In 1535 the French explorer Jacques
Cartier was the first European known to
land on Montréal Island. The city of Montréal
(at first also called Ville Marie) was founded
in May 1642 as a missionary colony. The city's
founder and first governor, Paul de Chomedey,
sieur de Maisonneuve, settled along the Saint
Lawrence with some 40 colonists. After difficult
beginnings, the city prospered as the fur-trading
center of the French colony of New France and
became the gateway to the western interior. By
1760 the city's population of French origin had
reached about 4,000.
In 1760 Montreal surrendered to British forces
that were completing their conquest of Canada
during the French and Indian War (1754-1763).
In the wake of the British conquest a small group
of enterprising merchants, mostly Scots, took
over the fur trade. Their ventures grew into the
North West Company, which built a powerful fur-trading
empire reaching to the Arctic and Pacific oceans.
By then Montreal already had a new role as commercial
centre for the provinces of Lower Canada (now
Quebec) and Upper Canada (now Ontario). The port
of Montréal became a major transhipment point
on the naval route between Britain and the Great
Lakes, fueling rapid growth of the city. In 1844
the city became the capital of Canada, but it
lost this position in 1849 after riotous crowds
burned the buildings of Parliament, Canada's legislature.
By the mid-19th century Montreal was Canada's
leading manufacturing centre, producing a vast
array of durable and consumer goods. It also emerged
as the national railway hub and maintenance centre
with the establishment of the Grand Trunk Railway
of Canada (1852) and the Canadian Pacific (1881).
Montreal was then the commercial, industrial,
and financial metropolis of the country.
Population grew accordingly, reaching 216,650
in 1891 and double by 1911. New suburban municipalities
sprang up on the island, most of which were annexed
to the city between 1883 and 1918. Job prospects
attracted many rural French Canadians, and the
ethnic majority shifted again: by 1911 Francophones
were 63.5 percent of the city's population. With
new immigration at the beginning of the 20th century,
Montreal also became a more cosmopolitan city.
Fundamental changes were taking place. Montréal
had thrived as the link between Britain and Canada,
but the growing integration of Canada into the
North American economy was of more benefit to
Toronto. But Montreal in some ways experienced
a renewal starting in 1960. New public buildings
dotted the landscape. Montreal strengthened its
role as the North American centre of French-language
creative arts and became an international capital
of French culture.
The transformation of Montreal was influenced
by the Quiet Revolution-a period when Francophones
improved their economic and political power in
Quebec province. In 1969 the provincial government
adopted a law requiring French
instruction for most children, and later
legislation required all public signs to be primarily
in French. Today Montreal is still a bilingual
city, but the primary language is now French.
The language question became important again
in the late 1990s. Some Anglophone spokespersons
have asked the government to ease the language
laws, whereas some Francophones have pressed for
stronger legislation limiting the use of English.
The provincial government has decided to maintain
the existing rules, backed by public opinion polls
strongly favoring the status quo
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