Montreal ( ; officially Montrテゥal, ) is the
second-most populous city in Canada and
most populous city
The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city proper, cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or th ...
in the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Quテゥbec'' (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 ...
. Founded in 1642 as ''
Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary",
it is named after
Mount Royal
Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the hi ...
,
the triple-peaked hill around which the early city of Ville-Marie is built. The city is centred on the
Island of Montreal
The Island of Montreal (french: テ四e de Montrテゥal) is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, that is the site of a number of municipalities including most of the city of Montreal and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main ...
, which obtained its name from the same origin as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is
テ四e Bizard
テ四e Bizard is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region.
History
Historically named テ四e Bonaventure, by 1723 it had come to be named テ四e Bizard, after Jacques Bizard, to whom it was conceded as a fief in 1678, ...
. The city is east of the national capital
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, and southwest of the provincial capital,
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Quテゥbec), officially Quテゥbec (), 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 Communautテゥ mテゥtrop ...
.
As of 2021, the city had a population of 1,762,949, and a
metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
population of 4,291,732, making it the
second-largest city, and
second-largest metropolitan area in Canada.
French
French (french: franテァais(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 ...
is the city's official language. In 2021, it was spoken at home by 59.1% of the population and 69.2% in the
Montreal Census Metropolitan Area
Greater Montreal (french: Grand Montrテゥal) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with a ...
.
Overall, 85.7% of the population of the city of Montreal considered themselves fluent in French while 90.2% could speak it in the metropolitan area. Montreal is one of the most
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
cities in Quebec and Canada, with 58.5% of the population able to speak both English and French.
Historically the commercial capital of Canada, Montreal was surpassed in population and in economic strength by
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, transport, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, art, culture,
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 ...
, food, fashion, video game development, film, and world affairs. Montreal is the location of the headquarters of the
International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sc ...
, and was named a
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 ...
City of Design in 2006.
In 2017, Montreal was ranked the 12th-most liveable city in the world by the
Economist Intelligence Unit
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, ...
in its annual
Global Liveability Ranking
The Global Livability Ranking is a yearly assessment published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), ranking 172 global cities (previously 140) for their urban quality of life based on assessments of stability, healthcare, culture and enviro ...
, although it slipped to rank 40 in the 2021 index, primarily due to stress on the healthcare system from the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. It is regularly ranked as a top ten city in the world to be a university student in the
QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...
.
Montreal has hosted multiple international conferences and events, including the
1967 International and Universal Exposition
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
and the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 窶 The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 窶 The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 窶 The 1976 Phi ...
. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics. In 2018, Montreal was ranked as a
global city. The city hosts the
Canadian Grand Prix
The Canadian Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports ...
of
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fテゥdテゥration Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
; the
Montreal International Jazz Festival
The Festival International de Jazz de Montrテゥal ( en, Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz fest ...
, the largest jazz festival in the world; the
Just for Laughs festival, the largest comedy festival in the world; and
Les Francos de Montrテゥal
Les Francos de Montrテゥal is a large annual music and performance festival held in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, featuring French-language performers from all over the world.
Many of the performances are free to the public and are held on various ...
, the largest French-language music festival in the world. It is also home to the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montrテゥal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montrテゥal), officially ...
of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey窶猫NH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams窶25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
, who have won the
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
more times than any other team.
Etymology and original names
In the
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...
, the land is called which was "the first stopping place" in the Ojibwe migration story as related in the
seven fires prophecy
Seven fires prophecy is an Anishinaabe prophecy that marks phases, or epochs, in the life of the people on Turtle Island (North America), Turtle Island, the original name given by the indigenous peoples of the now North American continent. The seve ...
.
In the
Mohawk language
Mohawk (; ''Kanienハシkテゥha'', " anguageof the Flint Place") is an Iroquoian language currently spoken by around 3,500 people of the Mohawk nation, located primarily in current or former Haudenosaunee territories, predominately Canada (southern O ...
, the land is called .
窶弋iohtiテ龠洩e窶 is an abbreviation of 窶弋eionihtiohtiテ。龠洩on窶, which loosely translates as 窶忤here the group divided/parted ways.窶
[
French settlers from ]La Flティche
La Flティche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most po ...
in the Loire valley first named their new town, founded in 1642, ("City of Mary"), named for the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ワ。ワェワ杲。, translit=Mariam; ar, ルリアル館, translit=Maryam; grc, ホ慚アマ∃ッホア, translit=Marテュa; la, Maria; cop, 箚倪イ≫イ」箚凪イ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
. Its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. According to one theory, the name derives from , ( in modern French, although in 16th-century French the forms and were used interchangeably); Cartier's 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, refers to . One of Cartier's officers was Claude de Pontbriand, lord of the Chテ「teau de Montrテゥal
The Chテ「teau de Montrテゥal is a chテ「teau in the Dordogne department located near the commune of Issac, in southwestern France. It overlooks the valley of the Crempse River.
It was built as a castle in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 16th centu ...
, in the Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language
Occitan (; o ...
-speaking part of France. The toponym ''Montrテゥal
Montreal ( ; officially Montrテゥal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
'' and its reversed form ''Rテゥalmont
Rテゥalmont (; oc, Reialmont) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.
Geography
The commune is traversed by the river Dadou.
See also
*Communes of the Tarn department
The following is a list of the 314 communes of the Tarn d ...
'', the direct Occitan translation of French (or ), are common in southern France. One possibility, noted by the government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
on its website concerning Canadian place names, speculates that the name as it is currently written originated when an early map of 1556 used the Italian name of the mountain, ;
the Commission de toponymie du Quテゥbec
The Commission de toponymie du Quテゥbec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Quテゥbec'') is the Government of Quテゥbec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Quテゥbec's place names and their origins according ...
has dismissed this idea as a misconception.
History
Pre-European contact
Archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
evidence in the region indicate that First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD 1000, they had started to cultivate maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maテュz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
. Within a few hundred years, they had built fortified
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
villages. The Saint Lawrence Iroquoians
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians were an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous people who existed from the 14th century to about 1580. They concentrated along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec a ...
, an ethnically and culturally distinct group from the Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
nations of the ''Haudenosaunee
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
'' (then based in present-day New York), established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal two centuries before the French arrived. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at other locations in the valley since at least the 14th century.
The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited ''Hochelaga'' on October 2, 1535, and estimated the population of the native people at Hochelaga to be "over a thousand people". Evidence of earlier occupation of the island, such as those uncovered in 1642 during the construction of Fort Ville-Marie, have effectively been removed.
Early European settlement (1600窶1760)
In 1603, French explorer Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. 窶 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...
reported that the St Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St Lawrence valley. This is believed to be due to outmigration, epidemics of European diseases, or intertribal wars. In 1611, Champlain established a fur
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
on the Island of Montreal on a site initially named ''La Place Royale''. At the confluence of ''Petite Riviere'' and St. Lawrence River, it is where present-day Pointe-テ-Calliティre stands. On his 1616 map, Champlain named the island Lille de Villemenon in honour of the sieur de Villemenon, a French dignitary who was seeking the viceroyship of New France. In 1639, Jテゥrテエme Le Royer de La Dauversiティre Jerome (c.347窶420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian from Dalmatia.
Jerome may also refer to:
People Given name
* Jerome (given name), a masculine name of Greek origin, with a list of people so named
* Saint Jerome (disambiguat ...
obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Notre Dame Society of Montreal to establish a Roman Catholic mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
to evangelize
In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are in ...
natives.
Dauversiere hired Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (15 February 1612 9 September 1676) was a French military officer and the founder of Fort Ville-Marie (modern day Montreal) in New France (Province of Quebec, Canada).
Early life
Maisonneuve was born in ...
