Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke is a city in Quebec, Canada, capital of the administrative region of Estrie, located at the confluence of the Magog and San Francisco rivers, both tributaries of the Saint Lawrence. The city has 147,427 inhabitants, being the sixth city in population in the province and is the center of a metropolitan area of 194,555 inhabitants, formed by the former municipalities of Ascot, Bromptonville, Deauville, Fleurimont, Lennoxville, Rock Forest, Saint- Élie d'Orford and Sherbrooke. Sherbrooke is an English foundation but currently 91% of its inhabitants speak French. It has two universities as well as various cultural centers.
Sherbrooke is a major university center with eight institutions and 40,000 students per year. The ratio of university students is 10.32 students per 100 inhabitants, in proportion to its population, making it the highest concentration of students in Québec.
Since the 19th century, Sherbrooke has also been an important manufacturing center, although this segment of the economy has experienced a considerable transformation in recent decades as a result of the decline of the city's traditional manufacturing sectors. Today, the service sector occupies a prominent place in the city's economy, as well as a growing knowledge-based economy.
The Sherbrooke region is known for its mountains and lakes. Five ski resorts are within an hour or less, Owl's Head, Sutton, Bromont, Orford and Mountjoy. Mount Bellevue, small in size in the center of the city is a place where you can also ski. New England mountains like Sugarloaf and Killington Peak are located near the city, 50 minutes from the US border.
Toponymy
Originally known as Hyatt's Mill, the town is named for Sir John Coape Sherbrooke (1764-1840), a military man who was lieutenant governor of New Scotland (1812-1816) and Governor of British North America (1816-1818).
Geography
Sherbrooke is located at the coordinates 45°24′00″N 71°53′03″W / 45.40000, -71.88417. According to Statistics Canada, it has a total area of 353.49 km² and is one of the 1,135 municipalities into which the territory of the province of Quebec is administratively divided.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, there were 154 601 people living in this city with a population density of 437.4 hab./km2. Census data showed that of 147 427 people registered in 2006, there was a population increase of 717,664 inhabitants in 2011 (in 2011).
4.9%). The total number of private properties was 75 880 with a density of 214 properties per km2. The total number of private homes occupied by regular residents was 70 572.
History
The first Amerindian settlers inhabited the region 8,000 years ago. In Coaticook and Capleton some traces of human settlements dating back 4,500 years have been found.
Upon the arrival of Samuel de Champlain in 1608, the area came under Mohawk control. Through missionaries, the French created an alliance with the Abenaki, located in Maine and Vermont, but were driven out to the St. Lawrence River Valley near Trois-Rivières after the Mohawk victory in the War of 1660. gain control of the territory, the area where Sherbrooke is currently located becomes a battlefield between the two towns and a passage for those who had to transit through the region.
During the Seven Years' War between France and Great Britain, the Abenaki, always allied with the French, guide them through the rivers of the Eastern Cantons (Estrie), frequently passing through the site of Sherbrooke, during the English raids. When peace was signed in 1783 and soon after the recognition of independence by the United States, the region of the Eastern Cantons returned to the hands of the Abekani for a few years, who had practiced hunting and fishing for centuries. However, the American Revolution attracts loyalists to the region and they begin to covet the land and obtain concessions from the government.
The first settler to settle on the Sherbrooke site is a French-Canadian named Jean-Baptiste Nolain, about whom few details are known, except that he arrived in 1779 to dedicate himself to agriculture.
The first attempts at colonization occurred in 1792 on the banks of the San Francisco. The place was known by the name of Cowan's Clearance. In 1793, loyalist Hilbert Hyatt, a native of Schenectady, settled not far from the confluence of the Massawippi and Coaticook, before the land was officially awarded by the Governor of Lower Canada. In the following two years, 18 more families come to live on the site. Finally the crown recognized ownership of the land to Hyatt in 1801, building the first dam on the Magog River, in collaboration with another loyalist named Jonathan Ball, who had bought the land on the north bank of the river. So Hyatt builds a flour mill on the south bank of the river, while Ball built a sawmill on the north shore. Due to the construction of the mill, Hyatt gave rise in 1802 to the small village that became known as "Hyatt's Mill" (the Hyatt mill) that will become the city of Sherbrooke in 1818.
In 1832, Sherbrooke attracted most of the activities of the British American Land Company (BALC) and began to benefit from its investments, injecting significant British capital into the region. Some manufacturing activities that take advantage of the hydraulic power of the Magog River are established. Since 1835, government support began to be sought to establish a railway line through Sherbrooke, but this only became a reality in 1852, through the line that connected the cities of Montreal and Portland.
From the second half of the XIX century, academic institutions began to be established that gave the city an orientation university.
In 1982, the regional county municipality of the Région sherbrookoise was created. In 2001 the municipalities of Ascot, Bromptonville, Deauville, Fleurimont, Lennoxville, Rock Forest, Saint-Élie d'Orford and Sherbrooke merged to create the current city of Sherbrooke, which has the powers of regional county municipality.
Transportation
Four highways, three national routes and four regional routes pass through the city. It has urban and interurban transport service and a terminal located in the old train station, in the center of the city.
Sherbrooke is an important rail node served by three lines: MMA (Montreal, Maine and Atlantic), SLQ (Saint Lawrence and Atlantic) and Quebec Central.
The city is served by Sherbrooke Airport.