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106-753: Not to be confused with Montreal . Monreal may refer to: Places [ edit ] Monreal, Navarre , a town in Navarre, Spain Monreal del Llano , a town in the province of Cuenca, Spain Monreal del Campo , a town in Aragón, Spain Monreal, Masbate , a municipality in the Philippines Monreal, Germany , a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Castle [ edit ] Monreal Castle , also called

212-482: A fur trading post on the Island of Montreal on a site initially named La Place Royale . At the confluence of Petite Riviere and St. Lawrence River , it is where present-day Pointe-à-Callière stands. On his 1616 map, Champlain named the island Lille de Villemenon in honour of the sieur de Villemenon, a French dignitary who was seeking the viceroyship of New France. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained

318-402: A 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood because artists comprise 8% of its labour force. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough has been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments , St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel . The McGill Ghetto is in the extreme southwestern portion of

424-473: A daily average ranging from −10.5 to −9 °C (13.1 to 15.8 °F) in January. However, some winter days rise above freezing, allowing for rain on an average of 4 days in January and February each. Usually, snow covering some or all bare ground lasts on average from the first or second week of December until the last week of March. While the air temperature does not fall below −30 °C (−22 °F) every year,

530-733: A garrison of 390 men 40 miles upriver in a garrison at Les Cèdres, Quebec , to defend Montreal against the British army. In the Battle of the Cedars , Bedel's lieutenant Isaac Butterfield surrendered to George Forster. Forster advanced to Fort Senneville on May 23. By May 24, Arnold was entrenched in Montreal's borough of Lachine . Forster initially approached Lachine, then withdrew to Quinze-Chênes . Arnold's forces then abandoned Lachine to chase Forster. The Americans burned Senneville on May 26. After Arnold crossed

636-466: A hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas : Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral , the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica , St. Patrick's Basilica , and Saint Joseph's Oratory . The Oratory

742-577: A large university population, the drinking age of 18, and the excellent public transportation system combines with other aspects of the Montreal culture to make the city's nightlife unique. The diversity of the clubs in Montreal attests to the popularity of its nightlife, with night clubs, pubs, bars and singing bars ("boîte à chanson"), Latin clubs, African clubs, jazz clubs, lounges, after-hours houses , and strip clubs all attracting different types of customers. The most active parts of Montreal's nightlife are

848-480: A leader, particularly since the 1980s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps , O Vertigo , and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists during videos and concerts. The intelligent and seamless integration of multi-disciplinary arts into the choreography of these troupes helped pave the way for

954-623: A reaction to the perceived corporatization of the Montreal Fringe Festival . The Infringement has since spread to many other cities in North America and Europe. During the period of Prohibition in the United States , Montreal became well known as one of North America's "sin cities" with unparalleled nightlife , a reputation it still holds today. In part, its bustling nightlife is attributed to its relatively late "last call" (3 a.m.),

1060-699: A university student in the QS World University Rankings . In 2018, Montreal was ranked as a global city . Montreal has hosted numerous important international events, including the 1967 International and Universal Exposition , and is the only Canadian city to have hosted the Summer Olympics, having done so in 1976 . The city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One ; the Montreal International Jazz Festival ,

1166-441: A vast network of museums, art galleries, and exhibition centres. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possesses a varied collection of European , First Nations , Inuit , and Canadian arts, including important paintings from Montreal's own Betty Goodwin , James Wilson Morrice , and Paul-Émile Borduas . The Musée d'art contemporain has concentrated its collection mainly on emerging post- war Quebec artists, with arguably some of

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1272-498: Is a huge impromptu drumming festival in which hundreds of drummers are invited to jam. Tam Tams . Theatre in Montreal is dominated by French-language productions, in part because Montreal has traditionally been a centre for most successful Quebec plays. As a result, the most celebrated and internationally recognized Quebec playwrights have all worked in Montreal at some point, including Michel Tremblay ( Les Belles Soeurs , Hosanna ), who revolutionized Quebec theatre by writing in

1378-535: Is a portrait of French-speaking immigrants establishing their lives in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood. The nineteenth-century poet Émile Nelligan , whom American critic Edmund Wilson famously called "the only first-rate Canadian poet, French or English," has many schools and libraries named in his honour in Montreal and around Quebec. Montreal was also the centre of literary modernism in English Canada, led by

