Largest city in Quebec, Canada
"City of Mary" redirects here. For the city in Ukraine, see
Mariupol .
City in Quebec, Canada
Montreal
Ville de Montréal (French )
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Nicknames: Motto: Interactive map of Montreal
Location within Canada
Show map of Canada Location within Quebec
Show map of Quebec Coordinates: 45°30′32″N 73°33′15″W / 45.50889°N 73.55417°W / 45.50889; -73.55417 [ 5] Country Canada Province Quebec Region / Urban agglomeration Montreal Founded May 17, 1642; 382 years ago (1642-05-17 ) Incorporated 1832; 193 years ago (1832 ) Constituted January 1, 2002; 23 years ago (2002-01-01 ) Named after Mount Royal Boroughs • Type Montreal City Council • Mayor Valérie Plante • Federal riding • Provincial riding • MPs • Land 364.74 km2 (140.83 sq mi) • Population centre 1,382.47 km2 (533.77 sq mi) • Census metropolitan area 4,670.10 km2 (1,803.14 sq mi) Highest elevation
233 m (764 ft) Lowest elevation
6 m (20 ft) • Total
1,762,949 (2nd ) 2,200,807 • Density 4,833.5/km2 (12,519/sq mi) • PC
3,675,219(2nd ) • PC density 2,658.5/km2 (6,885/sq mi) • CMA
4,291,732 (2nd ) • CMA density 919.0/km2 (2,380/sq mi) Demonyms Montrealer Montréalais(e)[ 9] Time zone UTC−05:00 (EST ) • Summer (DST ) UTC−04:00 (EDT )Postal codes
H1A, H1C-H3N, H3S-H3W, H4A-H4T, H4Z-H5B, H8R-H8Z, H9C-H9E, H9H, H9K
Area codes 514, 438 and 263 Police SPVM GDP (Montreal CMA )CA$ 228.71 billion (2020)[ 10] GDP per capita (Montreal CMA ) CA$ 48,289 (2022)[ 11] Website montreal .ca /en /
Montreal [ a] is the largest city in the province of Quebec , the second-largest in Canada , and the ninth-largest in North America . It was founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie , or "City of Mary",[ 15] and is now named after Mount Royal ,[ 16] the triple-peaked mountain around which the early settlement was built.[ 17] The city is centred on the Island of Montreal [ 18] [ 19] and a few, much smaller, peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard . The city is 196 km (122 mi) east of the national capital, Ottawa , and 258 km (160 mi) southwest of the provincial capital, Quebec City .
As of the 2021 Canadian census [update] the city had a population of 1,762,949, and a metropolitan population of 4,291,732,[ 7] making it the second-largest metropolitan area in Canada. French is the city's official language.[ 20] [ 21] In 2021, 85.7% of the population of the city of Montreal considered themselves fluent in French while 90.2% could speak it in the metropolitan area.[ 22] [ 23] Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 58.5% of the population able to speak both French and English.[ 24]
Historically the commercial capital of Canada, Montreal was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s.[ 25] It remains an important centre of art, culture , literature, film and television, music, commerce, aerospace, transport , finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education , tourism , food, fashion, video game development, and world affairs. Montreal is the location of the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization , and was named a UNESCO City of Design in 2006.[ 26] [ 27] In 2017, Montreal was ranked the 12th-most livable city in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its annual Global Liveability Ranking ,[ 28] although its ranking slipped to 40th in the 2021 index, primarily due to stress on the healthcare system from the COVID-19 pandemic .[ 29] It is regularly ranked as one of the ten best cities in the world to be a university student in the QS World University Rankings .[ 30] In 2018, Montreal was ranked as a global city .[ 31]
Montreal has hosted numerous important international events, including the 1967 International and Universal Exposition , and is the only Canadian city to have hosted the Summer Olympics, having done so in 1976 .[ 32] [ 33] The city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One ;[ 34] the Montreal International Jazz Festival ,[ 35] the largest jazz festival in the world;[ 36] the Just for Laughs festival, the largest comedy festival in the world;[ 37] and Les Francos de Montréal , the largest French-language music festival in the world.[ 38] In sports , it is home to multiple professional teams, most notably the Canadiens of the National Hockey League , who have won the Stanley Cup a record 24 times.
^ "Quebec's Metropolis 1960–1992" . Montreal Archives. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013 .
^ Gagné, Gilles (May 31, 2012). "La Gaspésie s'attable dans la métropole" . Le Soleil (in French). Quebec City. Archived from the original on June 5, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2012 .