, then age 30, to lead a group of colonists to build a mission on his new seigneury. The colonists left France in 1641 for Quebec and arrived on the island the following year. On May 17, 1642, Ville-Marie was founded on the southern shore of Montreal island, with Maisonneuve as its first governor. The settlement included a chapel and a hospital, under the command of Jeanne Mance
Jeanne Mance (November 12, 1606 窶 June 18, 1673) was a French nurse and settler of New France. She arrived in New France two years after the Ursuline nuns came to Quebec. Among the founders of Montreal in 1642, she established its first hospit ...
. By 1643, Ville-Marie had come under Iroquois raids. In 1652, Maisonneuve returned to France to raise 100 volunteers to bolster the colonial population. If the effort had failed, Montreal was to be abandoned and the survivors re-located downriver to Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Quテゥbec), officially Quテゥbec (), 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 Communautテゥ mテゥtrop ...
. Before these 100 arrived in the fall of 1653, the population of Montreal was barely 50 people.
By 1685, Ville-Marie was home to some 600 colonists, most of them living in modest wooden houses. Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
and a base for further exploration
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
. In 1689, the English-allied Iroquois attacked Lachine on the Island of Montreal, committing the worst massacre in the history of New France. By the early 18th century, the Sulpician Order
The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (french: Compagnie des Prテェtres de Saint-Sulpice), abbreviated PSS also known as the Sulpicians is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris ...
was established there. To encourage French settlement, it wanted the Mohawk to move away from the fur trading post at Ville-Marie. It had a mission village, known as Kahnewake
The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawテ。ヒkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawテ。:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, C ...
, south of the St Lawrence River. The fathers persuaded some Mohawk to make a new settlement at their former hunting grounds north of the Ottawa River. This became Kanesatake
Kanesatake (''Kanehsatテ:ke'' in Mohawk) is a Mohawk (''Kanien'kテゥha:ka'' in Mohawk) settlement on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains in southwestern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence rivers and about west of ...
. In 1745, several Mohawk families moved upriver to create another settlement, known as Akwesasne
The Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne ( ; french: Nation Mohawk テ Akwesasne; moh, Ahkwesテ。hsne) is a Mohawk Nation (''Kanienハシkehテ。:ka'') territory that straddles the intersection of international (United States and Canada) borders and provincial (Ont ...
. All three are now Mohawk reserves in Canada. The Canadian territory was ruled as a French colony until 1760, when Montreal fell to a British offensive during the Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756窶1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754窶 ...
. The colony then surrendered to Great Britain.
Ville-Marie was the name for the settlement that appeared in all official documents until 1705, when Montreal appeared for the first time, although people referred to the "Island of Montreal" long before then.
American occupation (1775窶1776)
As part of the American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, the invasion of Quebec resulted after Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...
captured Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French mi ...
in present-day upstate New York in May 1775 as a launching point to Arnold's invasion of Quebec in September. While Arnold approached the Plains of Abraham
The Plains of Abraham (french: Plaines d'Abraham) is a historic area within the Battlefields Park in Quebec City, Quebec, anada. It was established on 17 March 1908. The land is the site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which took place ...
, Montreal fell to American forces led by Richard Montgomery
Richard Montgomery (2 December 1738 窶 31 December 1775) was an Irish soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and he is most famous for l ...
on November 13, 1775, after it was abandoned by Guy Carleton. After Arnold withdrew from Quebec City to Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization.
On January 1, 2002 this neighbourhood at ...
on November 19, Montgomery's forces left Montreal on December 1 and arrived there on December 3 to plot to attack Quebec City, with Montgomery leaving David Wooster
David Wooster ( 窶 May 2, 1777) was an American general who served in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolutionary War. He died of wounds sustained during the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Several cities, schools, and public ...
in charge of the city. Montgomery was killed in the failed attack and Arnold, who had taken command, sent Brigadier General Moses Hazen
Moses Hazen (June 1, 1733 窶 February 5, 1803) was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he saw action in the French and Indian War with Rogers' Rang ...
to inform Wooster of the defeat.
Wooster left Hazen in command on March 20, 1776, as he left to replace Arnold in leading further attacks on Quebec City. On April 19, Arnold arrived in Montreal to take over command from Hazen, who remained as his second-in-command. Hazen sent Colonel Timothy Bedel
Timothy Bedel (1737 窶 February 24, 1787) was a soldier and local leader prominent in the early history of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Bedel was born in Salem, New Hampshire. During the French and Indian War he served as a lieutenant in the New Ha ...
to form a garrison of 390 men 40 miles upriver in a garrison at Les Cティdres, Quebec
Les Cティdres is a municipality located north of the Saint Lawrence River in the Montテゥrテゥgie of Quebec, Canada, near Vaudreuil-Dorion. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 7,184. The name means "The Cedars" in French.
There is an exte ...
, to defend Montreal against the British army. In the Battle of the Cedars, Bedel's lieutenant Isaac Butterfield
Isaac Butterfield was an American officer who served under Colonel Timothy Bedel during the invasion of Quebec in the American Revolutionary War. He was either a Major or a Lieutenanthttps://books.google.ca/books?id=ev56CoLLW8oC&pg=PA27 In an od ...
surrendered to George Forster.
Forster advanced to Fort Senneville
Fort Senneville is one of the outlying forts of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, built by the Canadiens of New France near the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue in 1671. The property was part of a fief ceded to Duguテゥ de Boisbriant in 1672 by the Sulpicians. A l ...
on May 23. By May 24, Arnold was entrenched in Montreal's borough of Lachine. Forster initially approached Lachine, then withdrew to Quinze-Chテェnes. Arnold's forces then abandoned Lachine to chase Forster. The Americans burned Senneville on May 26. After Arnold crossed the Ottawa River
The Ottawa River (french: Riviティre des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sテャbテャ/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...
in pursuit of Forster, Forster's cannons repelled Arnold's forces. Forster negotiated a prisoner exchange with Henry Sherburne
Henry Sherburne (March 28, 1611 窶 1680) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, landed there June 12, 1632 from London, a pioneer who rose to considerable wealth in pre-independence colonial New Hampshire. His descendant Samuel Sherburne built the 1766 (a ...
and Isaac Butterfield, resulting in a May 27 boating of their deputy Lieutenant Park being returned to the Americans. Arnold and Forster negotiated further and more American prisoners were returned to Arnold at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue () is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburb located at the western tip of the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is the second oldest community in Montreal's West Island, having been founded as a parish ...
, ("Fort Anne") on May 30 (delayed two days by wind).
Arnold eventually withdrew his forces back to the New York fort of Ticonderoga by the summer. On June 15, Arnold's messenger approaching Sorel spotted Carleton returning with a fleet of ships and notified him. Arnold's forces abandoned Montreal (attempting to burn it down in the process) prior to the June 17 arrival of Carleton's fleet.
The Americans did not return British prisoners in exchange, as previously agreed, due to accusations of abuse, with Congress repudiating the agreement at the protest of George Washington. Arnold blamed Colonel Timothy Bedel for the defeat, removing him and Lieutenant Butterfield from command and sending them to Sorel for court-martial. The retreat of the American army delayed their court martial until August 1, 1776, when they were convicted and cashiered
Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline.
Etymology
From the Flemish (to dismiss from service; to discard ro ...
at Ticonderoga. Bedel was given a new commission by Congress in October 1777 after Arnold was assigned to defend Rhode Island in July 1777.