1484-514: Is also the cultural capital for English Quebec. The Montreal Gazette newspaper , McGill University , and the Centaur Theatre are traditional hubs of Anglo culture. The cultural divide between Montreal's and Canada's Francophone and Anglophone culture was strong and was famously referred to as the Two Solitudes by Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan. Reflecting their deep-seated colonial roots,

1590-419: Is around 1,000 mm (39 in), including an average of about 210 cm (83 in) of snowfall, which occurs from November through March. Thunderstorms are common from late spring through summer to early fall; additionally, tropical storms or their remnants can cause heavy rains and gales. Montreal averages 2,050 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest season, though slightly wetter than

1696-509: Is bordered by the city of Laval to the north; Longueuil , Saint-Lambert , Brossard , and other municipalities to the south; Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount , Montreal West , Hampstead , Côte Saint-Luc , the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all surrounded by Montreal. Montreal

1802-494: Is classified as a warm-summer humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification : Dfb). Summers are warm to hot and humid with a daily maximum average of 26 to 27 °C (79 to 81 °F) in July; temperatures in excess of 30 °C (86 °F) are common. Conversely, cold fronts can bring crisp, drier and windy weather in the early and later parts of summer. Winter brings cold, snowy, windy, and, at times, icy weather, with

1908-520: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Montreal Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec , the second-largest in Canada , and the ninth-largest in North America . Founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie , or "City of Mary", it is now named after Mount Royal , the triple-peaked mountain around which the early settlement

2014-577: Is home to a diverse collection of cultures and people who generally live together amicably. Other cultural communities, be it first-generation immigrants or long-time settlers in Montreal, have greatly contributed to the originality and flavor of Montreal. Many festivals and parades are organized to celebrate the contribution of these communities, such as the Irish Saint Patrick Parade, the Greek Independence Day Parade, [1] or

2120-705: Is the largest church in Canada, with the largest dome of its kind in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Other well-known churches include Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel , which is sometimes called the Sailors' Church, and the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral , which was completely excavated and suspended above an excavated pit during the construction of part of the Underground City. All of

2226-676: Is the oldest complete building in the city, built between 1669 and 1671. In Point St. Charles , visitors can see the Maison Saint-Gabriel , which can trace its history back to 1698. There are many historic buildings in Old Montreal in their original form: Notre-Dame Basilica, Bonsecours Market , and the 19th‑century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques ). Montreal's earliest buildings are characterized by their uniquely French influence and grey stone construction. A few notable examples of

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2332-626: The Allied forces , was furious over Houde's stand and held him in a prison camp until 1944. That year, the government decided to institute conscription to expand the armed forces and fight the Axis powers . (See Conscription Crisis of 1944 .) Montreal was the official residence of the Luxembourg royal family in exile during World War II. By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million. However, Toronto's growth had begun challenging Montreal's status as

2438-603: The Centaur Theatre . In 1979, David Fennario achieved notable success and notoriety with Canada's first bilingual play, Balconville , which documents rivalries between the English and French working class in the suburb of Pointe-St-Charles. Ethnic theatre, by the 70s, began to be a force, notably with the Black Theatre Workshop under the leadership of artistic director Tyrone Benskin, the Yiddish Theatre established at

2544-623: The Francophonie . It is the largest French-speaking city in North America , and the cultural capital of the Quebec province. The city is a hub for French-language television productions, radio, theatre, circuses, performing arts, film, multimedia, and print publishing. The best talents from French Canada and even the French-speaking areas of the United States converge in Montreal and often perceive

2650-695: The Great Lakes to the Atlantic. Montreal is defined by its location between the Saint Lawrence river to its south and the Rivière des Prairies to its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head mountain called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m (761 ft) above sea level . Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community , and

2756-932: The Montreal Biodome (which reproduces four ecosystems of The Americas ), the Montreal Insectarium , the Montreal Botanical Garden , and the Planetarium . On the West Island , the Ecomuseum draws many visitors, and features an outdoor setting complete with animals native to the area. A recent addition to Montreal's museum scene is the Montreal Science Centre located in the Old Port , and featuring many hands-on experiments in various fields of science. The Laval Cosmodome houses both Space Camp Canada and

2862-524: The Montreal Biosphere , and Moshe Safdie 's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex. The Montreal Metro has public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture . In 2006, Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design , one of only three design capitals in the world (the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires ). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005,

