Facts about Montreal
The Montreal Canadiens are one of the Original Six NHL teams, and boast the greatest number of Stanley Cup championships at 24.
The headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency are located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal.
Montreal would surpass Quebec City as the seat of financial and political power for both English and French-speaking communities of Canada, a position it held for many years.
Montreal is a major port city along the Seaway, a deep-draft inland waterway links it to the industrial centers of the Great Lakes.
Downtown Montreal lies at the foot of Mount Royal, which is designated as a major urban park, and extends toward the Saint Lawrence River.
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds.
The riverside area of Old Port adjacent to Old Montreal is now a recreational and historical area now maintained by Parks Canada.
Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations.
Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored to keep the look of the city in its earliest days as a settlement, and horse-drawn calиches help maintain that image.
The city rests on the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers.
Extending all over downtown is Montreal's Underground City (French: La ville souterraine) a set of pedestrian levels built to cross under streets, thereby connecting buildings to each other.
By 1852, Montreal had 60,000 inhabitants; by 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural center of Canada.
After Montreal's population surpassed one million in the early 1950s, Mayor Jean Drapeau laid down plans for the future development of the city.
The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub.
New buildings were built on top of old ones in this time period, including Montreal's two tallest skyscrapers up to then: the 43-story Place Ville-Marie and the 47-story Tour de la Bourse.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft's studio in the area.
Nicknamed "la ville aux cent clochers" (the city of a hundred belltowers), Montreal is renowned for its churches.
Once the largest city in Canada (a distinction acquired by Toronto in the mid-1970s), Montreal is the second largest French-speaking city in the Western world after Paris.
Montreal (French: Montrйal) is the largest city in the province of Quebec and the second-largest city in Canada.
The Place des Arts harbors the headquarters of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO).
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation.
According to Statistics Canada, some 13.55 percent of the population of Montreal are member of a visible minority (non-white) group.
La Ronde is the biggest amusement park in Montreal and is located on Оle Sainte Hйlиne.
Old Montreal was a worldwide port, but shipping has been moved further east to the Port de Montreal site, leaving the Old Port (Vieux-Port) as an historical area.
The biggest sport following in Montreal clearly belongs to hockey and the city is famous for its hockey fans.
Montreal is the cultural center of Quebec, and of French-speaking North America as a whole.
Montreal is an important center of commerce, industry, culture, finance, and world affairs.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec, approximately 275 kilometres (168 miles) southwest of Quebec City, the provincial capital, and 190 kilometres (118 mi) east of Ottawa, the federal capital.
The Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) is also a significant building in Montreal, and is home to the Montreal Exchange, the first stock exchange in Canada.
In 2002, Montreal ranked as fourth largest center in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
Montreal is also the site of two high-profile racing events each year: the Canadian Grand Prix, and the Molson Indy Montreal of the Champcars Series.
Archaeological evidence suggests that various nomadic native peoples had occupied the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans.
University football receives increasing support, with the McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Universitй de Montrйal's Carabins playing in Montreal.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities.
The local English-speaking artistic community nevertheless contributes dynamically to the culture of Montreal, and intense collaborations exist between all Montreal communities.
Annual family-oriented events promoting health and cycling are also organized in the streets of Montreal.
The city of Montreal is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, however, church attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women.
The intelligent integration of multi-discipline arts in choreography of these troops has paved the way to the success of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002.
The bloody French and Iroquois Wars would threaten the survival of Ville-Marie until a peace treaty was signed at Montreal in 1701.
During the period of Prohibition in the United States, Montreal became well-known as one of North America's "sin cities" for its nightlife, a reputation it still holds today.
By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Other festivals in Montreal include Pop Montreal, The Fringe festival and Nujaz.
Montreal was home to the major league baseball team, the Expos, until they were relocated to Washington, DC in 2005 and rebranded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Due to wind chill, the perceived temperature can be much lower than the actual temperature and wind chill factor is often included in Montreal weather forecasts.
Montreal is bordered by the Saint Lawrence River on its south side, and by the Riviиre des Prairies on the north.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (officially Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest green spaces.
The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean.
orthographic variant introduced either in French, or by an Italian map maker ("Mount Royal" is monte Reale in Italian).
Perhaps no single contribution from the allophone communities is more perceived than in Montreal's culinary fabric.
The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Montreal Jazz Festival), which contribute significantly to its economy.
The de-merger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Two new museums were also built, and finally in 1966, the Montreal Metro system opened, along with several new expressways.
Blacks contribute to the largest minority group, numbering some 160,000 (5.16 percent of Montreal inhabitants), which is the second-largest community of Blacks in Canada, after Toronto.
The large university population, the drinking age of 18, and the excellent public transportation system combine with other aspects of the Montreal culture to make the city's night life unique.
Montreal has also been slated to have a Can-Am League team beginning in 2008.
Every year, this industry is generating billions of dollars and thousands of jobs in the Montreal area.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (officially Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest green spaces.