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History of Tadoussac


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Jacques Cartier came to the site in 1535 during his second voyage, and found there Montagnais hunting seal. Later that same century, it was visited by Basques, whaling 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 afar trade monopoly from Henry IV. Gravé and Chauvin built the settlement on the shore at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River to profit from its location, but only five of the 16 men with them survived the first winter. In 1603, Samuel de Champlain visited the place. 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 Recollects who sang the first Mass two years later.

Tadoussac remained the only seaport on the river for 30 years. By the 17th and 18th century, it was the centre of fur trade between the French and First Nations peoples. Competition over the fur trade increased among the nations. Historians believe the St. Lawrence Iroqouians, who inhabited the St. Lawrence river valley further west, were defeated and pushed out by the Mohawk by the early 17th century. 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 the rural village and wealthy Québécois built a number of 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 and 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

The modern village of Tadoussac lies close to the site of the
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