2968-594: The Montreal Group of poets including A.M. Klein and F. R. Scott in the mid-1920s. Montreal hosts a number of events related to literature, including the multilingual Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival , which takes place every Spring, and the Expozine alternative press fair every fall. Cult MTL is a local print publication and website in Montreal focusing on culture, music, film, arts, and city life. There are plenty of English-language screens in

3074-568: The Olympic Stadium (e.g., Diane Dufresne ), a feat usually reserved to a few international rock stars. Special events, such as the musical show on the Quebec national holiday, regularly attract over one hundred thousand people. The height for the French musical scene is reached every year during the Francofolies. The festival attracts international artists from La Francophonie , popular artists from

3180-599: The Ottawa River in pursuit of Forster, Forster's cannons repelled Arnold's forces. Forster negotiated a prisoner exchange with Henry Sherburne and Isaac Butterfield, resulting in a May 27 boating of their deputy Lieutenant Park being returned to the Americans. Arnold and Forster negotiated further and more American prisoners were returned to Arnold at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec , ("Fort Anne") on May 30 (delayed two days by wind). Arnold eventually withdrew his forces back to

3286-462: The Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large open-spaced square in the downtown. Culture lovers will find six concert and theatre halls, five of them inside: Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Cinquième Salle, Studio-Théâtre and one outside site: l'Esplanade. Classical dances, operas, plays, and music performances from troops around

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3392-536: The Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Notre Dame Society of Montreal to establish a Roman Catholic mission to evangelize natives. Dauversière hired Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve , then age 30, to lead a group of colonists to build a mission on his new seigneury. The colonists left France in 1641 for Quebec and arrived on the island the following year. On May 17, 1642, Ville-Marie

3498-543: The Shaughnessy Village / Concordia U area home to thousands of students at Concordia University . The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park , Saint Helen's Island , and Notre-Dame Island . The Plateau Mount Royal borough was a working class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which was undergoing considerable gentrification as of 2009, and

3604-533: The Virgin Mary . The current form of the name, Montréal , is generally thought to be derived from Mount Royal ( Mont Royal in French), the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. There are multiple explanations for how Mont Royal became Montréal . In 16th century French, the forms réal and royal were used interchangeably, so Montréal could simply be a variant of Mont Royal . In

3710-763: The invasion of Quebec resulted after Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga in present-day upstate New York in May 1775 as a launching point to Arnold's invasion of Quebec in September . While Arnold approached the Plains of Abraham , Montreal fell to American forces led by Richard Montgomery on November 13, 1775, after it was abandoned by Guy Carleton . After Arnold withdrew from Quebec City to Pointe-aux-Trembles on November 19, Montgomery's forces left Montreal on December 1 and arrived there on December 3 to plot to attack Quebec City , with Montgomery leaving David Wooster in charge of

3816-573: The prohibition movement in the United States led to Montreal becoming a destination for Americans looking for alcohol . Unemployment remained high in the city and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression . During World War II , Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. The federal government, part of

3922-440: The second-largest metropolitan area in Canada. French is the city's official language. In 2021, 85.7% of the population of the city of Montreal considered themselves fluent in French while 90.2% could speak it in the metropolitan area. Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 58.5% of the population able to speak both French and English. Historically the commercial capital of Canada, Montreal

4028-436: The village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal two centuries before the French arrived. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at other locations in the valley since at least the 14th century. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, and estimated the population of the native people at Hochelaga to be "over a thousand people". Evidence of earlier occupation of

4134-721: The wind chill often makes the temperature feel this low to exposed skin. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild but prone to drastic temperature changes; spring even more so than fall. Late season heat waves as well as " Indian summers " are possible. Early and late season snow storms can occur in November and March, and more rarely in April. Montreal is generally snow free from late April to late October. However, snow can fall in early to mid-October as well as early to mid-May on rare occasions. The lowest temperature in Environment Canada's books

4240-410: The 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. Montreal was the site of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre , one of Canada's worst mass shootings , where 25-year-old Marc Lépine shot and killed 14 people, all of them women, and wounded 14 other people before shooting himself at École Polytechnique . Montreal was merged with

4346-487: The 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002, creating a unified city encompassing the entire island. There was substantial resistance from the suburbs to the merger, with the perception being that it was forced on the mostly English suburbs by the Parti Québécois. As expected, this move proved unpopular and several mergers were later rescinded. Several former municipalities, totalling 13% of

