Low-Saint-Laurent

The Low-Saint-Laurent is an administrative area of the province of Quebec, on southern bank of the estuary of the Fleuve the St. Lawrence. For this reason the area is frequently called “Low-of-River”. It is made up of 8 regional municipalities of county (MRC) and 133 municipalities.

Geography

Relief

The relief bas-laurentien comprises two principal elements: plates of the the Appalachian Mountains (Mounts Notre-Dame) and the lowlands which occupy a narrow band along the littoral of the Fleuve the St. Lawrence. These two entities are connected by an intermediate zone of buttresses. It is about a succession of projecting ledges separated by projections which end up being melted with the plates. The Notre-Dame mounts are let stop by the important depressions of Témiscouata and Matapédia. These two parallel valleys constitute true ways of passage towards the seaboard provinces.

Climate

The presence of the sea (estuary of the St. Lawrence river) influence somewhat climate of the Low-Saint-Laurent: compared to the climate of the Abitibi, for example, located at the same latitude, the climate of the area is more moderate with higher minima and the maximum ones low. To that is added the cold and wet wind the North-East. The influence of the sea is less large in the valleys where the temperatures are a little higher the summer and a little colder at the winter than on the littoral.

Demography

Population: 201.882 (2005)
Surface: 22.185 km ²
Density: 9,1 hab. /km ²
Birth rate: 7,8 ‰ (2004)
Death rate: 8,4 ‰ (2003)
French Native tongue: 99,5% (2001)
immigrant Population: 1.200 (0,6%) (2001)

Source: Statistical institute of Quebec

Since 1951, the area of the Low-Saint-Laurent sees his population stagnating, to even decline slightly. This reality hiding place two phenomena which are opposed: the rapid decline of the rural regions and reinforcement of the principal urban poles, in particular Rimouski and River-of-Wolf. The share of these two only agglomerations in the total population of the area passed from 16% in 1951 to 34% in 2001. The increased prevalence of these two urban poles explains why the two only MRC which knew an uninterrupted increase in their population over period 1951-2001 are the MRC of Rimouski-Neigette and River-of-Wolf. On the other hand, the MRC which cannot count on the presence of an urban pole structuring, like the MRC of Matapédia, Témiscouata and the Basques, are the MRC where the population decreased the most.

Taking into account the fall of population observed since 1951, while at the same time the population of Quebec increased by 82%, it is not astonishing to note that the share of the area in Quebec fell of 5,2% in 1951 to 2,8% in 2001.

History

Basques

Just like the Norman ones and the Breton ones, the Basque fishermen exploit the marine resources of the estuary and the gulf of the St. Lawrence in XVIe century. Their presence is attested as of the years 1520 and immediately becomes more frequent after explorations of Jacques Cartier. About 1560, they have a fleet of hundreds of cod-fishing boats and about thirty whalers. The Basques exploit initially the resources present in great quantity in the gulf and on the benches of Newfoundland, but about 1570, it seems that the rarefaction of the colonies of whales push them to come to pursue these marine mammals until in the average estuary of the St. Lawrence. Hunting concentrates with the height of the Fjord of Saguenay. The island with the Basques, located opposite Three-Spray, on southern bank of St. Lawrence river, then becomes one of the places privileged by the Basques to cut up there and dissolve there the fat of the whales captured in the surroundings. three furnaces testify still nowadays to this activity.

The slow colonization of the littoral

Although, during the French mode, more than one score of seigniories were conceded along the littoral of the river, until Métis, and even inside the grounds (seigniories of Madawaska, Lake-Mongrel and Lake-Matapédia) the settlement of the Low-Saint-Laurent remains marginal until 1790. Except for the area of Kamouraska, whose colonization is done quickly, in the prolongation of the Coast-of-South and the royal way, the Low-Saint-Laurent remains a long time isolated. In the east of Kamouraska, about 1760, the population made up of a few tens of families of pioneers, concentrates in four seigniories: River-of-Wolf, Isle-Green the, Three-Spray and Rimouski. In 1790, the Low-Saint-Laurent, other than Kamouraska, counts hardly 1250 inhabitants divided on several hundred kilometers of coasts, between Our-Lady-of-Bearing and Matane.

The realization of the Way of the Bearing making it possible to connect the valley of the St. Lawrence to the English colonies of Maritime, about 1783, somewhat breaks the insulation of part of the territory, but does not involve the establishment of a sedentary population on its course.

Between 1790 and 1830, the population of the Low-Saint-Laurent (in the east of Kamouraska) passes from 1.250 to 10.000 inhabitants. This increase in population is fed at the same time by a natural strong growth and a migratory current coming from the areas more in the west. This settlement allows the practically continuous occupation of the row of the edge of water and, in several places, the occupation of the first terraces of the interior of the grounds. To Cacouna, in 1831, the settlement already progressed to the 4th rank. It is as at this period as insulation is broken: in 1830, one can go until Rimouski by the royal way.

The years which follow the conquest are difficult for the catholic clergy. Even if the population justifies their creation, the bishop tests difficulty of making recognize new parishes by the British authorities. The first parish of the Low-Saint-Laurent in the east of Kamouraska is Cacouna, which is born in 1825, one century and half after the arrival of the first clearers.

Regional municipalities of County

Kamouraska, whose chief town is the town of Saint-Pascal.
Matapédia, whose chief town is the town of Amqui.
Mitis, whose chief town is the town of Mount-Pretty.
the Basques, whose chief town is the town of Three-Spray.
Matane, whose chief town is the town of Matane.
Rimouski-Neigette, whose chief town is the town of Rimouski.
River-of-Wolf, whose chief town is the town of River-of-Wolf.
Témiscouata, whose chief town is the town of Our-Lady-of-Lake.

Autochtones municipalities except MRC

Indian Reserve of Cacouna
Indian Reserve of Whitworth

Attractions

National park of the Biro

External bonds

Gate of the Low-Saint-Laurent
Window of the Low-Saint-Laurent
Repertory of Web sites of the Low-Saint-Laurent
Current events of the Low-Saint-Laurent

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