Municipal divisions and their names and functions have changed throughout the history of the province. Seigneuries (manors) were established on land grants from the king of France. (See the “Land and Property” section of this outline for information about seigneuries.) Up to 1763, the lower Saint Lawrence River Valley was generally divided into three “governments.” The headquarters for the governments were in Montréal, Trois-Rivières, and Québec. Local villages, parishes, and seigneuries were under one of these governments.

France turned Québec over to Great Britain in 1763. The British introduced a system of counties and townships. Older counties retained their seigneuries. New counties were divided into townships. (See the “Land and Property” section of this outline.)

The part of the province directly north of Vermont was called the “Eastern Townships” (Cantons de l'Est). It was originally settled by English-speaking Protestants. Many of them were Americans with Loyalist connections. Many of their family names are in the history pages and township maps in:

Illustrated Atlas of the Eastern Townships and South Western Quebec. 2nd repr. ed. 1881. Reprint, Stratford, Ont.: Cumming Publishers, 1980. (FHL Q book 971.4 E7i; computer number 189196.)

Beginning about 1829, some of the British county names were changed to French names. Some townships were changed to municipalities, and their boundaries were changed to match parish boundaries. A summary of county name and boundary changes is in Jetté's Traité de Généalogie, pages 659–665. See the “For Further Reading” section for a complete description of this book.

The present local jurisdictions in Québec are based on the Municipalities and Roads of Lower Canada Act of 1855. They still include cities, towns, villages, parishes, and townships.

Recently, counties were replaced by larger regions called MRCs, “municipalités régionales de comté.” Some gazetteers describe the past jurisdictions of Québec. See the “Gazetteers” section of this outline.

Modern municipal structure is described in:

Répertoire des municipalités du Québec, 1988 (Gazetteer of Québec). Québec, Qué.: Ministère des Communications du Québec, 1988. (FHL book 971.4 E5rm 1988; computer number 497357.) Text in French.

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