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4452-747: The Downtown and the Quartier Latin . Saint-Denis street, which goes across the Quartier Latin, attracts a majority of the French-speaking population. Saint-Laurent Street (known locally as "the Main") is also one of the most popular streets. A majority of English-speaking Montrealers frequent the western part of the Downtown, with Crescent Street being one of the most popular streets in this sector. These three streets are all crossed by Downtown's most commercial street, Sainte-Catherine Street , which extends to its East in

4558-576: The Festival des Nuits d'Afrique. Montreal's Jewish community has been a leading contributor to Montreal's cultural landscape and is renowned for its level of charitable giving and its plethora of cultural and social service community institutions. Among these are the world-renowned Jewish Public Library of Montreal , Segal Centre for the Arts, Museum of Jewish Montreal , and Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre . Nicknamed la ville aux cent clochers ("the city of

4664-630: The Löwenburg, a castle above Monreal, Germany Other uses [ edit ] Monreal (surname) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Monreal . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monreal&oldid=826183390 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

4770-531: The New York fort of Ticonderoga by the summer. On June 15, Arnold's messenger approaching Sorel spotted Carleton returning with a fleet of ships and notified him. Arnold's forces abandoned Montreal (attempting to burn it down in the process) prior to the June 17 arrival of Carleton's fleet. The Americans did not return British prisoners in exchange, as previously agreed, due to accusations of abuse, with Congress repudiating

4876-575: The Quebec musical scene, and emerging artists noticed during preceding festivals. Montreal's English-speaking music scene also succeeds in getting attention from popular media around the world. The growing success of the current variety of artists and bands , with Arcade Fire arguably leading the way, owes much to the city's culture of melting together different genres of music present from many different cultures. A variety of music festivals and independent local record labels also help sustain this success. Other Montreal bands include Wolf Parade , Mobile ,

4982-610: The Saidye Bronfman Centre , and later with the Teesri Duniya and Dummies Theatre . The 80s saw the feminist company Imago Theatre be formed. In the late 1990s, Montreal started to become a hotspot for low-budget independent English theatre with companies such as Optative Theatrical Laboratories , Infinithéâtre, MainLine Theatre, Gravy Bath Theatre, Sa Booge, Persephone, Pumpkin Productions, and Tableau D'Hôte Theatre adding to

5088-560: The Solitudes were historically strongly entrenched in Montreal, splitting the city geographically at Saint Laurent Boulevard . This split, however, has become less and less apparent in the past decades. Although Anglophones still concentrate in the Montreal boroughs on the west side of the island, they have become more bilingual, as 66% of Quebec Anglophones claim to be able to carry on a conversation in French. Thus, while tensions can occur between Anglophones and Francophones, contemporary Montreal

5194-648: The Space Science Centre. The Musée des ondes Emile Berliner in the South-West borough is dedicated to Canada's music industry and the inventor of the gramophone, Emile Berliner. A short drive south in Granby , is the Granby Zoo , notable for its wide variety of animals and amusements. Montreal is the cultural centre of Québec, French-speaking Canada , and French-speaking North America as a whole, and an important city in

5300-669: The Unicorns , and Simple Plan . The Montreal International Jazz Festival illustrates well this melting of genres. Far from limiting itself to classical jazz (a style that Montreal always represented with jazzmen such as Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones ), it features a great variety of artists who have espoused rhythms and styles from around the world. Smaller musical festivals include the Festival International Nuits Afrique ("African Nights"), Montreal Reggae Festival , Pop Montreal , FestiBlues international de Montréal, Mutek electronic music festival, and Osheaga rock festival. Every Sunday in Parc Mont-Royal near-downtown Montreal, there

5406-516: The above are major tourist destinations, particularly Notre-Dame and the Oratory. The dominant religion in Quebec is Christianity , which is adhered to by roughly 90.2% of the population. Montreal is the seat of a diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Of note is the regional variation, the Montreal hot dog . But Montreal's culinary landscape is perhaps most influenced by the diverse fabric of its ethnic communities. Italian , Greek , Jewish , and Lebanese communities have contributed to

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5512-414: The agreement at the protest of George Washington. Arnold blamed Colonel Timothy Bedel for the defeat, removing him and Lieutenant Butterfield from command and sending them to Sorel for court-martial. The retreat of the American army delayed their court martial until August 1, 1776, when they were convicted and cashiered at Ticonderoga. Bedel was given a new commission by Congress in October 1777 after Arnold

