The Laurentides () is a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

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 ...

. While it is often called the Laurentians in English, the region includes only part of the

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

. It has a total land area of and its population was 589,400 inhabitants as of the 2016 Census. The area is the traditional territory of the

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. French Canadians began settlement in the first half of the 19th century, establishing an agricultural presence throughout the valleys. During the 20th century, the area also became a popular tourist destination, based on a cottage and lake culture in the summer, and a downhill and cross-country

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 partia ...

culture in the winter. Ski resorts include Saint-Sauveur and Mont Tremblant. The Laurentides offer a weekend escape for

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) 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 ...

ers and tourists from New England to Ontario, and with the building of a major highway through the area in the 1970s ( Autoroute 15), the area has experienced much growth. Its largest city is Saint-Jérôme, in its extreme southeast, with a 2011 census population of 68,456 inhabitants.

Administrative divisions

Regional county municipalities

Indian Reserve

Doncaster, Quebec Doncaster ( moh, Tioweró:ton), officially designated as Doncaster 17 by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, is a Mohawk Native Reserve in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada. It belongs to the Mohawk First Nation, specifically the people o ...

Major communities

* Blainville *

Boisbriand Boisbriand is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the north shore of the Rivière des Mille Îles in the Thérèse-De Blainville Regional County Municipality. The Hasidic community of Kiryas Tosh is located w ...

* Deux-Montagnes *

Lachute Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial ...

* Mirabel * Mont-Laurier * Rosemère

* Saint-Colomban * Saint-Eustache * Saint-Jérôme * Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines * Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac *

Sainte-Sophie Sainte-Sophie is a municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, part of the La Rivière-du-Nord Regional County Municipality. History The new Municipality of Sainte-Sophie was created on May 2, 2000, when the old Municipality of S ...

* Sainte-Thérèse

References

External links