Montreal

I

Introduction

Montreal, city, Île-de-Montréal County, southern Quebec Province, Canada, on the Île-de-Montréal (Montreal Island), at the confluence of the St Lawrence and Ottawa rivers. Montreal is Canada's most populous city; its metropolitan area population, however, is second to that of Toronto. Most of Montreal's citizens speak French as their first language. The landscape of Montreal is primarily flat, but encompasses scattered hills, including Mount Royal (233 m/764 ft high), situated in the centre of the city. The area around Mount Royal is densely urbanized, and the population spreads along river arms and trunk roads into the suburbs. The business district is wedged between the St Lawrence River and Mount Royal. High office buildings are concentrated downtown around René Lévesque Boulevard, and large department stores are situated on St Catherine Street. Population 1,039,534 (2001).

II

Economy

Montreal is a major commercial, manufacturing, transport, and financial centre. Metropolitan Montreal has a diversified economy dominated by the service sector. The city is the site of many corporate headquarters and research-and-development institutions, as well as the Montreal Stock Exchange (established 1874). Although Montreal's economy has suffered a decline since the mid-1980s, especially in manufacturing, many people are still employed by factories producing pharmaceuticals and chemicals, textiles and clothing, processed food and beverages, high-technology electronic and communications equipment, and aerospace and other transport products. Roughly 80 per cent of the Canadian fur manufacturing and retail business is based in Montreal. Another important part of the city's economic base is tourism.

Montreal is a major port on the St Lawrence Seaway (opened 1959), noted especially for handling grain and containerized freight. It also is the site of the national railway headquarters, maintains five bridges over the St Lawrence River, and is served by numerous trunk roads, an underground railway, and two international airports, at Mirabel and Dorval.

III

Places of Interest

Institutes of higher education include McGill University (1821), the University of Montreal (1876), and the Université du Québec à Montreal (1968). Concordia University, created in 1974 from Sir George Williams University and Loyola College, is also there.

Montreal contains a number of major cultural institutions. Among them are the Place des Arts, a performing arts centre, home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art; the McCord Museum, which houses a collection of Canadian art and artefacts; the Canadian Centre for Architecture, a museum and study centre; a botanical garden; a zoo; and a planetarium. The Parc des Îles, an entertainment and recreation park, occupies the site of Expo '67 (an international exhibition held in 1967) on Sainte-Hélène Island. Olympic Park, which includes Olympic Stadium (home of the Expos, the city's major league baseball team), was the scene of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The Forum is the home of the Montréal Canadiens, a founding member of the National Hockey League in 1917 and professional ice hockey's most successful franchise.

Architecturally, Montreal offers a balanced mix of the old and the new. From the Place d'Armes, one can admire the St Sulpice Seminary, completed c. 1685; the Notre-Dame Basilica (1829); and four large office buildings, dating from 1848 (the Bank of Montreal) to 1968 (the Banque Nationale). Adjacent to this square and stretching to the waterfront is Old Montreal, with architectural relics such as the Maison St Gabriel (1668), a prototype of the early rural homes of Quebec, and the French-style Chateau de Ramezay (1705), now a museum containing a portrait gallery. The central shopping network, much of it built underground to shelter shoppers from the harsh winters, contains more than 1,600 shops and 200 restaurants.

IV

History

The French explorer Jacques Cartier set foot on Montreal Island in 1535 and visited the tribal village of Hochelaga at the base of the mountain he named Mont Réal (Mount Royal). The first permanent European settlement on the site of present-day Montreal was established in 1642, when the French administrator Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve, founded the mission of Ville Marie on the banks of the St Lawrence River. The community's development was hindered in the 17th century by frequent attacks by Native Americans, but in the 18th century it flourished as a centre for fur-trading. The English captured Montreal in 1760, and the area became part of the British North American empire in 1763. At the start of the American War of Independence in 1775 and 1776, American troops occupied the settlement. After the development of the harbour in the early 19th century, incorporation as a city in 1832, and the arrival of the railway in the middle of the century, Montreal attracted manufacturers and immigrants from all over the world. By the early 20th century, it had become the largest commercial and manufacturing centre in Canada. The Montreal metropolitan area continued to expand but lost its lead to Toronto in the 1970s. Montreal has one of the largest French-speaking populations of any city in the world. Strict laws govern the use of language in business, government, and education.