In this richly documented work, Serge Courville tells the geographical history of Quebec from the appearance of the first humans through to the present day. This detailed and erudite book maps major stages of Quebec’s development, providing a geographical record of the many social relationships that over time created a sense of place. Landscape, Courville shows, is the keeper of memory, the record of successive changes, and a witness to the genesis of the new. Places that were once agricultural, then left to waste and ruin, are today revivified by tourism. Areas that now house office buildings were long ago open playgrounds where children ruled. Drawing on vast research, Courville shows how, in spite of the turbulence Quebec often endures – or perhaps because of it – the land itself may be seen as an important participant in the history of its peoples.

Quebec: A Historical Geography was originally published by Les Presses de l’Université Laval as Le Québec: Genèses et mutations du territoire.

Translated by: Richard Howard