Quebec

Prior to colonization by European powers, the First Nations peoples were the first humans to inhabit Quebec. There were various First Nations peoples that relied on varied resources for their survival. These people would forge extensive trade networks with other indigenous peoples in the Americas, and eventually the European settlers would become a part of this network, providing various European goods for lucrative furs.

The French would be the first major European power in Quebec, initially exploring the St. Lawrence River in search of the fabled Northwest Passage before trading with the First Nations for furs. While the French weren't saints, their trade relationship with the natives was better than Spanish subjugation or English expulsion of the natives, and the growing New France would purchase lucrative furs from the natives in exchange for firearms which the natives found necessary in the New World of increasing competition and conflict.

Compared to the English colonies, New France would be far less populated for a number of reasons. The colony was far less appealing to prospective settlers than were the English colonies to their English counterparts. French peasants were offered better conditions by the Custom of Paris than were English peasants, and the absence of primogeniture made the colony not have the population of second sons yearning for opportunity that England had. The colony was also very religiously and socially strict, and France only allowed devout Catholics to migrate as opposed to the English strategy of disposing of their religious dissidents in America. France also sought to avoid a major depopulation of their mainland and so they discouraged migration. These factors coalesced into a rather smaller French population in the New World, and also discouraged familiar migration which in turn brought a male-dominated gender imbalance. Though some projects, such as King Louis XIV's Filles du Roi, sought to correct the gender imbalance and increase the population, the French population remained relatively small compared to England's in the New World.

New France, as the fur trade would become less lucrative, would come to be neglected by the French in favor of more lucrative holdings in Europe, the Caribbean, and India. In the 18th century, France would increasingly see Canada as a bargaining tool with Great Britain to acquire some other benefit. This is evident in the War of the Spanish Succession, where France would concede the Hudson's Bay and Nova Scotia, among a number of concessions, to Britain in exchange for European prizes. Quebec would increasingly be left neglected by the French in face of a growing British threat to the south, and in the Seven Years War, Great Britain would capture Quebec City in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and vanquish New France. Perhaps most indicative of France's indifference to the unprofitable Quebec was France's ultimate decision to retain Guadeloupe over Canada at the peace conference and with that, Great Britain would conquer Quebec.

Initially, Great Britain would attempt to have her way over Quebec, yet after costly rebellions in face of a Britain who was badly in debt, the British strategy to placate Quebec became one of toleration of the people, their French language, their Catholic religion, and even their distinct legal code. Quebec was even expanded, much to the dismay of the increasingly restless Thirteen Colonies to the South. When these colonies would break off from the British Empire and form the United States, Americans would launch an attempt to conquer Quebec, yet the British would foil this plan and Quebec would ultimately decide to stay with the British Empire that tolerated them over the United States that despised them. The aftermath of the American Revolution, however, would see Loyalist Americans move to what was then the Province of Quebec, and in response the territory would be partitioned into Anglophone Upper Canada and Francophone Lower Canada, the predecessors to Ontario and Quebec.

In the wake of the French Revolution, some curators of the Ancien Regime would flee to New France, enriching the culture of Quebec. Again in the War of 1812, the Quebecois would reaffirm their desire not to join the United States, yet the colony would see its own republican movement emerge in a rebellion a mere twenty five years later. Quebec would be governed by a faction of wealthy, Anglophone, mercantile elites known as the Chateau Clique, and in 1837, riots would culminate into a rebellion, with the Patriotes movement revolting against British rule. While this rebellion would be quelled, Britain would investigate the causes and would enact reforms in the territory, such as merging Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, which was subdivided into Canada West and Canada East to match the old colonies respectively. Democratic reforms would also beset the colony, and with Canadian Confederation in 1867, the current entity of the Canadian Province of Quebec would be established out of Canada East.

Quebec as a Canadian Province would initially be governed by a coalition of British elites, wealthy Francophones, and the Catholic Church. This government would cooperate with the Canadian government, though the people of Quebec would sometimes oppose both governments’ policies. For example, during the Red River and Northwest Rebellions, the Anglo-Canadians would take military action against the French-Métis leader Louis Riel, yet some in Quebec would have support for Louis Riel and see him as a martyr. When Great Britain went to war against the Boer Republics in the South African War, Canada would come to Britain’s aid. Some in Quebec, however, would have sympathy with the Boers, seeing them similar to themselves as non-British Europeans in a faraway land resisting British Imperialism. Tensions would come to a head in the First World War and the crisis over Canada’s conscription. Many Québécois didn’t want to fight for the British Empire, yet also didn’t feel any allegiance to the French Republic. This would be an important milestone in the formation of Québécois identity as these French Canadiens would feel like they weren’t just British subjects or French people in North America, but rather their own nation. This development would occur in parallel to Canada’s own formation of a national identity as something more than just British in North America.

The 1960s would see these discussions manifest into action. In the Quiet Revolution, the historic Quebec alliance of Anglophones, the Catholic Church, and business interests would be eroded through Quebec Nationalism, Secularism, and Economic Progressivism. Here, the idea of “Québécois” would gain greater traction in the population, building off the ideas of the First World War and 1950s that Quebec was more than French-Canadiens. This period was a transformative period for Canada as a whole, with the current Canadian flag design replacing the previous Red Ensign in 1965 being an example of Canada and Quebec’s changing identities. The idea of Quebec Nationalism, however, would go beyond the Quiet Revolution and culminate into efforts of independence, both peacefully and violently. The latter would be expressed in the 1970 October Crisis, in which the Front de Liberation du Quebec kidnapped a British diplomat and killed a Canadian politician to combat what they perceived as the “Anglophone capitalists”. The former would be expressed in two independence referendums which would both ultimately fail. The drive for Quebec Independence would see debates as to the nature of Canada’s identity. Bilingualism, multiculturalism, and the question of just how much autonomy should Quebec receive dominated the era, yet after the 1995 Quebec Independence Referendum, some of these questions were answered with Quebec ultimately deciding to stay in Canada, albeit with a very small margin.