5618-416: The best artistic works in Quebec from Alfred Pellan and Jean-Paul Riopelle . Other praised museums are the Redpath Museum , the Stewart Museum , the McCord Museum of Canadian History , the Canadian Centre for Architecture , and the Montreal Museum of Archeology and History . The region is also home to a number of science-related museums. Many of them are located in the Olympic Park complex, including

5724-493: The border between French and English Canada, Ottawa was seen as a compromise between Montreal, Toronto, Kingston and Quebec City, which were all vying to become the young nation's official capital. Ottawa retained the status as capital of Canada when the Province of Canada joined with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada in 1867. An internment camp was set up at Immigration Hall in Montreal from August 1914 to November 1918. After World War I ,

5830-423: The borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members. The Southwest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough included Goose Village and was historically home to the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown and Point Saint Charles as well as

5936-414: The business arena. The October Crisis and the 1976 election of the Parti Québécois , which supported sovereign status for Quebec, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal hosted the Summer Olympics . While the event brought the city international prestige and attention, the Olympic Stadium built for the event resulted in massive debt for the city. During

6042-525: The city as their cultural capital. Montreal is also the most important stop in the Americas for Francophone artists from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Some 30 years after the adoption of the Charter of the French Language , a greater number of first- or second-generation immigrants have established themselves in Montreal, such as playwright Wajdi Mouawad ( Lebanese origin), singer Nicolas Ciccone ( Italian origin), and author Dany Laferrière ( Haitian origin), whom all contribute to Quebec's culture. Montreal

6148-475: The city has been home to the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda) and the International Design Alliance (IDA). The Underground City (officially RÉSO), an important tourist attraction, is an underground network connecting shopping centres, pedestrian thoroughfares, universities, hotels, restaurants, bistros, subway stations and more, in and around downtown with 32 km (20 mi) of tunnels over 12 km (4.6 sq mi) in

6254-582: The city's 20th-century architecture include Saint Joseph's Oratory , completed in 1967, Ernest Cormier 's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, and the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures. Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67 , featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several have become landmarks, including Buckminster Fuller 's geodesic dome U.S. Pavilion, now

6360-417: The city's earliest still-standing buildings date back to the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Although most are clustered around the Old Montreal area, such as the Sulpician Seminary adjacent to Notre-Dame Basilica that dates back to 1687, and Château Ramezay , which was built in 1705, examples of early colonial architecture are dotted throughout the city. Situated in Lachine, the Le Ber-Le Moyne House

6466-437: The city's history. Montreal annexed 27 other cities, towns and villages beginning with Hochelaga in 1883, with the last prior to 2002 being Pointe-aux-Trembles in 1982. The 21st century has brought with it a revival of the city's economic and cultural landscape. The construction of new residential skyscrapers, two super-hospitals (the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal and McGill University Health Centre ),

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6572-445: The city, mostly downtown. The largest and most modern are the central Paramount Montreal and the AMC Forum, both located on Ste-Catherine Street. In addition to presenting movies from the majors, the AMC Forum also presents independent movies of repertory cinema. Other cinemas concentrating on repertory movies include the Cinéma du Parc. Cineastes have, on occasion, chosen Montreal for their movies. See Montreal in films . Montreal has

6678-404: The city. As they lacked modern plumbing systems it was impossible to connect all buildings at once and it also acted as a conservation method. However, the population was not finished rising — it rose from 58,000 in 1852 to 267,000 by 1901. Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest

6784-435: The city. Montgomery was killed in the failed attack and Arnold, who had taken command, sent Brigadier General Moses Hazen to inform Wooster of the defeat. Wooster left Hazen in command on March 20, 1776, as he left to replace Arnold in leading further attacks on Quebec City. On April 19, Arnold arrived in Montreal to take over command from Hazen, who remained as his second-in-command. Hazen sent Colonel Timothy Bedel to form

6890-404: The confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face in the world. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown , particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, or festivals. A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals,

6996-414: The creation of the Quartier des Spectacles , reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange , reconfiguration of the Decarie and Dorval interchanges, construction of the new Réseau express métropolitain , gentrification of Griffintown , subway line extensions and the purchase of new subway cars, the complete revitalization and expansion of Trudeau International Airport , the completion of Quebec Autoroute 30 ,