Modern history as city (1832窶菟resent)
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge Victoria Bridge may be a reference to:
Bridges
;Australia
* Victoria Bridge, Brisbane, a road bridge across the Brisbane River in Brisbane
* Victoria Bridge, Devonport a road ridge across the Mersey River in Devonport, Tasmania
* Victoria Bridge, M ...
established Montreal as a major railway hub. The leaders of Montreal's business community had started to build their homes in the Golden Square Mile / ''Mille carrテゥ dorテゥ''
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = List of neighbourhoods in Montreal, Neighbourhood
, image_skyline = Ravenscrag.jpg
, image_alt =
, image_caption = ''Rave ...
from about 1850. By 1860, it was the largest municipality in British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...
and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
In the 19th century, maintaining Montreal's drinking water became increasingly difficult with the rapid increase in population. A majority of the drinking water was still coming from the city's harbour, which was busy and heavily trafficked, leading to the deterioration of the water within. In the mid-1840s, the City of Montreal installed a water system that would pump water from the St. Lawrence and into cistern
A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...
s. The cisterns would then be transported to the desired location. This was not the first water system of its type in Montreal, as there had been one in private ownership since 1801. In the middle of the 19th century, water distribution was carried out by "fontainiers". The fountainiers would open and close water valves outside of buildings, as directed, all over the city. As they lacked modern plumbing systems it was impossible to connect all buildings at once and it also acted as a conservation method. However, the population was not finished rising 窶 it rose from 58,000 in 1852 to 267,000 by 1901.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada
The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British North America, British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham ...
from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill
The Rebellion Losses Bill (full name: ''An Act to provide for the Indemnification of Parties in Lower Canada whose Property was destroyed during the Rebellion in the years 1837 and 1838'') was a controversial law enacted by the legislature of ...
. Thereafter, the capital rotated between Quebec City and Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
until in 1857, Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 窶 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
herself established Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
as the capital due to strategic reasons. The reasons were twofold. First, because it was located more in the interior of the Province of Canada, it was less susceptible to attack from the United States. Second, and perhaps more importantly, because it lay on the border between French and English Canada, Ottawa was seen as a compromise between Montreal, Toronto, Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
and Quebec City, which were all vying to become the young nation's official capital. Ottawa retained the status as capital of Canada when the Province of Canada joined with Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) 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. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
and 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 ...
to form the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
An internment camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
was set up at Immigration Hall in Montreal from August 1914 to November 1918.
After World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
movement in the United States led to Montreal becoming a destination for Americans looking for alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
. Unemployment remained high in the city and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
and the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
.
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries窶琶ncluding all of the great powers窶杷orming two opposin ...
, Mayor Camillien Houde
Camillien Houde (August 13, 1889 窶 September 11, 1958) was a Quebec politician, a Member of Parliament, and a four-time mayor of Montreal 窶 one of the few Canadian politicians to have served at all three levels of government.
Political c ...
protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. The federal government, part of the Allied forces, was furious over Houde's stand and held him in a prison camp until 1944. That year, the government decided to institute conscription to expand the armed forces and fight the Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 譫「霆ク蝗ス ''Sナォjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome窶釘erlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. (See Conscription Crisis of 1944
The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service for men in Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but not as politically damaging.
...
.)
Montreal was the official residence of the Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lテォtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duchテゥ de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Groテ殄erzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
royal family in exile during World War II.
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million. However, Toronto's growth had begun challenging Montreal's status as the economic capital of Canada. Indeed, the volume of stocks traded at the Toronto Stock Exchange
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...
had already surpassed that traded at the Montreal Stock Exchange
The Montreal Exchange (MX; french: Bourse de Montrテゥal), formerly the Montreal Stock Exchange (MSE), is a derivatives exchange, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that trades futures contracts and option (finance), options on equities, indices, c ...
in the 1940s. The Saint Lawrence Seaway
The St. Lawrence Seaway (french: la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent) is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North Americ ...
opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal. In time, this development led to the end of the city's economic dominance as businesses moved to other areas. During the 1960s, there was continued growth as Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the subway system known as the Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro (french: Mテゥtro de Montrテゥal) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Sociテゥtテゥ de transport de Montrテゥal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, ...
were finished during this time. Montreal also held the World's Fair of 1967, better known as Expo67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming largely from the concerns of the French-speaking
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English Canadian
English Canadians (french: Canadiens anglais or ), or Anglo-Canadians (french: Anglo-Canadiens), refers to either Canadians of English ethnic origin and heritage or to English-speaking or Anglophone Canadians of any ethnic origin; it is use ...
minority in the business arena. The October Crisis
The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libテゥration du Quテゥbec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James C ...
and the 1976 election of the Parti Quテゥbテゥcois
The Parti Quテゥbテゥcois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...
, which supported sovereign status for Quebec, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal hosted the Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'テゥtテゥ), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
. While the event brought the city international prestige and attention, the Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
built for the event resulted in massive debt for the city. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. Montreal was the site of the 1989 テ営ole Polytechnique massacre
テ営ole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collティge and lycテゥe)
* テ営ole (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in rテゥgion テ四e-de-France
* テ営ole, Savoi ...
, one of Canada's worst mass shooting
There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 200 ...
s, where 25-year-old Marc Lテゥpine
Marc Lテゥpine (; born October 26, 1964 窶 December 6, 1989) was a Canadian antifeminist mass murderer from Montreal, Quebec, who, in 1989, murdered fourteen women, and wounded ten women and four menNote: Many sources state thirteen were wounded ...
shot and killed 14 people, all of them women, and wounding 14 other people before shooting himself at テ営ole Polytechnique
テ営ole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collティge and lycテゥe)
* テ営ole (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in rテゥgion テ四e-de-France
* テ営ole, Savoi ...
.
Montreal was merged
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002, creating a unified city encompassing the entire island. There was substantial resistance from the suburbs to the merger, with the perception being that it was forced on the mostly English suburbs by the Parti Quテゥbテゥcois. As expected, this move proved unpopular and several mergers were later rescinded. Several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the unified city in separate referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
s in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal. Demerged municipalities remain affiliated with the city through an agglomeration council that collects taxes from them to pay for numerous shared services. The 2002 mergers were not the first in the city's history. Montreal annexed 27 other cities, towns and villages beginning with Hochelaga in 1883, with the last prior to 2002 being Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization.
On January 1, 2002 this neighbourhood at ...
in 1982.
The 21st century has brought with it a revival of the city's economic and cultural landscape. The construction of new residential skyscrapers, two super-hospitals (the Centre hospitalier de l'Universitテゥ de Montrテゥal
The Centre hospitalier de l'Universitテゥ de Montrテゥal (CHUM, translated as University of Montreal Health Centre) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is a teaching institution affiliated with the French-lang ...
and McGill University Health Centre
The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; french: Centre universitaire de santテゥ McGill) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and is one of the largest medical complex in ...
), the creation of the Quartier des Spectacles, reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange
The Turcot Interchange is a three-level four-way freeway interchange within the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located southwest of downtown, the interchange links Autoroutes 15 (Dテゥcarie and Dテゥcarie South Expressways) and 20 (Remembrance H ...
, reconfiguration of the Decarie and Dorval interchanges, construction of the new Rテゥseau テゥlectrique mテゥtropolitain, gentrification of Griffintown
Griffintown is a historic neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, southwest of downtown. The area existed as a functional neighbourhood from the 1820s until the 1960s, and was mainly populated by Irish immigrants and their descendants. Mostly depopulate ...
, subway line extensions and the purchase of new subway cars, the complete revitalization and expansion of Trudeau International Airport
Trudeau is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Trudeau family, a notable Canadian family known in politics, business and film, including:
**Charles-テ盈ile Trudeau (1887窶1935), Canadian businessman and father of Pierre Trudeau
* ...
, the completion of Quebec Autoroute 30
Autoroute 30 (A-30), or the Autoroute de l'Acier (In English, ''Steel Freeway'') is an Autoroute in Quebec, Canada. Construction of the A-30 dates back to the early days of autoroute construction in the 1960s. Originally called Highway 3, the A- ...
, the reconstruction of the Champlain Bridge and the construction of a new toll bridge to Laval are helping Montreal continue to grow.
Geography
Montreal is in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
to the Atlantic. Montreal is defined by its location between the Saint Lawrence river to its south and the Riviティre des Prairies
The Riviティre des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The Kanien'kehテ。:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the citi ...
to its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community
Greater Montreal (french: Grand Montrテゥal) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with a ...
