Quebec City

St. Lawrence River - (Eng Saint Lawrence River, fr. Fleuve Saint-Laurent), the most important river of Canada, located in the southern part of the country. Its length is 1,200 km, the basin area of 1.5 million km2.

It flows from Lake Ontario, and in the form of an estuary flowing into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The main tributaries of the river are: Richelieu, Ottawa, Saguenay. Larger cities on the river St. Lawrence is: Kingston, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Quebec and Levis. The upper limit sets in the USA. St. Lawrence River is extensively utilized, built on a lot of locks, dams and hydropower. Water is part of the Way of St. Lawrence. Is known that has a very long lejkowate mouth

The climate is continental in Quebec and is characterized by a cold winter and a warm summer from. The temperature values are comparable with those in Moscow, but Moscow would be on the same longitude nearly 1,100 kilometers north of Quebec. The two coldest months are January with - 11.5 ° C and February with - 10.7 ° C. The two warmest months are July with 19.3 ° C and August with 18.2 ° C. Precipitation falls throughout the year. The niederschlagsreichste month is July with 107 mm and niederschlagsärmste of March with 70 mm.

During World War II, two conferences were held in Quebec City. The first one was held in 1943 with Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the United States' president),Winston Churchill (the United Kingdom's prime minister), William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada's prime minister) and T.V. Soong (China's minister of foreign affairs).

93_135_Old Quebec at night in winter - credit - J-F Bergeron Enviro Foto (600 x 400)

During the American Revolution, revolutionary troops from the southern colonies assaulted the British garrison in an attempt to 'liberate' Quebec City now known as the Battle of Quebec. The defeat of the revolutionaries from the south put an end to the hopes that the peoples of Quebec would rise and join the Revolution. Major General Isaac Brock fortified Quebec City by strengthening the walls and building an elevated artillery battery before the War of 1812.

In 1840, after the Province of Canada was formed, the capital was shared between Kingston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Quebec City (from 1852 to 1856 and from 1859 to 1866). In 1867, Ottawa (which was chosen to be the permanent capital of the Province of Canada) was chosen to be the capital of the Dominion of Canada. The Quebec Conference on Canadian Confederation was held here.

Quebec City  is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second largest city in the province, after Montreal. Quebec City is about 233 kilometres (145 mi) away from Montreal. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) are the only remaining fortified city walls in the Americas north of Mexico, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the "Historic District of Old Quebec". It is also one of the oldest cities in North America (founded in 1608). As of the 2006 Canadian Census, the city has a population of 491,142, and the metropolitan area has a population of 715,515.

The narrow width of the river as it enters the towns of Quebec and Lévis, on the opposite bank, provided the name given to the city, Kébec being the Algonquin word meaning "where the river narrows". Quebec City is internationally known for its Summer Festival, Winter Carnival and the Château Frontenac, a historic hotel which dominates the city skyline. The National Assembly of Quebec (provincial parliament), the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (National Museum of Fine Arts) and the Musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization) are found within or near Vieux-Québec.

Among the tourist attractions near the city are Montmorency Falls and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in the town of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.