7102-573: The early 18th century, the Sulpician Order was established there. To encourage French settlement, it wanted the Mohawk to move away from the fur trading post at Ville-Marie. It had a mission village, known as Kahnewake , south of the St Lawrence River. The fathers persuaded some Mohawk to make a new settlement at their former hunting grounds north of the Ottawa River. This became Kanesatake . In 1745, several Mohawk families moved upriver to create another settlement, known as Akwesasne . All three are now Mohawk reserves in Canada. The Canadian territory

7208-471: The economic capital of Canada. Indeed, the volume of stocks traded at the Toronto Stock Exchange had already surpassed that traded at the Montreal Stock Exchange in the 1940s. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal. In time, this development led to the end of the city's economic dominance as businesses moved to other areas. During the 1960s, there was continued growth as Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and

7314-400: The fall of 1653, the population of Montreal was barely 50 people. By 1685, Ville-Marie was home to some 600 colonists, most of them living in modest wooden houses. Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further exploration . In 1689, the English-allied Iroquois attacked Lachine on the Island of Montreal, committing the worst massacre in the history of New France. By

7420-426: The fireworks for free on their roofs or from locations nearby the competition. Other festivals in Montreal include Pop Montreal, The Fringe Festival, la Fête des Neiges de Montréal, and Nujaz. Annual family-oriented events promoting health and cycling are also organized in the streets of Montreal. Parades are also popular in downtown Montreal. Montreal is also famous as the birthplace of the Infringement Festival ,

7526-479: The greatest interpreters of the works of George Frideric Handel. Place des Arts are also the home of the Opéra de Montréal , the most prestigious opera company in Montreal. One Montreal radio station is entirely devoted to classical music. Given that Montreal is mostly French-speaking, most popular local bands and singers have sung in French. In the past, the most popular local artists succeeded in filling arenas ( Beau Dommage , Offenbach , Cowboys Fringants ) or even

7632-477: The island, such as those uncovered in 1642 during the construction of Fort Ville-Marie, have effectively been removed. In 1603, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St ;Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St Lawrence valley. This is believed to be due to outmigration, epidemics of European diseases, or intertribal wars. In 1611, Champlain established

7738-646: The land is called Mooniyaang or Moon’yaang which was "the first stopping place" in the Ojibwe migration story as related in the seven fires prophecy . In the Mohawk language , the land is called Tiohtià:ke . This is an abbreviation of Teionihtiohtiá:kon , which loosely translates as "where the group divided/parted ways." French settlers from La Flèche in the Loire valley first named their new town, founded in 1642, Ville Marie ("City of Mary"), named for

7844-504: The large halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on cordoned-off streets, while others are in terraced parks. The city's most popular festival, in terms of attendance, is the Just For Laughs Festival , held annually in July, which is also the world's largest comedy festival . The Montreal Fireworks Festival also attracts a lot of attention. On the evenings of competition, tens of thousands of people watch

7950-662: The largest jazz festival in the world; the Just for Laughs festival, the largest comedy festival in the world; and Les Francos de Montréal , the largest French-language music festival in the world. In sports , it is home to multiple professional teams, most notably the Canadiens of the National Hockey League , who have won the Stanley Cup a record 24 times. In the Ojibwe language ,

8056-542: The lives of poor English-speaking residents of Mile End. Mostly Michel Tremblay perhaps best summarizes the alienation of poor working-class Montréalais at the onset of the Quebec Quiet revolution . The all-time best-selling novel in Québécois literature, Yves Beauchemin 's The Alley Cat ( Le Matou ), depicts a relatively similar neighborhood twenty years later. The later work of Émile Ollivier , for example, La Brûlerie ,

8162-577: The local dialect, joual , and Montreal-adoptee Wajdi Mouawad ( Wedding Day at the Cromagnons , Scorched ). Most established French-language theatres are found in the Quartier Latin (e.g. Théâtre du Rideau Vert) or near Place des Arts (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe). The city also hosts the Festival TransAmériques , a two-week showcase of international experimental theatre. In contrast, English theatre struggled but survived with

8268-448: The low-income neighbourhoods of Saint Henri and Little Burgundy . Culture of Montreal As a North American city, Montreal shares many of the cultural features characteristic of the other metropolis on the continent, including representations in all traditional manifestations of high culture, a long-lasting tradition of jazz and rock music, and tentative experimentation in visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at