, and is bordered by the city of Laval
Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of:
People
* House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne
* Laval (surname)
Places Belgium
* Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...
to the north; Longueuil
Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montテゥrテゥgie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly acr ...
, Saint-Lambert, Brossard
Brossard (, , ) is a municipality in the Montテゥrテゥgie region of Quebec, Canada and is part of the Greater Montreal area. According to the 2021 census, Brossard's population was 91,525. It shares powers with the urban agglomeration of Longueuil a ...
, and other municipalities to the south; Repentigny to the east and the West Island
The West Island () is the unofficial name given to the cities, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Dorval, Pointe-Cla ...
municipalities to the west. The anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West
Montreal West (French: Montrテゥal-Ouest) is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburb in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the Island of Montreal.
Montreal West is a small, close-knit community made up primarily of single-family dwellings. The town is ...
, Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
, Cテエte Saint-Luc
Cテエte Saint-Luc (; also spelled Cテエte-Saint-Luc, and known historically in English as Cote St. Luke) is a city on the island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada.
Geography
Along with Hampstead and Montreal West, Cテエte Saint-Luc forms an enclave within ...
, the Town of Mount Royal
Mount Royal (french: Mont-Royal, officially Town of Mount Royal, french: Ville de Mont-Royal, abbreviated TMR, french: VMR) is an affluent on-island suburban town located on the northwest side of the eponymous Mount Royal, northwest of Downtown M ...
and the francophone
French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...
enclave Montreal East
Montreal ( ; officially Montrテゥal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...
are all surrounded by Montreal.
Climate
Montreal is classified as a warm-summer humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Kテカppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(Kテカppen climate classification
The Kテカppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Kテカppen (1846窶1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Kテカppen, notabl ...
: Dfb).
Summers are warm to hot and humid with a daily maximum average of in July; temperatures in excess of are common. Conversely, cold fronts can bring crisp, drier and windy weather in the early and later parts of summer.
Winter brings cold, snowy, windy, and, at times, icy weather, with a daily average ranging from in January. However, some winter days rise above freezing, allowing for rain on an average of 4 days in January and February each. Usually, snow covering some or all bare ground lasts on average from the first or second week of December until the last week of March. While the air temperature does not fall below every year, the wind chill
Wind chill or windchill (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air.
Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature for values where the formula is valid. When ...
often makes the temperature feel this low to exposed skin.
Spring and fall are pleasantly mild but prone to drastic temperature changes; spring even more so than fall. Late season heat waves as well as "Indian summer
An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...
s" are possible. Early and late season snow storms can occur in November and March, and more rarely in April. Montreal is generally snow free from late April to late October. However, snow can fall in early to mid-October as well as early to mid-May on rare occasions.
The lowest temperature in Environment Canada's books was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975, both at Dorval International Airport
Dorval () is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburban City (Quebec), city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Census indicated that the population increased by 4.2% to 18,980. Although the city has the ...
.
Before modern weather record keeping (which dates back to 1871 for McGill), a minimum temperature almost 5 degrees lower was recorded at 7 a.m. on January 10, 1859, where it registered at .
Annual precipitation is around , including an average of about of snowfall, which occurs from November through March. Thunderstorms are common in the period beginning in late spring through summer to early fall; additionally, tropical storms or their remnants can cause heavy rains and gales. Montreal averages 2,050 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest season, though slightly wetter than the others in terms of total precipitation窶芭ostly from thunderstorms.
Architecture
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. This legacy has left a variety of buildings including factories, elevators
An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...
, warehouses
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural窶砥rban fringe, outs ...
, mills, and refineries
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.
Types of refineries
Different types of refineries ar ...
, that today provide an invaluable insight into the city's history, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area. There are 50 National Historic Sites of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...
, more than any other city.
Some of the city's earliest still-standing buildings date back to the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Although most are clustered around the Old Montreal area, such as the Sulpician Seminary adjacent to Notre Dame Basilica that dates back to 1687, and Chテ「teau Ramezay, which was built in 1705, examples of early colonial architecture are dotted throughout the city. Situated in Lachine, the Le Ber-Le Moyne House is the oldest complete building in the city, built between 1669 and 1671. In Point St. Charles visitors can see the Maison Saint-Gabriel, which can trace its history back to 1698. There are many historic buildings in Old Montreal in their original form: Notre Dame of Montreal Basilica, Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market (french: Marchテゥ Bonsecours), at 350 rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal, is a two-story domed public market. For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parliament of ...
, and the 19th窶祖entury headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Montreal's earliest buildings are characterized by their uniquely French influence and grey stone construction.
Saint Joseph's Oratory
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal (french: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located at 3800 Queen Mary Road in the Cテエte-des-Neiges neighborhood on Mount Royal's Westmount Summit in ...
, completed in 1967, Ernest Cormier
Ernest Cormier OC (December 5, 1885 – January 1, 1980) was a Canadian engineer and architect. He spent much of his career in the Montreal area, designing notable examples of Art Deco architecture, including the Universitテゥ de Montrテゥ ...
's Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Dテゥcoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
Universitテゥ de Montrテゥal
The Universitテゥ de Montrテゥal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Cテエte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Cテエte-de ...
main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie
Place Ville Marie (PVM for short) is a large office and shopping complex skyscraper in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, comprising four office buildings and an underground shopping plaza. It serves as the main and official headquarters for Ro ...
office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of the city's 20th-century architecture. Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several have become landmarks, including Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic dom ...
U.S. Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere
The Biosphere (french: La Biosphティre), also known as the Montreal Biosphere (french: La Biosphティre de Montrテゥal), is a museum dedicated to the environment in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is housed in the former United States pavilion constructed ...
, and Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie ( he, ラ槞ゥラ ラ。ラ、ラ沌燮; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible desi ...
's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro has public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture
The culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting predominantly from the shared history of the French-speaking North American majority in Quebec. Quテゥbテゥcois culture, as a whole, constitutes all distinctive traits 窶 spiri ...
.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, one of only three design capitals of the world (the others being Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autテウnoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Rテュo de la Plata, on South ...
). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations
The International Council of Design (ICoD; formerly known as ico-D, International Council of Communication Design or Icograda, which was formerly an initialism for International Council of Graphic Design Associations) is an international organisa ...
(Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
The Underground City
An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of thes ...
(officially RESO) is an important tourist attraction. It is the set of interconnected shopping complexes (both above and below ground). This impressive network connects pedestrian thoroughfares to universities, as well as hotels, restaurants, bistros, subway stations and more, in and around downtown with of tunnels over of the most densely populated part of Montreal.
Neighbourhoods
The city is composed of 19 large boroughs
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
, subdivided into neighbourhoods.
The boroughs are:
Cテエte-des-Neiges窶哲otre-Dame-de-Grace, The Plateau Mount Royal, Outremont
Outremont is an affluent residential borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. The neighbourhood is inhabited largely by franc ...
and Ville Marie in the centre; Mercier窶滴ochelaga-Maisonneuve
Mercier窶滴ochelaga-Maisonneuve is a Montreal borough, borough of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada located in the southeastern end of the island.
History
''See Mercier, Montreal, Mercier and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve#History, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve ...
, Rosemont窶鏑a Petite-Patrie
Rosemont窶鏑a Petite-Patrie is a borough (''arrondissement'') in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located in the centre-east of the city.
Geography
The borough is bordered to the northwest by Villeray窶鉄aint-Michel窶撤arc-Extension, ...
and Villeray窶鉄aint-Michel窶撤arc-Extension
Villeray窶鉄aint-Michel窶撤arc-Extension is a borough (''arrondissement'') in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It had a population of 143,853 according to the 2016 Census and a land area of .
The borough of Villeray窶鉄aint-Michel窶撤arc-Extension ...
in the east; Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
*County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duke ...
, Montrテゥal-Nord
Montreal North (french: Montrテゥal-Nord) is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city of Montrテゥal-Nord on Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. It was amalgamated into t ...
