Quebec City, the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec, is a vibrant city with a rich history and a unique European charm. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, making it the eleventh-largest city and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Canada. It is also the second-largest city in the province, after Montreal. Quebec City is known for its humid continental climate, with warm summers and cold, snowy winters.
Common English-language usage distinguishes the city from the province by referring to the former as Quebec City. According to the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec, and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, the names of Canadian cities and towns have only one official form. Thus, Québec is officially spelled with an accented é in both Canadian English and French. However, province names can have different forms in English and French. As a result, in English, the federal government style distinguishes the city and province by spelling the city with an acute accent (Québec) and the province without one (Quebec). The government of Quebec spells both names "Québec", including when writing in English.
Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. Explorer Samuel de Champlain founded a French settlement here in 1608, adopting the Algonquin name. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) are the only fortified city walls remaining in the Americas north of Mexico. This area was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the "Historic District of Old Québec".
Quebec City is home to the earliest known French settlement in North America, Fort Charlesbourg-Royal, established in 1541 by explorer Jacques Cartier. The city was founded by Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and diplomat, on 3 July 1608, and at the site of a long abandoned St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement called Stadacona. Champlain, who came to be called "The Father of New France", served as its administrator for the rest of his life.
During the American Revolution, revolutionary troops from the southern colonies assaulted the British garrison in the city in the hope that the peoples of Quebec would rise and join the American Revolution so that Canada would join the Continental Congress, along with the other British colonies of continental North America. The American invasion failed, however, and the war resulted in a permanent split of British North America into two entities: the newly independent United States of America, and those colonies (including Quebec) that remained under British control, which would later become the country of Canada.
Quebec City was built on the north bank of the Saint Lawrence River, where it narrows and meets the mouth of the Saint-Charles River. Old Quebec is located on top and at the foot of Cap-Diamant, which is on the eastern edge of a plateau called the promontory of Quebec (Quebec hill). Because of this topographic feature, the oldest and most urbanized borough of La Cité-Limoilou can be divided into upper and lower town. North of the hill, the Saint Lawrence Lowlands is flat and has rich, arable soil. Past this valley, the Laurentian Mountains lie to the north of the city but its foothills are within the municipal limits.
Quebec City is classified as a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb). The city experiences four distinct seasons. Summers are warm and occasionally hot, with periods of hotter temperatures which compounded with the high humidity, create a high heat index that belies the average high of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 11–13 °C (52–55 °F). Winters are cold, windy and snowy with average high temperatures −5 to −8 °C (23 to 18 °F) and lows −13 to −18 °C (9 to 0 °F). Spring and fall, although short, bring chilly to warm temperatures. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
On 1 January 2002, the 12 former towns of Sainte-Foy, Beauport, Charlesbourg, Sillery, Loretteville, Val-Bélair, Cap-Rouge, Saint-Émile, Vanier, L'Ancienne-Lorette, Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures and Lac-Saint-Charles were annexed by Quebec City. This was one of several municipal mergers which took place across Quebec on that date. Following a demerger referendum, L'Ancienne-Lorette and Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures were reconstituted as separate municipalities on 1 January 2006, but the other former municipalities remain part of Quebec City. On 1 November 2009, Quebec City re-organized its boroughs, reducing the number from 8 to 6.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Québec had a population of 549,459 living in 265,711 of its 283,219 total private dwellings, a change of 3.3% from its 2016 population of 531,902. With a land area of 452.3 km2 (174.6 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,214.8/km2 (3,146.3/sq mi) in 2021.
Quebec City is known for its Winter Carnival, its summer music festival and its Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations. The city's landmarks include the Château Frontenac hotel that dominates the skyline and the Citadelle of Quebec, an intact fortress that forms the centrepiece of the ramparts surrounding the old city and includes a secondary royal residence. The National Assembly of Quebec (provincial legislature), the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), and the Musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization) are found within or near Vieux-Québec.
Quebec City is served by Jean Lesage International Airport, located 13 km (8.1 mi) west of the city centre. The Port of Quebec is a seaport on the St. Lawrence with facilities in the first, fifth and sixth boroughs. The city is also an important hub in the province's autoroute system, and public transport is provided by the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC).
Quebec City is twinned with Bordeaux, France and Calgary, Alberta. It has formal agreements with other cities although they are not active anymore as of 2012. These include Saint Petersburg, Guanajuato City, Huế, Paris, Xi'an and Liège and Namur in francophone Belgium.