^ Leclerc, Jean-François (2002). "Montréal, la ville aux cent clochers : regards des Montréalais sur leurs lieux de culte". Éditions Fides [fr ] (in French). Quebec City.
^ "Lonely Planet Montreal Guide – Modern History" . Lonely Planet . Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2006 .
^ "Montreal" . Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada .
^ Cite error: The named reference mamrot
was invoked but never defined (see the help page ).
^ a b c "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table. Montréal, Ville (V) Quebec [Census subdivision], Montréal Quebec [Census metropolitan area], Montréal Quebec [Population centre]" . www12.statcan.gc.ca . Statistics Canada , Government of Canada . August 2, 2024. Archived from the original on April 9, 2025. Retrieved April 9, 2025 .
^ "Fiches démographiques - Les régions administratives du Québec en 2024" (in French). January 16, 2025. Retrieved April 9, 2025 .
^ Poirier, Jean. "Island of Montréal" . Natural Resources Canada . Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014 .
^ "Gross domestic product (GDP) at basic prices, by census metropolitan area (CMA)" . December 6, 2023.
^ "Why Calgary? Our Economy in Depth" (PDF) . Calgary Economic Development . June 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2022 .
^ "Montreal" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press . doi :10.1093/OED/1312041483 . Retrieved May 31, 2024 . (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ Barber, Katherine, ed. (2005). "Montreal" . The Canadian Oxford Dictionary . Oxford University Press . doi :10.1093/acref/9780195418163.001.0001 . ISBN 978-0-19-541816-3 . Retrieved June 4, 2024 – via Oxford Reference.
^ "montréalais" . Usito (in French). Université de Sherbrooke . Retrieved May 31, 2024 . montréalais ... [mɔ̃ʀealɛ ...]
^ "Old Montréal / Centuries of History" . April 2000. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2009 .
^ "Mount Royal Park – Montreal's Mount Royal Park or Parc du Mont-Royal" . montreal.about.com. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2010 .
^ "Montreal" . Encyclopædia Britannica (Online ed.). Archived from the original on March 28, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022 .
^ "Island of Montreal" . Natural Resources Canada. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved February 7, 2008 .
^ Poirier, Jean (1979), Île de Montréal , vol. 5, Quebec: Canoma, pp. 6– 8
^ Chapter 1, article 1, "Charte de la Ville de Montréal" (in French). 2008. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2012 .
^ Chapter 1, article 1, "Charter of Ville de Montréal" . 2008. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013 .
^ "Profil du recensement, Recensement de 2016 - Montréal, Ville [Subdivision de recensement], Québec et Québec [Province]" . February 8, 2017. Archived from the original on April 10, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2021 .
^ "Profil du recensement, Recensement de 2016 – Montréal [Région métropolitaine de recensement], Québec et Québec [Province]" (in French). Statistics Canada. February 8, 2017. Archived from the original on April 10, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022 .
^ Cite error: The named reference cp2016-CD
was invoked but never defined (see the help page ).
^ "City of Toronto, History Resources" . City of Toronto. October 23, 2000. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2010 .
^ "Montreal, Canada appointed a UNESCO City of Design" (PDF) . UNESCO . June 7, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 1, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2009 .
^ Wingrove, Josh (June 9, 2008). "Vancouver and Montreal among 25 most livable cities" . The Globe and Mail . Canada. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2020 .
^ "Montreal Ranked Top Most Livable City" . Herald Sun . August 30, 2017. Archived from the original on November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2017 . The EIU's annual report, which ranks 140 major cities around the world based on their liveability, found Melbourne, Australia to be the most liveable city in the world. [...] Montreal doesn't make the list until number 12
^ "The Global Liveability Index 2021 - How the Covid-19 pandemic affected liveability worldwide" (PDF) . Economist Intelligence Unit . June 8, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021 .
^ "QS Best Student Cities 2017" . Top Universities . Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017 .
^ "The World According to GaWC" . 2018. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2018 .
^ "Montreal 1976" . Olympic.org. Archived from the original on January 4, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2016 .
^ www.ixmedia.com. "Articles | Encyclopédie du patrimoine culturel de l'Amérique française – histoire, culture, religion, héritage" . www.ameriquefrancaise.org (in French). Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016 .
^ "Circuit Gilles Villeneuve" . Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Official Website. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
^ "About – Festival International de Jazz de Montréal" . www.montrealjazzfest.com . Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016 .
^ "Largest jazz festival" . Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021 .
^ "Just For Laughs Festival" . www.tourisme-montreal.org . Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016 .
^ "FrancoFolies de Montréal: A large Francophone music festival" . Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2021 .
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