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History of Quebec City. The history of Quebec City extends back thousands of years, with its first inhabitants being the First Nations peoples of the region. The arrival of French explorers in the 16th century eventually led to the establishment of Quebec City, in present-day Quebec, Canada.
Explorer Samuel de Champlain founded a French settlement here in 1608, and adopted the Algonquin name. Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec ( Vieux-Québec) are the only fortified city walls remaining in the Americas north of Mexico.
Founded in the 17th century, Québec City bears eloquent testimony to important stages in the European settlement of the Americas: it was the capital of New France and, after 1760, of the new British colony. The Historic District of Old Québec is an urban area of about 135 hectares.
Quebec City is one of the oldest settlements in North America. It is named after the Algonquin Kébec, meaning "where the river narrows." The French explorer Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) built a fort at the site in 1535, where he stayed for the winter before returning to France the following year.
The city was created in 1608 at a First Nations (native) Canadian place called Stadacona. People came from France to live there. The English captured the city in 1759 during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The walls made to keep the city safe are still there.
Quebec is a city steeped in history, one that precedes the establishment of Canada (July 1, 1867) by 259 years. While Samuel de Champlain is known as the father of Quebec, it was Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, who first explored the Saint-Lawrence River and surrounding regions in the late 16th-century.
