Québec City, the capital of the province of QUÉBEC, is located on the north shore of the ST LAWRENCE RIVER where it meets the Rivière Saint-Charles.

Here the St Lawrence narrows to a width of just over 1 km and navigation is made difficult by a group of islands, the largest of which is ÎLE D'ORLÉANS. Cap-Diamant, a promontory with an elevation of 98 m, dominates the site and was used effectively as a fortification, earning Québec City the name "Gibraltar of North America." The name "Québec" is probably derived from an Algonquian word meaning "narrowing of the river."

Economy, Transportation and Labour Force
The early economy of Québec City was directly dependent upon its activities as a transit port for basic products exported to Europe (furs, cereals and lumber) and for imported manufactured products. The considerable expansion of this trade enabled Québec City to maintain a relatively competitive position with Montréal as the major trading centre of the province until the mid-19th century. At that time, the commercial position of Québec City was seriously affected by the decline in the timber trade and the shift from raw timber to lumber, the development of railway networks that bypassed it (the GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY passed on the south shore opposite the city), the weakness of the city's hinterland, the dredging of the St Lawrence River between Québec City and Montréal, the expansion of economic relations with the US, and the impact of technological change on trade and transportation. Montréal rapidly acquired a dominant position in the second half of the 19th century in trade and finance, transportation and industry.
Québec City's middle class, which was already declining in numbers, attempted to maintain its position but failed. It struggled to attract the transcontinental railways, such as the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occident Railway as part of the Canadian Pacific Railway (which in 1879 was the first railway to reach the city), the NATIONAL TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY and the CANADIAN NORTHERN RAILWAY, and to have them adopt the port of Québec City as their ocean terminal.
Efforts were also made to have the 2 shores of the river connected by a bridge. Begun in 1900, the Québec Bridge is still the largest cantilevered bridge in the world, but experienced serious construction difficulties in 1907 and 1916. The bridge actually helped promote the circulation of products to ports farther east. A second bridge, the Pierre-Laporte, was built in 1970. It is a suspension bridge, located a few hundred metres from the earlier one.
In the middle of the 19th century, the city went through an industrial revolution, particularly in the FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY, which gradually became the largest source of employment for the region. However, the city was unable to maintain growth in its manufacturing sector and the footwear industry declined in the 1920s. Even though various other concerns appeared and disappeared and offered employment to a significant number of people, they did not manage to diversify the city's industrial base. These enterprises included shipbuilding, breweries, textiles and clothing and pulp and paper.
Most jobs in Québec City are concentrated in public administration, and only around 10% of jobs are in manufacturing. The city benefits from its status as the provincial capital and the regional administrative and services centre. It also attracts an increasing number of tourists.

Cultural Life
The city remains a major centre of French culture and the seat of the only francophone government in North America. In addition to conserving these traditions, it has managed to maintain a greater cultural homogeneity than Montréal, the other major pole of French culture. Its teaching institutions include the SÉMINAIRE DE QUÉBEC (1663) and UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL (1852). Until 1920 the latter was the only francophone university in the province; its satellite campus in Montréal, founded in 1876, became the Université de Montréal (1920). This situation often produced acrimony within the ranks of the clergy and in provincial political circles. Long located in the old city, from the 1950s on, the university gradually moved to the suburbs.