8374-586: The mid-1840s, the City of Montreal installed a water system that would pump water from the St. Lawrence and into cisterns . The cisterns would then be transported to the desired location. This was not the first water system of its type in Montreal, as there had been one in private ownership since 1801. In the middle of the 19th century, water distribution was carried out by "fontainiers". The fountainiers would open and close water valves outside of buildings, as directed, all over

8480-441: The mix of Montreal's restaurants. Jewish contributions include two world-renowned items, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, and Montreal-style bagels . Lebanese falafels and shish taouk sandwiches , and Japanese sushi , have become much-appreciated cuisines. This wide variety of cuisines underlines the fact that Montreal is one of the cities in the world with the highest number of restaurants. Montreal and its culinary landscape

8586-493: The most densely populated part of Montreal. The city is composed of 19 large boroughs , subdivided into neighbourhoods. The boroughs are: Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce , Le Plateau-Mont-Royal ( The Plateau Mount Royal ) , Outremont and Ville-Marie in the centre; Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve , Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension in the east; Anjou , Montréal-Nord , Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles and Saint-Léonard in

8692-581: The most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes downtown, the historic district of Old Montreal, Chinatown , the Gay Village , the Latin Quarter , the gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des spectacles which is under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and

8798-406: The northeast; Ahuntsic-Cartierville , L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève , Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Saint-Laurent in the northwest; and Lachine , LaSalle , Le Sud-Ouest ( The Southwest ) and Verdun in the south. Many of these boroughs were independent cities that were forced to merge with Montreal in January 2002 following the 2002 municipal reorganization of Montreal . The borough with

8904-491: The others in terms of total precipitation—mostly from thunderstorms. For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. This legacy has left a variety of buildings including factories, elevators , warehouses , mills, and refineries , that today provide an invaluable insight into the city's history, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area. There are 50 National Historic Sites of Canada , more than any other city. Some of

9010-544: The passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill . Thereafter, the capital rotated between Quebec City and Toronto until in 1857, Queen Victoria herself established Ottawa as the capital due to strategic reasons. The reasons were twofold. First, because it was located more in the interior of the Province of Canada, it was less susceptible to attack from the United States. Second, and perhaps more importantly, because it lay on

9116-543: The popularity of the Cirque du Soleil , a multimillion-dollar empire based on a mixture of modern circus and performing acts. The Agora de la danse is a studio where contemporary dancers most often perform. The Place des Arts also harbor the headquarters of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO) that performs in its halls regularly. The MSO is one of the top performance troupes in North America, most remembered for

9222-402: The population of the island, voted to leave the unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal. Demerged municipalities remain affiliated with the city through an agglomeration council that collects taxes from them to pay for numerous shared services. The 2002 mergers were not the first in

9328-623: The quality performance of the repertoire of Maurice Ravel . Since 2006, the MSO has a new conductor, the American Kent Nagano . Two other popular Montreal orchestras that perform regularly at Places des Arts are the Orchestre Métropolitain conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and I Musici de Montréal , a chamber orchestra founded by Yuli Turovsky and since 2011 conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni . I Musici de Montréal are considered among

9434-622: The realities of Montreal. While any list will understandably be subjective, a few works are agreed to be important in Canadian and Québécois literature. Written in 1947, Gabrielle Roy 's The Tin Flute (in French Bonheur d'occasion ), which chronicles the life of a young woman in the neighborhood of St-Henri, marked Québécois literature for its urban texture. The work of Mordecai Richler , highlighted by The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959), depicts

9540-526: The reconstruction of the Champlain Bridge and the construction of a new toll bridge to Laval are helping Montreal continue to grow. Montreal is in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the river gateway that stretches from

9646-527: The region indicates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD 1000, they had started to cultivate maize . Within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. The Saint Lawrence Iroquoians , an ethnically and culturally distinct group from the Iroquois nations of the Haudenosaunee (then based in present-day New York), established

9752-607: The scene. More recently, the theatre has been taking a more activist turn with emerging organizations such as ATSA and the Optative Theatrical Laboratories , and festivals such as the Anarchist Theatre Festival, MAYWORKS, and the Infringement Festival . Montréal has a rich yet still relatively young literary history in both French and English literature. A large number of novels have captured