, Riviティre-des-Prairies窶撤ointe-aux-Trembles
Riviティre-des-Prairies窶撤ointe-aux-Trembles is a suburban borough (''arrondissement'') on the eastern tip of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at the eastern end of the Island of Montreal.
Geography
The borough is located at ...
and Saint-Leonard in the northeast; Ahuntsic-Cartierville
Ahuntsic-Cartierville ( (local accent)) is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The borough was created following the 2002 municipal reorganization of Montreal. It comprises two main neighbourhoods, Ahuntsic, ...
, L'テ四e-Bizard窶鉄ainte-Geneviティve
L'テ四e-Bizard窶鉄ainte-Geneviティve () is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal.
History
On 24 October 1678, the government of Louis de Buade de Frontenac granted テ四e Bizard, then named テ四e Bonaventure as a seigniory to Jacques ...
, Pierrefonds-Roxboro
Pierrefonds-Roxboro is a Boroughs of Montreal, borough of the city of Montreal. It was created January 1, 2006, following the demerger of parts of the city.
Geography
It is composed of the former municipalities of Pierrefonds, Quebec, Pierrefon ...
and Saint-Laurent in the northwest; and Lachine, LaSalle, The South West and Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
in the south.
Many of these boroughs were independent cities that were forced to be merged with Montreal in January 2002 following the 2002 municipal reorganization of Montreal.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville Marie, which includes downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
, the Gay Village
A gay village is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBT) people. Gay villages often contain a number of gay-oriented establish ...
, the Latin Quarter
The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne.
Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros ...
, the gentrified Quartier international A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25.
Quarter or quarters may refer to:
Places
* Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town
Placenames
* Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland
* Le Quartier, a settlement i ...
and Citテゥ Multimテゥdia
Citテゥ may refer to: Places
* Citテゥ (Paris Mテゥtro), the metro station on the ''テ四e de la Citテゥ''
* Citテゥ (Quebec), type of municipality in Quebec
* Citadel, the historical centre of an old city, originally fortified
* Housing estate, a group of ho ...
as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village
Shaughnessy Village (sometimes referred to as the Concordia Ghetto) is a neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located on the western side of the Ville-Marie borough. It is bounded by Guy Street to the east, Atwater Street to the west, Sherb ...
/ Concordia U area home to thousands of students at Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Universitテゥ Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park
Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the hi ...
, Saint Helen's Island
Saint Helen's Island (french: テ四e Sainte-Hテゥlティne) is an island in the Saint Lawrence River, in the territory of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It forms part of the Hochelaga Archipelago. It is situated immediately offshore from Old Mont ...
, and Notre-Dame Island.
The Plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...
Mount Royal borough was a working class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
(not to be confused with the whole borough), which is undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood because artists comprise 8% of its labour force. The neighbourhood of Mile End
Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, England, east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the m ...
in the northwestern part of the borough has been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel
St-Viateur Bagel is a famous Montreal-style bagel bakery located in the neighbourhood of Mile End in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
History
St-Viateur Bagel was established on May 21, 1957 by Myer Lewkowicz, a ...
and Fairmount Bagel
Fairmount Bagel is a Montreal-style bagel bakery in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the Mile End neighbourhood of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough. The first location opened on September 7, 1919 on Saint-Laurent Boulevard by Isadore Shlafman. The curren ...
. The McGill Ghetto
Milton Park (french: Milton-Parc), commonly known as the McGill Student ghetto, Ghetto, is a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is situated directly to the east of the McGill University campus in the Boroughs of Montreal, borough of Le P ...
is in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Universitテゥ McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
students and faculty members.
The South West borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough included Goose Village
Goose Village (French: "Village-aux-Oies") was a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its official but less commonly used name was Victoriatown, after the adjacent Victoria Bridge. The neighbourhood was built on an area formerly known ...
and was historically home to the traditionally working-class Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***テ永re, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
neighbourhoods of Griffintown and Point Saint Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint Henri and Little Burgundy
Little Burgundy (french: La Petite-Bourgogne) is a neighbourhood in the South West borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Geography
Its approximate boundaries are Atwater Avenue to the west, Saint-Antoine to the north, Guy Street ...
.
Other notable neighbourhoods include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grテ「ce
Notre-Dame-de-Grテ「ce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...
and Cテエte-des-Neiges
Cテエte-des-Neiges (, ) is a neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at the geographic centre of the Island of Montreal on the western slope of Mount Royal and is part of the borough of Cテエte-des-Neiges窶哲otre-Dame-de-Grテ「ce.
Cテエt ...
in the Cテエte-des-Neiges窶哲otre-Dame-de-Grace borough, and Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...
in the borough of Rosemont窶鏑a Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve () is a neighbourhood in Montreal, Canada, situated in the east end of the island, generally to the south of the city's Olympic Stadium and east of downtown.
Historically a poor neighbourhood, it has experienced significant ...
, home of the Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
in the borough of Mercier窶滴ochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Old Montreal
Old Montreal is a historic area southeast of downtown containing many attractions such as the Old Port of Montreal
The Old Port of Montreal (french: Vieux-Port de Montrテゥal, italic=no) is the historic port of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located adjacent to Old Montreal, it stretches for over along the Saint Lawrence River. It was used as early as 1611, when Fre ...
, Place Jacques-Cartier, Montreal City Hall
The five-story Montreal City Hall (French: ''Hテエtel de Ville de Montrテゥal'') is the seat of local government in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was designed by architects Henri-Maurice Perrault and Alexander Cowper Hutchison, and built between 1872 ...
, the Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market (french: Marchテゥ Bonsecours), at 350 rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal, is a two-story domed public market. For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parliament of ...
, Place d'Armes, Pointe-テ-Calliティre Museum
Pointe-テ-Calliティre Museum (french: Musテゥe Pointe-テ-Calliティre) is a museum of archaeology and history in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as part of celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday. The museum has collections of ...
, the Notre-Dame de Montrテゥal Basilica, and the Montreal Science Centre
The Montreal Science Centre () is a science museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Quai King-Edward ( King Edward Pier) in the Old Port of Montreal. Established in 2000 and originally known as the ''iSci Centre'', the museum chan ...
.
Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored. Old Montreal is accessible from the downtown core via the underground city
An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of thes ...
and is served by several STM bus routes and Metro stations, ferries to the South Shore and a network of bicycle paths.
The riverside area adjacent to Old Montreal is known as the Old Port. The Old Port was the site of the Port of Montreal
The Port of Montreal (french: Port de Montrテゥal) ( ACI Canadian Port Code: 0395, UN/LOCODE: CA MTR) is a cruise and transshipment point located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Quテゥbec, Canada. The port operates as an international contain ...
, but its shipping operations have been moved to a larger site downstream, leaving the former location as a recreational and historical area maintained by Parks Canada
Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...
. The new Port of Montreal is Canada's largest container port and the largest inland port on Earth.
Mount Royal
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park, one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
, who also designed New York's Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet
A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...
overlooking Downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake, a short ski
A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...
slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is use ...
, a sculpture garden
A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings.
A sculpture garden may be private, owned by a ...
, Smith House, an interpretive centre
An interpretation centre, interpretive centre, or visitor interpretive centre is an institution for dissemination of knowledge of natural or cultural heritage. Interpretation centres are a kind of new-style museum, often associated with visitor c ...
, and a well-known monument to Sir George-テ液ienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist and cultural activities.
The mountain is home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery
Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, a Reform Judaism burial ground, is within the Mount Royal grounds. Th ...
is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery
Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (french: Cimetiティre Notre-Dame-des-Neiges) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Cテエte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grテ「ce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run a ...
is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
. In 1901, the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ワ。ワェワ杲。, translit=Mariam; ar, ルリアル館, translit=Maryam; grc, ホ慚アマ∃ッホア, translit=Marテュa; la, Maria; cop, 箚倪イ≫イ」箚凪イ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
when praying
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified an ...
to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the John the Baptist Society and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Montrテゥal had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
According to Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, at the 2016 Canadian census
The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census. ...
the city had 1,704,694 inhabitants. A total of 4,098,927 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area
The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of sta ...
