Charlevoix

For other uses, see Charlevoix (disambiguation).

The Charlevoix region, located in Quebec, includes parts of the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains region of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands and bays; the region was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1989.

History

The region was named after Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix, a French Jesuit explorer and historian who traveled through this region in the 18th century. The community of La Malbaie was known as the first resort area in Canada. As early as 1760, Scottish noblemen Malcolm Fraser and John Nairn hosted visitors at their manors. For much of its history, Charlevoix was home to a thriving summer colony of wealthy Americans, including President William Howard Taft.

Geography

Landscape just outside of Tadoussac

The Charlevoix region includes the regional county municipalities of Charlevoix-Est and Charlevoix.

Features of note include:

• Baie-Saint-Paul, an important arts centre
• Le Domaine Forget music festival and academy
• Île aux Coudres
• the Parc des Grands-Jardins
• the Haute-Gorges de la Rivière Malbaie
• the Manoir Richelieu and the Casino de Charlevoix
• the fjord of the Saguenay River
• the Commission scolaire de Charlevoix

Natural history

The topography of this region was dramatically altered by a meteorite impact that occurred 350 million years ago creating the Charlevoix crater:

The impact created the forty-mile-wide crater that is the heart of Quebec's Charlevoix region, ranging from just west of Baie-Saint-Paul to just east of La Malbaie. Today, the area inside the crater is home to 90 percent of Charlevoix residents and is a very pastoral setting by comparison to what it could have been. [1]

This area was subsequently reshaped by glaciation.

There have been several major earthquakes in the region in recorded history:

• on February 5, 1663, centred south of La Malbaie. See 1663 Charlevoix earthquake.
• on December 6, 1791, centred near Baie-Saint-Paul
• on October 17, 1860, centred under the Saint Lawrence River
• on October 20, 1870, centred near Baie-Saint-Paul
• on February 28, 1925, centred under the Saint Lawrence River. See 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake.

There were eight earthquakes between magnitude 4 and 5 on the Richter scale between 1977 and 1997 in Charlevoix, with minimal damage.

See also

• Charlevoix (electoral district)
• List of earthquakes in Canada
• List of Quebec regions

External links

• (English) Official Charlevoix tourism site
• (English) Charlevoix Biosphere Reserve, Canada
• (English) UNESCO Charlevoix Biosphere Reserve Information