Montreal <<mahn tree AWL>> is the largest city in Quebec, a province of Canada. It lies on an island at the place where the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers meet in southern Quebec. Mount Royal, a tree-covered mountain, rises in the city’s center. This mountain gave the city its name.
Montreal is a center of business, industry, and art. It has a historic area with old stone buildings and narrow cobblestone streets. More than half of the city’s people speak French.
In 1535, Jacques Cartier of France became the first European explorer to reach the area that is now Montreal. Europeans later settled there. In 1832, Montreal became a city.