Founded by the French in 1642, Montreal is one of the oldest cities in North America. Its name comes from the old French form of the name of the mountain, Mount Royal, that dominates the city. Montreal has a northern climate; with an average yearly snowfall of 214 cm (84 in), winter snowdrifts can become deep, and popular winter activities are skating, skiing, and ice hockey.

Montreal is located on Montreal Island in the Hochelaga Archipelago, where the Ottawa River flows into the St. Lawrence River. The archipelago has more than 320 islands and about one-third of it is occupied by the city proper, which covers 177 sq km (68 sq mi).

The largest city and second largest metropolitan area of Canada, Montreal is one of Canada's leading commercial, industrial, and service centres. It is also a centre of Canadian intellectual and cultural life and the chief cultural centre of the French part of Canada. Most of the residents are of French descent and speak the French language; however, a significant minority speaks English, giving Montreal a bilingual cosmopolitain character.

Most of the city streets are arranged in a grid pattern. The major thoroughfare, St. Lawrence Boulevard (popularly known as The Main), crosses the island from south to north and was traditionally the border between Francophone (French-speaking) east Montréal and the Anglophone (English-speaking) west part. Cross streets in the city are named and numbered as being east and west of that boulevard. The heart of the city lies between the mountain and the St. Lawrence River. The original site was along the river in an area now called Old Montréal. It is the main tourist attraction of the city, containing numerous landmark buildings.

Old Montréal was saved from the cycle of demolition and reconstruction by the development of a new, modern central business district located to the northwest around Boulevard René-Lévesque. Starting in the 1950's with the building of Place Ville-Marie, an office complex whose cross-shaped main tower is a landmark of modern architecture, numerous skyscrapers were built. Another famous Montréal feature also began with Place Ville-Marie: the underground city. Underground passages link office complexes, parking facilities, boutiques, and galleries with railway and subway (Métro) stations, hotels, restaurants, department stores, cultural institutions, and the convention centre (Palais des Congrès).

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