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Quebec
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Quebec flag Quebec seal Political map of Quebec showing major cities, towns, and rivers, with international and provincial boundaries marked. Neighboring regions such as Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Maine, and Nunavut are labeled. An inset locator map highlights Quebec's position in eastern Canada. ChĂąteau Frontenac, Quebec city Map of North America highlighting the province of Quebec in eastern Canada in tan, with the location of the city of Quebec marked. Surrounding regions, major bodies of water, and neighboring countries including the United States and Greenland are also shown for geographic context. Physical map of Quebec highlighting major lakes, rivers, and mountain ranges, with international and provincial boundaries marked. The map features the Ungava Peninsula, Hudson Bay, and Gulf of St. Lawrence, as well as neighboring regions including Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and the United States. An inset locator map shows Quebec's position within Canada. Montreal upland forest, Quebec St. Lawrence Seaway Fishing village of Petit Cap on the Gaspe Peninsula coast in Quebec, Canada, with scattered houses, a church, grassy fields, and a curving shoreline along the sea.
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Quebec: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

Robert Bone, The Regional Geography of Canada, 3rd ed. (2005), has an excellent chapter on the physical, historical, and urban geography of Quebec. Michael D. Behiels (ed.), Futures and Identities: Aboriginal Peoples in Canada (1989), contains several articles on Quebec’s aboriginal communities. Overviews of Quebec’s history include John A. Dickinson and Brian Young, A Short History of Quebec, 3rd ed. (2003); Fernand Ouellet, Economic and Social History of QuĂ©bec, 1760–1850 (1980; originally published in French, 1966); and J.I. Little, Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec (1989). The period after confederation is covered in Michael D. Behiels and K.S. Mathew, “Quebec Since 1867,” in their Canada: Its Regions and Its People (1998), pp. 205–254; and Paul-AndrĂ© Linteau, RenĂ© Durocher, and Jean-Claude Robert, Histoire du Quebec contemporain, rev. ed., 2 vol. (1989), with the English translation for vol. 1 of the first edition available as Quebec, a History, 1867–1929 (1983). Garth Stevenson, Community Besieged: The Anglophone Minority and the Politics of Quebec (1999), provides a portrait of the evolution of Quebec’s Anglophone minority since 1867.

Contemporary social, economic, ideological, and political developments are analyzed in the following: Michael D. Behiels, Prelude to Quebec’s Quiet Revolution: Liberalism Versus Neo-Nationalism, 1945–1960 (1985); William D. Coleman, The Independence Movement in Quebec, 1945–1980 (1984); Kenneth McRoberts, Quebec: Social Change and Political Crisis, 3rd ed., with a postscript (1993); Michael D. Behiels (ed.), Quebec Since 1945 (1986); and Ramsay Cook, Canada, Quebec, and the Uses of Nationalism, 2nd ed. (1995). A collection of essays on contemporary Quebec can be found in Michael D. Behiels (ed.), The Meech Lake Primer: Conflicting Views of the 1987 Constitutional Accord (1989); Curtis Cook (ed.), Constitutional Predicament: Canada After the Referendum of 1992 (1994); Robert Young, The Secession of Quebec and the Future of Canada, rev. and expanded ed. (1998); and Robert Young, The Struggle for Quebec: Referendum to Referendum? (1999).

Michael D. Behiels

Researcher's Note

Quebecers or Québécois?

As a result of the high stakes of the ongoing debate regarding the political status of Quebec and because so much of that discussion depends on how the concept of a nation is defined, even the terms used to refer to some of the key parties are contentious. The term “nation” is used both in its sociological and political senses. For traditional French Canadian nationalists the nation is understood as a sociological community with a common language, culture, and shared history. The French Canadian nation includes all Francophones and Acadians living throughout Canada and even Franco-Americans in the United States. For a majority of contemporary QuĂ©bĂ©cois neonationalists and all secessionists, the sociological nation will not be complete until it is coterminous with a secular independent state, the nation-state of Quebec.

