QUEBEC, a city and capital of the province of Quebec, Canada; at the con fluence of the St. Lawrence and St. Charles rivers, and on the Grand Trunk, the Canadian Pacific, the Lake St. the Intercolonial, the Quebec Central, and other railroads; 180 miles N. E. of Montreal. The city is built amid beau tiful scenery, for the most part on a nar row, elevated strip of land. It is di vided into two parts, called the Upper and Lower Towns. The former is built on the highest part of the plateau and is surrounded with a wall and strongly protected in other ways. The latter, which is chiefly given to trade, occupies the base of Cape Diamond, the extreme point of the tableland. Here much of the rock has been cut away to make room for buildings. Owing to its im• pregnable character Quebec has been called the Gibraltar of America.
The shipping of lumber is the princi pal industry. The chief exports, besides lumber, include iron castings, leather, boots and shoes, grain, peltries, musical instruments, nails, machinery, india rubber goods, cutlery, steel, and rope. There is an abundant water supply from Lake St. Charles.
The principal buildings are the Par liament and Departmental buildings, city hall, custom house, court house, the Ba silica, Masonic Hall, the Seminary of Quebec, Laval University (R. C.), Mor rie College (Pres.), Ursuline Convent,
Church of England, Female Orphan Asy lum, St. Bridget's Asylum, the Ladies' Protestant Home, Jeffrey Hale Hospital, Marine Hospital, and the Gray Nunnery. The citadel of Quebec, built on the sum mit of Cape Diamond, at a height of 333 feet above the river, is said to be the most formidable fortification in North America. There is a beautiful monu ment to the memory of Wolfe and Mont calm, in the governor's garden which overlooks the St. Lawrence river. On the Plains of Abraham in the suburbs stands a monument to Wolfe, commem orating the victory of 1759.
The cite of Quebec, originally occupied by an Indian village named Stadacona, was discovered by Jacques Cartier in 1535; but the city was founded by Cham plain in 1608. It continued to be the center of French trade and civilization, as well as of Roman Catholic missions in North America till 1759, when it fell into the hands of Great Britain by the victory of Wolfe on the Heights of Abra ham above the city. Quebec remained the chief city of Canada till the British settlements in the West were erected into a separate province, when it became the capital of Canada East, now forming the province of Quebec. Pop. about 120,000.