(CMA) at the same 2016 census, up from 3,934,078 at the 2011 census (within 2011 CMA boundaries), which is a population growth of 4.19% from 2011 to 2016. In 2015, the Greater Montreal population was estimated at 4,060,700. According to StatsCan, by 2030, the Greater Montreal Area is expected to number 5,275,000 with 1,722,000 being visible minorities.
In the 2016 census, children under 14 years of age (691,345) constituted 16.9%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (671,690) numbered 16.4% of the total population of the CMA.
Ethnicity
People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups. The largest reported European ethnicities in the 2006 census were French
French (french: franテァais(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 ...
23%, Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25窶33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
10%, Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***テ永re, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
5%, English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
4%, Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
3%, and Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
2%.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% that of Greater Montreal, are members of a visible minority (non-white) group, up from 5.2% in 1981.
Visible minorities comprised 34.2% of the population in the 2016 census
Sixteen or 16 may refer to:
*16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17
*one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016
Films
* ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film
* ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...
. The five most numerous visible minorities are Black Canadians
Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...
(10.3%), Arab Canadians
Arab Canadians (french: Arabo-Canadiens) come from all of the countries of the Arab world. According to the 2021 Census, there were 694,015 Canadians, or 1.87%, who claimed Arab ancestry. According to the 2011 Census there were 380,620 Canadia ...
(7.3%), Latin Americans
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethn ...
(4.1%), South Asian Canadian
South Asian Canadians are Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent, which includes the nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives.
The term South Asian C ...
(3.3%), and Chinese Canadians
, native_name =
, native_name_lang =
, image = Chinese Canadian population by province.svg
, image_caption = Chinese Canadians as percent of population by province / territory
, pop = 1,715,7704.63% of the ...
(3.3%). Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act Employment equity, as defined in federal Canadian law by the ''Employment Equity Act'' (french: Loi sur l窶凖ゥquitテゥ en matiティre d窶册mploi), requires federal jurisdiction employers to engage in proactive employment practices to increase the represe ...
as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-white in colour".
Language
In terms of mother language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area
Greater Montreal (french: Grand Montrテゥal) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with a ...
, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in ''s ...
, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Berber language
The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight,, ber, label=Tuareg Tifinagh, 箏懌オ寂オ」箏冷オ, ) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by Berber commun ...
(0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.7%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal among Canadian cities, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English possessed by most of its residents.
Immigration
The 2021 census reported that immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
(individuals born outside Canada) comprise 576,125 persons or 33.4% of the total population of Montreal. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
(47,550 persons or 8.3%), Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
(43,840 persons or 7.6%), France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
(39,275 persons or 6.8%), Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
(33,005 persons or 5.7%), Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
(30,215 persons or 5.2%), China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(26,335 persons or 4.6%), Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, Repテコblica de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
(20,475 persons or 3.6%), Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, ルル証ィル壷ル借ァル, translit=lubnト], ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
(17,455 persons or 3.0%), Vietnam (16,395 persons or 2.8%), and India (13,575 persons or 2.4%).
Religion
The Greater Montreal Area is predominantly Catholic Church, Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec was among the lowest in Canada in 1998. Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal), Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathテゥdrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal (french: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located at 3800 Queen Mary Road in the Cテエte-des-Neiges neighborhood on Mount Royal's Westmount Summit in ...
.
Some 49.5% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (35.0%), primarily because of descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican Church in Canada, United Church of Canada, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 11.3%, with a further 3.2% consisting mostly of Eastern Orthodox, Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox parishes.
Islam is the largest non-Christian religious group, with 218,395 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada at 12.7%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 35,930. In cities such as Cテエte Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Economy
Montreal has the second-largest economy of Canadian cities based on GDP[ Toronto was first in Canada with GDP.] and the largest in Quebec. In 2014, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for of Quebec's GDP. The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and is the headquarters of the Montreal Exchange. In recent decades, the city was widely seen as weaker than that of Toronto and other major Canadian cities, but it has recently experienced a revival.
Industries include aerospace, electronics, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco, petrochemicals, and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil engineering, civil, mechanical engineering, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal was the fourth-largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is one of the largest inland ports in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a transshipment point for cereal, grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency is in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an International Olympic Committee, Olympic body); the Airports Council International (the association of the world's airports 窶 ACI World); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some other international organizations in various fields.
Montreal is a centre of film and television production. The headquarters of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Awards, Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Tテゥlテゥvision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival
The Festival International de Jazz de Montrテゥal ( en, Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz fest ...
, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
Montreal is also a global hub for artificial intelligence research with many companies involved in this sector, such as Facebook AI Research (FAIR), Microsoft Research, Google Brain, DeepMind, Samsung Research and Thales Group (cortAIx). The city is also home to Mila (research institute), an artificial intelligence research institute with over 500 researchers specializing in the field of deep learning, the largest of its kind in the world.
The video game industry has been booming in Montreal since November 2, 1995, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as EA Montreal, EA, Eidos Interactive, BioWare, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, Gameloft mainly because of the quality of local specialized labour, and tax credits offered to the corporations. Recently, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros., announced that it would open a video game studio. Relatively new to the video game industry, it will be Warner Bros. first studio opened, not purchased, and will develop games for such Warner Bros. franchises as Batman and other games from their DC Comics portfolio. The studio will create 300 jobs.
Montreal plays an important role in the finance industry. The sector employs approximately 100,000 people in the Greater Montreal Area. As of March 2018, Montreal is ranked in the 12th position in the Global Financial Centres Index, a ranking of the Competition (companies), competitiveness of financial centres around the world. The city is home to the Montreal Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in Canada and the only financial derivatives exchange in the country. The corporate headquarters of the Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the biggest banks in Canada, were in Montreal. While both banks moved their headquarters to Toronto, Ontario, their legal corporate offices remain in Montreal. The city is home to head offices of two smaller banks, National Bank of Canada and Laurentian Bank of Canada. The Caisse de dテゥpテエt et placement du Quテゥbec, an institutional investor managing assets totalling $248 billion CAD, has its main business office in Montreal. Many foreign subsidiaries operating in the financial sector also have offices in Montreal, including HSBC, Aon (company), Aon, Sociテゥtテゥ Gテゥnテゥrale, BNP Paribas and AXA.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, Air Transat, CAE (company), CAE, Saputo Incorporated, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Stingray Group, Quebecor, Ultramar, Kruger Inc., Jean Coutu Group, Uniprix, Proxim (pharmacy), Proxim, Domtar, Le Chテ「teau, Power Corporation, Cellcom Communications, Bell Canada. Standard Life (Canada), Standard Life, Hydro-Quテゥbec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, Tembec, Canada Steamship Lines, Fednav, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., Via Rail, GardaWorld, Novacam Technologies, SOLABS, Dollarama, Rona (company), Rona and the Caisse de dテゥpテエt et placement du Quテゥbec.
The Montreal Oil Refining Centre is the largest refining centre in Canada, with companies like Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals, and more. Shell decided to close the refining centre in 2010, throwing hundreds out of work and causing an increased dependence on foreign refineries for eastern Canada.
Culture
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle (2007 magazine), ''Monocle'' magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French-language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia, and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture. Montreal was designated as the World Book Capital for the year 2005 by 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 ...
.
