Quebec
City or Québec (French: Ville de
Québec) is the capital of the Canadian
province of Quebec. Quebec's Old Town
(Le Vieux-Québec), the only North
American fortified city north of Mexico
whose walls still exist, was declared
a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.
The city, following the 2002 merger with
several former surrounding municipalities,
has a population of 528,595, while the
metropolitan area has a population of
682,757 (2004). Quebec City is known for
its Winter Carnival and the Château
Frontenac, an historic hotel which dominates
the city skyline. The Assemblée
nationale du Québec (provincial
parliament), the Musée national
des beaux-arts du Quebec (Museum of Fine
Arts) and the Museum of Civilization are
found within or near Vieux-Québec.
Among
the tourist attractions in the area are
Montmorency Falls near the borough of
Beauport and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
in the town of Beaupré. Quebec
City is the second oldest existing European
settlement in Canada (after St. John's).
It was founded by Samuel de Champlain
on 3 July 1608 at the site of a First
Nations settlement called Stadacona. It
was to this settlement that the name Canada
refers (kanata is an Iroquoian word meaning
"village"). Quebec City was
captured by the British in 1759 and held
until 1763. It was the site of the Battle
of the Plains of Abraham during the Seven
Years War, in which British troops under
General James Wolfe defeated the French
general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and took
the city. France later ceded New France
to Britain.
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