The Walled City of North America

There is only one remaining walled city in North America, and that is in Canada. It is one of the oldest cities, which is also a port and happens to be the capital of Quebec province.

Quebec: founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, but the first European to discover the port was French explorer Jacques Cartier who was seeking a route to Asia, while also searching for valuable minerals, such as gold.

Samuel de Champlain made it a permanent base, and it eventually became a fortified fur trading post.

The location gave the French the best access to North America and control over the fur trade because it was on the St. Lawrence and its tributaries.

Quebec was under constant threat for many reasons, most of which was location. It’s always about location!

The British wanted to gain control over the port, and did capture it in 1629, but only held it for three years before the French took it back. The Brits continued fighting for control, but all efforts failed until the famous Battle of Quebec, finally defeating the French for good.

That was in 1759, so it took them more than a century to regain control, and in 1763 the Treaty of Paris was in place, forcing the French-held territories in North America to cede to Great Britain.

Strife in the region did not end there, however. Britain continue to reinforce its military defense in time to defend its city during the American Revolution in the second Battle of Quebec. That was in 1775.

You might think that the wall was built from the early days, but you’d be wrong.

Quebec became a fortified city, surrounded by a stone wall at the beginning of the 1800’s, which would be well after the first and second Battle of Quebec.

The 2.9 miles of stone wall was constructed to protect the city against an invasion by the United States.

Today, it remains walled consisting of 4 gates, 3 Martello towers, the Citadelle and ramparts integrated with cannons.