Being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. The city has produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, dance, and music, with a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. Another distinctive characteristic of cultural life is the vibrancy of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, including its more than 100 annual festivals, the largest being the Montreal International Jazz Festival which is the largest jazz festival in the world. Other popular events include the Just for Laughs (largest comedy festival in the world), Montreal World Film Festival, Les FrancoFolies de Montrテゥal, , Pop Montreal, Divers/Citテゥ, Fiertテゥ Montrテゥal and the Montreal Fireworks Festival, and many smaller festivals. The city of Montreal is also widely recognized for its diverse and vibrant night life, which is considered a vital part of the local cultural ecosystem.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown
Place des Arts
has the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Mテゥtropolitain du Grand Montrテゥal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montrテゥal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts are the Opテゥra de Montrテゥal and the city's chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as , La La La Human Steps, , and the have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Nicknamed ' (the city of a hundred steeples), Montreal is renowned for its churches. There are an estimated 650 churches on the island, with 450 of them dating back to the 1800s or earlier. Mark Twain noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal), Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, Montreal, St Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal (french: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located at 3800 Queen Mary Road in the Cテエte-des-Neiges neighborhood on Mount Royal's Westmount Summit in ...
. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world, after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Beginning in the 1940s, Quebec literature began to shift from pastoral tales romanticising the French Canadians, French-Canadian country-side to writing set in the multicultural city of Montreal. Notable pioneering works describing the character of the city include Gabrielle Roy's 1945 novel The Tin Flute, ''Bonheur D'Occasion'', translated as ''The Tin Flute'', and Gwethalyn Graham's 1944 novel ''Earth and High Heaven''. Subsequent writers of fiction who have set their work in Montreal have included Mordecai Richler, Claude Jasmin, Francine Noel, and Heather O'Neill, among List of people from Montreal, many others.
Sports
The most popular sport is ice hockey. The professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montrテゥal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montrテゥal), officially ...
, is one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey窶猫NH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams窶25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL), and has won an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
championships. The Canadiens' most recent Stanley Cup victory came in 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, 1993. They have major rivalries with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, both of which are also Original Six teams, and with the Ottawa Senators, the closest team geographically. The Canadiens have played at the Bell Centre since 1996. Prior to that they played at the Montreal Forum.
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) play at Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Universitテゥ McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also hosted the 2008 Grey Cup. The Alouettes have won the Grey Cup seven times, most recently in 98th Grey Cup, 2010. The Alouettes has had two periods on hiatus. During the second one, the Montreal Machine played in the World League of American Football in 1991 and 1992. The McGill Redbirds and Martlets, McGill Redbirds, Concordia Stingers, and Montreal Carabins, Universitテゥ de Montrテゥal Carabins play in the U Sports football league.
Montreal has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946 Jackie Robinson broke the Baseball colour line with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park Stadium until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 36 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
CF Montrテゥal (formerly known as the Montreal Impact) are the city's professional soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. They joined North America's biggest soccer league, Major League Soccer, in 2012. The Montreal games of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium, and the venue hosted Montreal games in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on テ四e Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula One calendar in 2010. It was dropped from the calendar again since 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002 to 2007, and was home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a Xfinity Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and the Montrテゥal 200, a Grand American Road Racing Association, Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the site of Jarry Park, is used for the Canada Masters, Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a ATP World Tour Masters 1000, Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a WTA Premier tournaments, Premier tournament on the Women's Tennis Association, WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium cost $1.5 billion; with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal was the host city for the 17th unicycling world championship and convention (UNICON) in August 2014.
Media
Montreal is Canada's second-largest media market, and the centre of francophone Canada's media industry.
There are four Terrestrial television, over-the-air English-language television stations: CBMT-DT (CBC Television), CFCF-DT (CTV Television Network, CTV), CKMI-DT (Global Television Network, Global) and CJNT-DT (Citytv). There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: CBFT-DT (Ici Radio-Canada Tテゥlテゥ, Ici Radio-Canada), CFTM-DT (TVA (Canadian TV network), TVA), CFJP-DT (Noovo), CIVM-DT (Tテゥlテゥ-Quテゥbec), and CFTU-DT (Canal Savoir).
Montreal has three daily newspapers, the English-language ''Montreal Gazette'' and the French-language ''Le Journal de Montrテゥal'', and ''Le Devoir''; another French-language daily, ''La Presse (Canadian newspaper), La Presse'', became an online daily in 2018. There are two free French dailies, ''Metro International, Mテゥtro'' and ''24 Hours (newspaper), 24 Heures''. Montreal has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
Government
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the city council.
The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The council consists of 65 members from all boroughs. The council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the natural environment, environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The council is required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to those of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the city council.
Standing committees are the prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city is only one component of the larger Montreal Metropolitan Community (Communautテゥ Mテゥtropolitaine de Montrテゥal, CMM), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers , with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
Montreal is the seat of the Judicial districts of Quebec, judicial district of Montreal, which includes the city and the other communities on the island.
Policing
Law enforcement on the island itself is provided by the ''SPVM, Service de Police de la Ville de Montrテゥal,'' or the SPVM for short.
Crime
The overall crime rate in Montreal has declined, with a few notable exceptions, with murders at the lowest rate since 1972 (23 murders in 2016). Sex crimes have increased 14.5 per cent between 2015 and 2016 and fraud cases have increased by 13 per cent over the same period. The major criminal organizations active in Montreal are the Rizzuto crime family, Hells Angels and West End Gang.
Education
The Education in Quebec, education system in Quebec is different from other systems in North America. Between high school (which ends at grade 11) and university students must go through an additional school called CEGEP. CEGEPs offer pre-university (2-years) and technical (3-years) programs. In Montreal, List of CEGEPs, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Centre de services scolaire de Montrテゥal (CSDM), Centre de services scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys and the Centre de services scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'テ四e.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board.
With four universities, seven other degree-awarding institutions, and 12 CEGEPs in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
Higher education (English)
* McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Universitテゥ McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
is one of Canada's leading post-secondary institutions and is widely regarded as a world-class institution. In 2021, McGill was ranked as the top medical-doctoral university in Canada for the seventeenth consecutive year by Maclean's and second in Canada and the 27th best university in the world by the QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...
.
* Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Universitテゥ Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
was created from the merger of Concordia University (Montreal)#Sir George Williams University, Sir George Williams University and Concordia University (Montreal)#Loyola College, Loyola College in 1974. The university has been ranked as one of the most comprehensive universities in Canada by Macleans.
Higher education (French)
* ''Universitテゥ de Montrテゥal
The Universitテゥ de Montrテゥal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Cテエte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Cテエte-de ...
'' (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada and ranked as one of the top universities in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the ''テ営ole Polytechnique de Montrテゥal'' (School of Engineering) and ''HEC Montrテゥal'' (School of Business). HEC Montreal was founded in 1907 and is considered one of the best business schools in Canada.
* ''Universitテゥ du Quテゥbec テ Montrテゥal'' (''UQAM'') is the Montreal campus of ''Universitテゥ du Quテゥbec''. ''UQAM'' generally specializes in liberal-arts, although many programs related to the sciences are available.
** The ''Universitテゥ du Quテゥbec'' network also has three separately run schools in Montrテゥal, notably the ''テ営ole de technologie supテゥrieure (ETS)'', the ''テ営ole nationale d'administration publique (テ丑AP)'' and the ''Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)''.
* ''L'Institut de formation thテゥologique de Montrテゥal des Prテェtres de Saint-Sulpice'' (''IFTM'') specializes in theology and philosophy.
* ''Conservatoire de musique du Quテゥbec テ Montrテゥal'' offers both a Bachelor's degree, Bachelor and a Master's degree, Master program in classical music.
