L'île Sainte-Marie (''English: Sainte-Marie Island'') is a

river island River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online. Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isla ...

of the

Richelieu River The Richelieu River () is a river of Quebec, Canada, and a major right-bank tributary of the St. Lawrence River. It rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows northward through Quebec and empties into the St. Lawrence. It was formerly kno ...

. It is located in the territory of the municipality of

Carignan Carignan (also known as Mazuelo, Bovale Grande, Cariñena, Carinyena, Samsó, Carignane, and Carignano) is a red grape variety of Spanish origin that is more commonly found in French wine but is widely planted throughout the western Mediterra ...

, in the

La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality La Vallée-du-Richelieu ''(The Valley of the Richelieu)'' is a regional county municipality in the Montérégie region in southwestern Quebec, Canada. Its seat is McMasterville. It surrounds the Richelieu River as the river flows north from Lake ...

, in the administrative region from

Montérégie Montérégie () is an administrative region in the southwest part of Quebec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Châteauguay, Longueuil, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Vaudreuil-Dorion. The ...

, in the south of

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

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

, to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Île Sainte-Marie is located downstream from Sainte-Thérèse Island, from which it is separated by a narrow channel.

Geography

Very elongated in shape, Île Sainte-Marie measures in length by of maximum width. It is connected to the left bank of the Richelieu River by a road which passes over the pier forming the right bank of the

Chambly Canal The Chambly Canal is a National Historic Site of Canada in the Province of Quebec, running along the Richelieu River past Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Carignan, and Chambly. Building commenced in 1831 and the canal opened in 1843. It served as a maj ...

. Île Sainte-Marie faces east from the confluence of La Grande Décharge (stream coming from the east); at this location, the distance between the island and the east bank of the Richelieu River is . Île Sainte-Marie also faces the Chambly Canal National Historic Site of Canada, which is located on the west side of the canal.Atlas of Canada from the Department of Natural Resources Canada - Characteristics extracted from the geographic map, the database and the instrumentation of the site - consulted on May 14, 2020.
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History

Quebec historians generally locate the old

fort Sainte Thérèse Fort Sainte Thérèse is the name given to three different forts built successively on one site, among a series of fortifications constructed during the 17th century by France along the Richelieu River, in the province of Quebec, in Montérégie. ...

, which has disappeared today, opposite Île Sainte-Marie.

Toponymy

The name of

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

comes from that of a former owner, Jean Sainte-Marie.Commission de toponymie du Québec site - Bank of place names - Toponym "Île Sainte-Marie".
/ref> The toponym "Île Sainte-Marie" was formalized on December 5, 1968 at the Place Names Bank of the

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

Occupation

Formerly an agricultural territory, Île Sainte-Marie is now occupied by around thirty residences. The "Rue de l'Île-Sainte-Marie" is the main road on the island.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:ainte-Marie, island River islands of Quebec River islands La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality