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. The city is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, with the establishment of a permanent trading post in 1608.
French rule
French explorer Jacques Cartier was the first European to ascend the St. Lawrence Gulf, claiming "Canada" for France (and the coming addition of a newly founded "Acadie" – known today as the Province of Nova Scotia) to create a dominion known as New France. Cartier and his crew first visited in the 1535 an Iroquois settlement of 500 persons called Stadacona, in a site located in present-day Quebec City. He came back in 1541 with some 400 persons to establish Fort Charlesbourg-Royal, the earliest known French settlement in North America (whose site is located in the former town of Cap-Rouge, which merged into Quebec City in 2002). The fort was abandoned a year later in large part due to the hostility of the natives combined with the harsh winter.
After 1543 there were still fur trading activities in the area but it was only 60 years later, on 3 July 1608, that Quebec City (intended as a permanent trading post) was established, on the top and on the foot of Cape Diamant by Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua de Mons. By the time Champlain came to this site, the Iroquois population had disappeared and been replaced by Innu and Algonquins. Champlain and his crew built a wooden fort which they called "l'habitation" within only a few days of their arrival.
One of the strategic advantage of the site was its relative isolation from the competition of other traders active downstream in the Gulf area, as well as its promontory from which could be observed any vessel going further upstream into the continent The word "Kebec" is an Algonquin word meaning "where the river narrows." In 1620, Champlain built Fort Saint-Louis on the top of Cape Diamond, near the present location of the Chateau Frontenac. The town was briefly taken by English troops during the surrender of Quebec, from 1629 to 1632, after which it was returned to France. When the French returned, they noticed that most buildings had been destroyed. The reconstruction started a year later, and Charles de Montmagny, the first governor, was eventually dispatched in the town to oversee the development of the colony
Demographics and population
After the settlement of Port Royal in Acadia (1605), the next colonization effort by the French occurred in 1608. Samuel de Champlain built "l'Habitation" to house 28 people. However, the first winter proved formidable, and 20 of 28 men died. By 1615, the first four missionaries arrived in Quebec. Among the first successful French settlers were Marie Rollet and her husband, Louis Hébert, credited as "les premier agriculteurs du Canada" by 1617. The first French child born in Quebec was Helene Desportes, in 1620, to Pierre Desportes and Francoise Langlois, whose father was a member of the Hundred Associates.
The population of Quebec City arrived at 100 in 1627, less than a dozen of whom were women. However, with the invasion of Quebec by David Kirke and his brothers in 1628, Champlain returned to France with approximately 60 out of 80 settlers. When the French returned to Quebec in 1632, they constructed a city based on the framework of a traditional French "ville" in which "the 17th century city was a reflection of its society."
Quebec remained an outpost until well into the 1650s. As in other locations throughout New France, the population could be split into the colonial elites, including clergy and government officials, the craftsmen and artisans, and the engagés (indentured servants). Quebec was designed so that the inhabitants of better quality lived in the upper city, closer to the centres of power such as the government and Jesuit college, whereas the lower town was primarily populated by merchants, sailors and artisans. The city contained only about thirty homes in 1650, and one hundred by 1663, for a population of over 500.