centre of the image; the Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is seen to the east.">Gulf_of_St._Lawrence.html" ;"title="Gaspé Peninsula ...

and the

Restigouche River The Restigouche River (french: Rivière Ristigouche) is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec. The river flows in a northeasterly direction from its source in the App ...

. The name ''Gaspé'' comes from the

Miꞌkmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the n ...

word , meaning "end", referring to the end of the land. The Gaspé Peninsula is slightly larger than Belgium, at . The population is 140,599 as of the 2011

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

.The population of the Gaspe Peninsula is determined by adding the population of two federal electoral districts,

Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia (formerly known as Matapédia—Matane) was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 until 2013. It has the lowest percentage ...

and Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, while subtracting that of the

Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundlan ...

. It is also noted as being the only region outside the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

to contain native speakers of Jersey Norman.

Geography

Sea cliffs dominate the peninsula's northern shore along the St. Lawrence River. Cap Gaspé, jutting into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the easternmost point of the peninsula. Percé Rock (or ''Rocher Percé''), an island pierced by a natural arch, is located just offshore of the peninsula's eastern end. The peninsula's interior is a rugged northward continuation of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...

called the Chic-Chocs, with

Mont Jacques-Cartier Mount Jacques-Cartier (french: Mont Jacques-Cartier) is a mountain in the Chic-Choc Mountains range in eastern Quebec, Canada. At , it is the tallest mountain in southern Quebec, and the highest mountain in the Canadian Appalachians. Located in ...

at the peninsula's highest peak. Mount Albert (Mont Albert) at is another high mountain in the Chic-Chocs. Its summit, an

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

area above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

, is a nearly flat plateau about 13 km (8 mi) across composed of serpentine bedrock and supporting a quite unusual

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

. The ascent of Mount Albert from near sea level is challenging, but popular with hikers, offering a view of the St. Lawrence and the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past T ...

, the river's north shore, part of the ancient bedrock of the Canadian Shield.

Inland

The interior portions of the peninsula are dominated by the

Chic-Choc Mountains The Chic-Choc Mountains, also spelled Shick Shocks, is a mountain range in the central region of the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, Canada. It is a part of the Notre Dame Mountains, which is a continuation of the Appalachian Mountains. History Th ...

, part of the Notre Dame Mountains, an extension of the

. The town of Murdochville, at about above sea level, has had a varied history, and is now home to several

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s. It is reached by Route 198, which extends inland from the northern shore of the peninsula, soon climbing into the mountains and entering vast forests, crossing several small rivers before reaching the town. From Murdochville, Route 198 follows the York River to the city of Gaspé on the peninsula's eastern tip. File:Mont Albert.jpg, Mont Albert, in the Chic-Choc Mountains of the Gaspé Peninsula. File:Rocks of Gaspé - circa 1900 - Project Gutenberg etext 20110.jpg, Rocher Percé, circa 1900.

Economy

The economy of the peninsula has historically been focused on fishing, agriculture and forestry. However, primary resource based industries are suffering due to

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in t ...

, overexploitation and fewer numbers of farmers in business, forcing the region to move towards

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and the services industry.

Tourism

The peninsula is one of Quebec's most popular tourism regions. The Gaspé National Park (Parc national de la Gaspésie) is located in the Chic-Chocs, and Forillon National Park is at the peninsula's northeastern tip. A section of the International Appalachian Trail travels through the peninsula's mountains. Bonaventure National Park is located here. As of September 2018 the area also hosts Canada's third UNESCO Global Geopark
Géoparc de Percé

Infrastructure

Roads

* Quebec Route 132 circles the peninsula, with one branch following the coast and the other cutting across it at Sainte-Flavie.

References

External links

Municipalities and cities of Gaspé region

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaspe Peninsula Canada geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Peninsulas of Quebec