The following important events affected political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements.

1534	Jacques Cartier landed on the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the region for France. In 1535 he visited the Indian villages of Stadacona (now the city of Québec) and Hochelaga (now Montréal).
1608	Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Québec. Louis Hébert and Marie Rollet were the parents of the first European family to settle there. They arrived in 1617.
1663	King Louis XIV made New France a royal colony. In 1686, struggles over the control of North America intensified between France and Great Britain.
1713	The Treaty of Utrecht separated New France from the former French colonies of Acadia (Nova Scotia) and Newfoundland. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland were ceded to the British.
1759	The British captured the city of Québec.
1763	New France was turned over to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris.
1774	The Québec Act created the early Province of Québec, which included most of the territories in New France. This act also guaranteed civil and religious rights to French Canadians in the province.
1791	The Constitutional Act divided the Province of Québec into Upper Canada (now Ontario) and Lower Canada (now Québec).
1837	The two-year Patriot Rebellion began.
1841	Upper Canada became Canada West. Lower Canada became Canada East. The Act of Union joined Canada East and Canada West under one government called the Province of Canada.
1867	Canada East was renamed Québec and became one of the four original provinces of the Dominion of Canada.
1912	Provincial boundaries were extended to the Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait.
1927	The Labrador region (from the Atlantic Ocean to the watershed line) was given to Newfoundland.