9858-493: The second explanation, the name came from an Italian translation. Venetian geographer Giovanni Battista Ramusio used the name Monte Real to designate Mount Royal in his 1556 map of the region. However, the Commission de toponymie du Québec disputes this explanation. Historiographer François de Belleforest was the first to use the form Montréal with reference to the entire region in 1575. Archaeological evidence in

9964-643: The subway system known as the Montreal Metro were finished during this time. Montreal also held the World's Fair of 1967, better known as Expo67 . The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming largely from the concerns of the French-speaking majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English Canadian minority in

10070-471: The surrounding Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood are also well known for their restaurants , bars, nightlife, and nightclubs. The plaza on Place des Arts is the home of the most important events during several musical festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Montreal Francofolies , a festival of French-language music. two festivals last seven-to-ten days. Performances are presented in different places, from relatively small clubs to

10176-504: The world and from Montreal's very own are scheduled in these halls on a daily basis. The Musée d'art contemporain is located across the Esplanade from Place des Arts, and some of the most important theatre troupes and musical concert scenes are found nearby in what is now called the Quartier des Spectacles . Performing at Place des Arts is the city's chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens . In contemporary dance, Montreal has been

10282-550: The world, most of them from the United States , France , the United Kingdom , Germany , Mexico , and Japan . 39,000 jobs in Montreal were generated by the tourism industry in 2005. Crescent Street in Downtown Montreal is popular among tourists. Throughout the summer, it features various street fairs and festivals. Among locals, Crescent Street is known better for its many clubs and bars. Saint-Laurent Boulevard and

10388-640: Was assigned to defend Rhode Island in July 1777 . Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids , while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. The leaders of Montreal's business community had started to build their homes in the Golden Square Mile from about 1850. By 1860, it

10494-465: Was built. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal and a few, much smaller, peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard . The city is 196 km (122 mi) east of the national capital, Ottawa , and 258 km (160 mi) southwest of the provincial capital, Quebec City . As of 2021, the city had a population of 1,762,949, and a metropolitan population of 4,291,732, making it

10600-472: Was founded on the southern shore of Montreal island, with Maisonneuve as its first governor. The settlement included a chapel and a hospital, under the command of Jeanne Mance . By 1643, Ville-Marie had come under Iroquois raids. In 1652, Maisonneuve returned to France to raise 100 volunteers to bolster the colonial population. If the effort had failed, Montreal was to be abandoned and the survivors re-located downriver to Quebec City . Before these 100 arrived in

10706-526: Was named a UNESCO City of Design in 2006. In 2017, Montreal was ranked the 12th-most livable city in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its annual Global Liveability Ranking , although its ranking slipped to 40th in the 2021 index, primarily due to stress on the healthcare system from the COVID-19 pandemic . It is regularly ranked as one of the ten best cities in the world to be

10812-529: Was ruled as a French colony until 1760, when Montreal fell to a British offensive during the Seven Years' War . The colony then surrendered to Great Britain. Ville-Marie was the name for the settlement that appeared in all official documents until 1705, when Montreal appeared for the first time, although people referred to the "Island of Montreal" long before then. As part of the American Revolution ,

10918-515: Was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of art, culture , literature, film and television, music, commerce, aerospace, transport , finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education , tourism , food, fashion, video game development, and world affairs. Montreal is the location of the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization , and

11024-461: Was the focus of Gourmet magazine's March 2006 issue. Montreal's unique cuisine has also given birth to a number of Montreal-centric restaurants and restaurant chains, such as Dagwoods , Dic Ann's Hamburgers , Dunn's Famous , Moishes Steakhouse , Schwartz's , and Lafleur Restaurants . Tourism is an important industry in Montreal . The city welcomed 14 million visitors in 2005. Like the province of Quebec , visitors to Montreal come from around

11130-481: Was the largest municipality in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada. In the 19th century, maintaining Montreal's drinking water became increasingly difficult with the rapid increase in population. A majority of the drinking water was still coming from the city's harbour, which was busy and heavily trafficked, leading to the deterioration of the water within. In

11236-414: Was −37.8 °C (−36 °F) on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was 37.6 °C (99.7 °F) on August 1, 1975, both at Dorval International Airport . Before modern weather record keeping (which dates back to 1871 for McGill), a minimum temperature almost 5 degrees lower was recorded at 7 a.m. on January 10, 1859, where it registered at −42 °C (−44 °F). Annual precipitation

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