Tadoussac

Tadoussac
Village municipality
Location within La Haute-Côte-Nord RCM.
Tadoussac Location in Côte-Nord region of Quebec.
Coordinates:
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Côte-Nord
RCM	La Haute-Côte-Nord
Settled	1600
Constituted	October 10, 1899
Government
• Mayor	Hugues Tremblay
• Federal riding	Montmorency—Charlevoix —Haute-Côte-Nord
• Prov. riding	René-Lévesque
Area
• Total	194.10 km2 (74.94 sq mi)
• Land	53.98 km2 (20.84 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	813
• Density	15.1/km2 (39/sq mi)
• Pop 2006-2011	4.4%
• Dwellings	400
Time zone	EST (UTC−5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code(s)	G0T 2A0
Area code(s)	418 and 581
Highways	Route 138 Route 172
Website	www.tadoussac.com

Tadoussac (French pronunciation: ​[tadusak]) is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. Established at an Innu settlement, it was France's first trading post on the mainland of New France. By the 17th century it became an important trading post and was the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in Canada, and the oldest surviving French settlement in the Americas.

The indigenous Innu called the place Totouskak (plural for totouswk or totochak) meaning "bosom", probably in reference to the two round and sandy hills located on the west side of the village. According to other interpretations, it could also mean "place of lobsters", or "place where the ice is broken" (from the Innu shashuko).

Although located in Innu territory, the post was also frequented by the Mi'kmaq people in the second half of the 16th century, who called it Gtatosag ("among the rocks"). Alternate spellings of Tadoussac over the centuries included Tadousac (17th and 18th centuries), Tadoussak, and Thadoyzeau (1550).

History

Tadoussac in about 1612, illustrated by Samuel de Champlain

Tadoussac, 1900

Jacques Cartier came to the site in 1535 during his second voyage. He found Innu people using it as a base for hunting seal. Later that same century, Basques from Spain conducted whaling expeditions on the river.

Tadoussac was founded in 1600 by François Gravé Du Pont, a merchant, and Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit, a captain of the French Royal Navy, when they acquired a fur trade monopoly from King Henry IV. Gravé and Chauvin built the settlement on the shore at the mouth of the Saguenay River, at its confluence with the St. Lawrence, to profit from its location. But the frontier was harsh and only five of the 16 men with them survived the first winter. In 1603, the tabagie or "feast" of Tadoussac reunited Gravé with Samuel de Champlain and with the Montagnais, the Algonquins, and the Etchimins." In 1615, the Mission of L'Exaltation-de-la-Sainte-Croix-de-Tadoussac, named in memory of a cross planted by Jean de Quen, was founded by the Récollet Order. Their missionary brothers sang the first Mass there two years later.

Tadoussac remained the only seaport on the St. Lawrence River for 30 years. Historians believe the St. Lawrence Iroqouians, who inhabited the St. Lawrence valley upriver to the west, were defeated and pushed out by the Mohawk before the early 17th century. By the late 17th and early 18th century, Tadoussac was the center of fur trade between the French and First Nations peoples. Competition over the fur trade increased among the nations. Colonists from the Tadoussac area were involved in whaling from 1632 until at least the end of the century.

In the 19th century, with industrialization reaching other parts of Canada, tourists discovered the appeal of this rural village. Wealthy Québécois built a number of vacation villas. A Victorian hotel was built in 1864; it later was lost to a fire. In the 1940s, it was replaced by the large Hotel Tadoussac.

In 1855, the geographic township of Tadoussac was established. In 1899, it was incorporated as a village municipality. In 1937, the Parish Municipality of Tadoussac was formed, but dissolved in 1949 because it had less than 500 inhabitants.

Present day

Tadoussac as seen from the St. Lawrence

The modern village of Tadoussac lies close to the site of the original settlement at the mouth of the Saguenay River. It is known as a tourist destination because of the rugged beauty of the Saguenay fjord and its facilities for whale watching. The authority for the Port of Tadoussac was transferred in April 2012 to the Municipality of Tadoussac.

The entire area is either rural or still in a wilderness state, with several federal and provincial natural parks and preserves protecting natural resources. Tadoussac encompasses the first marine national park of Canada. The nearest urban agglomeration is Saguenay about 100 km (62 mi) west.

Representation in other media

• The film The Hotel New Hampshire, based on the 1981 John Irving novel of the same name, was shot at the Hotel Tadoussac and released in 1984.

Geography

Old chapel, built 1747-1750 (the oldest wooden church in North-America)

Tadoussac is located on the north-west shore of the Saint Lawrence River, at its confluence with the Saguenay River. The cold, fresh water from the Saguenay and the warmer, salty water of the St. Lawrence, meet to create a rich marine environment. The rivers support an abundance of krill, making the area very attractive to whales.

Transportation

Tadoussac is the north-east terminus of the Baie-Ste-Catherine/Tadoussac ferry, which offers free and frequent service across the Saguenay River. The ferry is part of Quebec Route 138 and the main link to Sept-Îles. The village is considered the gateway to the Manicouagan region.

Bus service to and from Quebec City and Montreal is offered by Intercar, twice a day, 7 days a week.

Tourism and attractions

• Old chapel (the oldest wooden church in Canada and USA)
• Trading post of Pierre Chauvin
• CIMM (Centre d'interprétation des mammifères marins), Center of Marine Mammal Interpretation
• Whale watching excursions in the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park

Demographics

File:Tadoussac-CharlesComfort.jpg

Painting of Tadoussac by Charles Comfort, including the Old Chapel (1935)

Population trend:

• Population in 2011: 813 (2006 to 2011 population change: -4.4%)
• Population in 2006: 850
• Population in 2001: 870
• Population in 1996: 913
• Population in 1991: 832

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 382 (total dwellings: 400)

Mother tongue:

• English as first language: 1.8%
• French as first language: 92.3%
• English and French as first language: 1.8%
• Other as first language: 4.1%

Gallery

• 

  Hotel Tadoussac

• 

  Reconstructed trading post in Tadoussac

• Whale watching Tadoussac 11.jpg

  Whale watching excursion

See also

• List of village municipalities in Quebec
• 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake

External links

• Tadoussac website
• The CIMM in Tadoussac