Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the tenth-largest in North America. Founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill around which the early settlement 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.
Montreal
Jacques Cartier at Hochelaga. Arriving in 1535, Cartier was the first European to visit the area.
French authorities surrender the city of Montreal to the British after the Articles of Capitulation was signed in 1760.
View of Lachine Canal in 1826, a year after it opened. It bypassed the rapids west of the city, linking Montreal with other continental markets.
Canadian English encompasses the varieties of English used in Canada. According to the 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or 58.1% of the total population; the remainder spoke French (20.8%) or other languages (21.1%). In the Canadian province of Quebec, only 7.5% of the population are anglophone, as most of Quebec's residents are native speakers of Quebec French.
Canadian passport stamp from Queenston Bridge, showing the date 8 June 2014
A Canadian-built Curtiss JN-4C "Canuck" training biplane of 1918, with a differing vertical tail to the original US version