The situation is further complicated by the use of the terms QuĂ©bĂ©cois and Quebecer, the meaning of which can be dependent not only on the language in which they are spoken but also on the political agenda of the speaker. In English, “Quebecers” refers to all residents of Quebec, regardless of their principal language or lineage, and “QuĂ©bĂ©cois,” in general, refers to French-speaking inhabitants or natives of Quebec. In French, however, “QuĂ©bĂ©cois” generally refers to all inhabitants of Quebec—again, regardless of primary language or lineage—and is, in effect, the French equivalent of “Quebecers.” Yet, for traditional French Canadian and cultural-linguistic QuĂ©bĂ©cois nationalists, “QuĂ©bĂ©cois” is used properly to refer only to those residents whose lineage reaches back to original French settlers, often referred to as old stock (vieille souche). Still others use the term QuĂ©bĂ©cois to refer to all Canadians of French heritage, even those who live outside Quebec. At one time those who fell under this definition were widely referred to as French Canadians; now it is disputed whether French has to be one’s mother tongue to be included in this group. For QuĂ©bĂ©cois civic neonationalists and secessionists the term ‘‘QuĂ©bĂ©cois’’ refers to all the citizens of the Quebec state, either in its present form as a substate within the Canadian federation or as citizens of an independent Quebec state sometime in the future. Moreover, a few bilingual Anglophone and Allophone residents of Quebec, especially those who support the independence of Quebec, speak of themselves as “QuĂ©bĂ©cois.”

Article Contributors

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  • Michael D. Behiels
  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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  • Veronique Brunet

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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Country Profile: Updated number of seats in the House of Commons. Sep 24, 2026
Links added. Aug 18, 2023
Modified link of Web site: Official Tourism Site of the Quïżœbec, Canada. Aug 26, 2022
Add new Web site: UNESCO World Heritage Centre - Historic District of Old Quïżœbec. Jul 12, 2019
Country Profile: Population data updated. Feb 07, 2019
Population data updated. Feb 07, 2019
Country Profile: Updated Premier. Jan 03, 2019
Corrected display issue. May 16, 2018
Country Profile: Added cross-references to the Country Profile. Jan 11, 2018
Added locator map to the Introduction. Jul 05, 2017
Added the results of the April 2014 provincial election. Dec 07, 2015
Country Profile: Updated Premier. Dec 07, 2015
Add new Web site: Lonely Planet - Quïżœbec, Canada. Jan 28, 2013
Add new Web site: Buzzle.com - Quebec, Canada. Dec 27, 2012
Country Profile: Added Pauline Marois as premier. Oct 04, 2012
Updated to account for the 2012 election. Sep 07, 2012
Removed 2010 population estimate. Jun 01, 2012
Country Profile: Remove 2010 population estimate. May 29, 2012
Add new Web site: Fact Monster - World - Quebec, Canada. Aug 18, 2011
Country Profile: Added premier, number of seats in House of Commons, and time zone. Aug 12, 2011
Add new Web site: Official Site of Quïżœbec City. Aug 05, 2011
Add new Web site: UNESCO World Heritage Centre - Historic District of Old Quïżœbec. Aug 05, 2011
Population data updated. Mar 26, 2010
Country Profile: Added area and population figures. Mar 26, 2010
Added term "Dominion of Canada" to clarify unification of 1867. Jul 09, 2009
Added new Web site: National Geographic - Travel and Cultures - Quebec. Apr 21, 2009
Added new Web site: How Stuff Works - History - History of Quebec. Nov 11, 2008
Added new Web site: Quebec Heritage - History of Quïżœbec City. Nov 10, 2008
Added new Web site: Quebec Web - History of Quebec. Nov 10, 2008
Added new Web site: Official Site of Tourism of the Government of Quïżœbec. Aug 07, 2008
Added new Web site: CRW Flags - Flag of Quebec, Canada. Aug 06, 2008
Added new Web site: How Stuff Works - Geography - Geography of Quebec. Jul 18, 2008
Added new Web site: The Catholic Encyclopedia - Province of Quebec. Jun 17, 2008
Added new Web site: Official Tourism Site of the Quïżœbec, Canada. Jun 17, 2008
Bibliography revised and updated. Oct 18, 2007
Article revised and updated. Oct 18, 2007
Article thoroughly revised. Oct 18, 2007
Added new Web site: Ville de Quïżœbec - A Brief History of the City of Quïżœbec. Aug 31, 2007
Added new Web site: Education Canada - Quïżœbec. Jul 24, 2007
Added new Web site: Marianopolis College Library - Quebec History. Jul 24, 2007
Added new Web site: ezlion search - Quebec. Jul 17, 2007
Article added to new online database. Jul 26, 1999
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