Additionally, two French-language universities, Universitテゥ de Sherbrooke and Universitテゥ Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's South Shore (Montreal), south shore. Also, lInstitut de pastorale des Dominicains'' is Montreal's university centre of Ottawa's Collティge Universitaire Dominicain/Dominican University College. The ''Facultテゥ de thテゥologie テゥvangテゥlique'' is Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) 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. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
's Acadia University Montreal based serving French Protestant community in Canada by offering both a Bachelor and a Master program in theology
Transportation
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion. Commuting traffic from the cities and towns in the West Island (such as Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Pointe-Claire) is compounded by commuters entering the city that use twenty-four road crossings from numerous off-island suburbs on the North Shore (Laval), North and South Shores. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are presently four road bridges (including two of the country's busiest) along with one bridge-tunnel, two railway bridges, and a Metro line. The far narrower Riviティre des Prairies to the city's north, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by nine road bridges (seven to the city of Laval and two that span directly to the north shore) and a Metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute (Quebec), Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes Quebec Autoroute 10, A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), Quebec Autoroute 15, A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), Quebec Autoroute 13, A-13 (aka Chomedey Autoroute), Quebec Autoroute 20, A-20, Quebec Autoroute 25, A-25, Quebec Autoroute 40, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), Quebec Autoroute 520, A-520 and Quebec Route 136 (Montreal), R-136 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30
Autoroute 30 (A-30), or the Autoroute de l'Acier (In English, ''Steel Freeway'') is an Autoroute in Quebec, Canada. Construction of the A-30 dates back to the early days of autoroute construction in the 1960s. Originally called Highway 3, the A- ...
on Montreal's south shore, which will be a bypass (road), bypass for trucks and intercity traffic.
Sociテゥtテゥ de transport de Montrテゥal
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system are operated by the Sociテゥtテゥ de transport de Montrテゥal (STM, Montreal Transit Society). The List of Montreal bus routes, STM bus network consists of 203 daytime and 23 night time routes. STM bus routes serve 1,347,900 passengers on an average weekday in 2010. It also provides adapted transport and wheelchair-accessible buses. The STM won the award of Outstanding Public Transit System in North America by the APTA in 2010. It was the first time a Canadian company won this prize.
The Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and has 68 stations on four lines. It is Canada's busiest subway system in total daily passenger usage, serving 1,050,800 passengers on an average weekday (as of Q1 2010). Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who later brought the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The Metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, Quebec, Longueuil, and in 2007 was extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal, with three new stations. The metro has recently been modernizing its trains, purchasing new ''Azur'' models with inter-connected wagons.
Air
Montreal has two international airports, one for passengers only, the other for cargo. Montrテゥal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as ''Dorval Airport'') in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters of Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montrテゥal-Mirabel International Airport, Montreal Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, Quebec, Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation and some passenger services. In 2018, Trudeau was the List of the busiest airports in Canada, third busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic and aircraft movements, handling 19.42 million passengers, and 240,159 aircraft movements. With 63% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport.
It is one of Air Canada's major airline hub, hubs and operates on average approximately 2,400 flights per week between Montreal and 155 destinations, spread on five continents.
Airlines servicing Trudeau offer year-round non-stop flights to five continents, namely Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. It is one of only two airports in Canada with direct flights to five continents or more.
Rail
Montreal-based Via Rail Canada provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City 窶 Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, operates its ''Adirondack (Amtrak), Adirondack'' daily to New York. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station (Montreal), Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station (Montreal), Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street, Montreal, Peel Street until 1995.[ With the Port of Montreal kept open year-round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus.] CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware and Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, Quebec, Buckingham, the Central Maine and Quebec Railway to Halifax, and Canadian National Railway (CN). The CPR's flagship train, ''The Canadian'', ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, but in 1978 all passenger services were transferred to Via. Since 1990, ''The Canadian'' has terminated in Toronto instead of in Montreal.
Montreal-based CN was formed in 1919 by the Canadian government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. It was formed from the Grand Trunk Railway, Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN divested itself of passenger services in favour of Via. CN's flagship train, the ''Super Continental'', ran daily from Central Station to Vancouver and subsequently became a Via train in 1978. It was eliminated in 1990 in favour of rerouting ''The Canadian''.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by Exo (public transit), Exo, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal with six lines. It carried an average of 79,000 daily passengers in 2014, making it the seventh busiest in North America following New York, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, and Mexico City.
On April 22, 2016, the forthcoming automated rapid transit system, the Rテゥseau express mテゥtropolitain (REM), was unveiled. Groundbreaking occurred April 12, 2018, and construction of the networkconsisting of three branches, 26 stations, and the conversion of the region's busiest commuter railwaycommenced the following month. To be opened in three phases as of 2022, the REM will be completed by mid-2024, becoming the fourth largest automated rapid transit network after the Dubai Metro, the Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore), Singapore Mass Rapid Transit, and the SkyTrain (Vancouver), Vancouver SkyTrain. Most of it will be financed by pension fund manager Caisse de dテゥpテエt et placement du Quテゥbec (CDPQ Infra).
On December 15, 2020, CDPQ Infra announced another network, the REM de l'Est. None of its trackage will link to the initial network, although its inner terminus close to the city's centre is to double as a passenger interchange. Covering the eastern half of the island, it is to be in length with 23 stations. Plans to elevate its trunk segment through the eastern end of the city centre and an adjacent inner-city district, however, have become controversial, while the north-bound one of its pair of branches is to be tunnelled through suburban districts. And by January 18, 2021, North Shore mayors of municipalities north of the Riviティre des Mille テ四es announced their desires to erect yet another REM network paralleling the river to link their North Shore communities between Oka and L'Assomption, a distance of roughly .
Bike Share Program
Main articles
The city of Montreal is world-renowned for being in the top 20 most cyclist-friendly cities around the globe. It follows that they have one of the world's most successful bike share systems in BIXI Montrテゥal, BIXI. First launched in 2009 with Montreal-based PBSC Urban Solutions ICONIC bikes, the bicycle-sharing scheme has since grown its fleet to include 750 docking and charging stations across the different neighbourhoods with 9000 bikes available for users. In what the STM states is a mission to combine different forms of mobility, transit card holders can now take advantage of their membership to also rent bicycles at select stations.
Notable people
International relations
Sister cities
* Algiers, Algeria 窶 1999
* Brussels, Belgium
* Bucharest, Romania
* Busan, South Korea 窶 2000
* Boston, United States 窶 1995
* Guadalajara, Mexico 窶 2004
* Hanoi, Vietnam 窶 1997
* Hiroshima, Japan 窶 1998
* Lyon, France 窶 1979
* Manila, Philippines 窶 2005
* Melbourne, Australia 窶 2007
* Port-au-Prince, Haiti 窶 1995
* Quito, Ecuador 窶 1997
* Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 窶 1998
* San Salvador, El Salvador 窶 2001
* Shanghai, China 窶 1985
* Tunis, Tunisia 窶 1999
* Yerevan, Armenia 窶 1998
Friendship cities
* Paris, France 窶 2006
See also
* List of mayors of Montreal
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
Notes
References
Further reading
* Collard, Edgar A. (1976). ''Montrテゥal: the Days That Are No More'', in series, ''Totem Book[s].'' This ed. slightly edited [anew]. Toronto, Ont.: Doubleday Canada, [1978], cop. 1976. x, 140, [4] p., ill. in b&w with maps and numerous sketches.
* Gagnon, Robert (1996). ''Anglophones at the C.E.C.M.: a Reflection of the Linguistic Duality of Montrテゥal''. Trans. by Peter Keating. Montrテゥal: Commission des テゥcoles catholiques de Montrテゥal. 124 p., ill. with b&w photos.
*
* Heritage Montrテゥal (1992). ''Steps in Time = Patrimoine en marche''. Montrテゥal: Quテゥbテゥcor. 4 vol. of 20, 20 p. each. Text printed "tテェte-bテェche" in English and in French. On title covers: "Montrテゥal, fテェte, 350 ans".
*
* Tomテs, Mariona. "Exploring the metropolitan trap: the case of Montreal." ''International Journal of Urban and Regional Research'' (2012) 36#3 pp: 554窶567. .
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005)
Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal
Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, "Montrテゥal", in James Ciment, ed., ''Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History'', (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
External links
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{{Authority control
Montreal,
Cities and towns in Quebec
1832 establishments in Canada
Administrative regions of Quebec
Former colonial capitals in Canada
Catholic missions of New France
Hudson's Bay Company trading posts
Populated places established in 1642
Quebec populated places on the Saint Lawrence River
Port settlements in Quebec