settlement, they wanted the Mohawk to move away from the fur trading post at Ville-Marie. They persuaded them to make a new settlement at their former hunting grounds north of the Ottawa River. This becameKanesatake. The Canadian territory remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain after their victory in the Seven Years War.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the navigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. The leaders of Montreal's business community had started to build their homes in the Golden Square Mile from about 1850. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill. For strategic reasons, the government established Ottawa as the capital, as it was located more in the interior of the nation.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States led to Montreal becoming a destination for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. The government at Ottawa was furious over Houde's stand and held him at a prison camp until 1944. That year the government decided to institute conscription to be able to expand the armed forces. (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass
