Province of Lower Canada Province du Bas-Canada (French) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1791–1841 | |||||||||||
  Coat of arms
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| Anthem: "God Save the King/Queen" | |||||||||||
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| Status | British colony | ||||||||||
| Capital | Quebec City | ||||||||||
| Common languages | French, English | ||||||||||
| Government | Château Clique oligarchy under a constitutional monarchy | ||||||||||
| Sovereign | |||||||||||
• 1791–1820 | George III | ||||||||||
• 1820–1830 | George IV | ||||||||||
• 1830–1837 | William IV | ||||||||||
• 1837–1841 | Victoria | ||||||||||
| Lieutenant-Governor and Executive Council of Lower Canada | |||||||||||
| Legislature | Parliament of Lower Canada | ||||||||||
| Legislative Council | |||||||||||
| Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||
| Historical era | British Era | ||||||||||
| 26 December 1791 | |||||||||||
| 10 February 1841 | |||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||
| 1839[3] | 534,185 km2 (206,250 sq mi) | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1839[3] | c. 700,000 | ||||||||||
| Currency | Canadian pound | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||
The Province of Lower Canada (French: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec and the Labrador region of the current Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (until the Labrador region was transferred to Newfoundland in 1809).[4]
Lower Canada consisted of part of the former colony of Canada of New France, conquered by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War ending in 1763 (also called the French and Indian War in the United States). Other parts of New France conquered by Britain became the Colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
The Province of Lower Canada was created by the Constitutional Act 1791 from the partition of the British colony of the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)[5] into the Province of Lower Canada and the Province of Upper Canada. The prefix "lower" in its name refers to its geographic position farther downriver from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River than its contemporary Upper Canada, present-day southern Ontario.
Lower Canada was abolished in 1841 when it and adjacent Upper Canada were united into the Province of Canada.[6]
- ^ "Early flags". Government of Canada. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ "Royal Union Flag". The Flags of Canada. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ The emigrant's handbook of facts concerning Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Cape of Good Hope, &c. Open Library. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-0-665-95282-1. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ^ "Labrador–Canada Boundary". marianopolis. 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
Labrador Act, 1809. – An imperial act (49 Geo. III, cap. 27), 1809, provided for the re-annexation to Newfoundland of 'such parts of the coast of Labrador from the River St John to Hudson's Streights, and the said Island of Anticosti, and all other smaller islands so annexed to the Government of Newfoundland by the said Proclamation of the seventh day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three (except the said Islands of Madelaine) shall be separated from the said Government of Lower Canada, and be again re-annexed to the Government of Newfoundland.'
- ^ Fernand Ouellet (4 March 2015). "Lower Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ James Maurice Stockford Careless; Richard Foot (4 March 2015). "Province of Canada 1841–1867". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 18 August 2019.