Old Quebec City Heritage Trail: Empire's Echoes in a Port Town
Old Quebec is bound to the sea by the St. Lawrence River and four centuries of trade at the gateway to a continent.
In 1608, French explorer Samuel de Champlain built a fort and storehouse here, adopting its Algonquin name kebec, meaning place where the river narrows. The settlement was the early hub of Canada’s fur industry and the capital of France’s colonial empire in North America.