Tadoussac () is a village in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
, Canada, at the confluence of the
Saguenay and
Saint Lawrence
Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...
rivers. The indigenous
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
call the place ''Totouskak'' (plural for ''totouswk'' or ''totochak'') meaning "
bosom
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...
", 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
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the no ...
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).
Tadoussac was first visited by Europeans in 1535 and was established in 1599 when the first trading post in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
was formed there, in addition to a permanent settlement being placed in the same area that the Grand Hotel is located today.
History
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French- Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of ...
came to the site in 1535 during his second voyage. He found
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
people using it as a base for hunting seal. Later that same century,
Basques
The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Ba ...
conducted
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industr ...
expeditions on the river, as well as engaging in hides trade with the natives based in the shore at the mouth of the Sagueney.
Tadoussac was founded in 1599 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
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
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 initial sixteen settlers 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 Iroquoians, 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 centre 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
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industr ...
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 called the Hotel Tadoussac was built in 1864; it was expanded around 1900 and demolished in 1942, and replaced by a newer 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
The modern village of Tadoussac lies close to the site of the original settlement at the mouth of the
Saguenay River
__NOTOC__
The Saguenay River () is a major river of Quebec, Canada.
It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...
. It is known as a tourist destination because of the rugged beauty of the Saguenay
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...
and its facilities for
whale watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...
. 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 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
Transportation
Tadoussac is the north-east terminus of the
Baie-Sainte-Catherine/Tadoussac ferry which offers free and frequent service across the Saguenay River. The ferry is part of
Quebec Route 138
Route 138 is a major highway in the Canadian province of Quebec, following the entire north shore of the Saint Lawrence River past Montreal to the temporary eastern terminus in Kegashka on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The western terminus is in ...
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
* Trading post of
Pierre Chauvin
* CIMM (''Centre d'interprétation des mammifères marins''), Center of Marine Mammal Interpretation
*
Whale watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...
excursions in the
Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park
*Club de Golf Tadoussac
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...
, Tadoussac had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Population trend:
[Statistics Canada: ]1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...
, 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...
, 2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...
, 2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...
, 2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
, 2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
census
* population in 2021: 814
* population in 2016: 799
* 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
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
File:Tadoussac - QC - Hotel Tadoussac2.jpg, Hotel Tadoussac
File:Poste de traite Tadoussac.jpg, Reconstructed trading post in Tadoussac
File:Whale watching Tadoussac 11.jpg, Whale watching excursion
File:Breaching minke whale.ogv, Minke whale breaching off the coast of Tadoussac
See also
*
1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake
The 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake struck northeastern North America on February 28, reaching 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale. It was one of the most powerful measured in Canada in the 20th century, with a maximum perceived intensity ...
*
List of village municipalities in Quebec
This is the list of communities in Quebec that have the legal status of village municipalities (''village'', code=VL) as defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy.
This does not include Cree villages (code=VC), Na ...
References
External links
Tadoussac websiteThe CIMM in Tadoussac
{{authority control
Villages in Quebec
Incorporated places in Côte-Nord
Hudson's Bay Company trading posts
New France
Populated places established in 1599
16th century in Quebec
La Haute-Côte-Nord Regional County Municipality