The timeline of Montreal history is a chronology of significant events in the history of Montreal, Canada's second-most populated city, with about 3.5 million residents in 2018, and the fourth-largest French-speaking city in the world.
Pre-Colonization The area known today as Montreal had been inhabited by Algonquin, Wendat (Huron), and Haudenosaunee for some 2,000 years, while the oldest known artifact found in Montreal proper is about 2,000 years old. In the earliest oral history, the Algonquin migrated from the Atlantic coast, arriving, together with other Anicinàpek, at the "First Stopping Place" (Montréal). There, the nation found a "turtle-shaped island" marked by miigis (cowrie) shells. The Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, were centred, from at least 1000 CE, in northern New York, and their influence extended into what is now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec.The Canadian Encyclopedia, Iroquois 1142 – The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is, from oral tradition, said to have been formed in 1142 CE.Bruce E. Johanson, Dating the Iroquois Confederacy In the modern Mohawk language, Montréal is called Tiohtià:ke. Other native languages, such as Algonquin, refer to it as Moniang. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal.
16th century 1535 Jacques Cartier names the St. Lawrence River in honour of Saint Lawrence on August 10, the feast day of the Roman martyr. Prior to this, the river had been known by other names, including Hochelaga River and Canada River; Cartier penetrates far into the interior for the first time, via the river. September 19, Cartier starts his journey from Quebec City to Montreal, while in search of a passage to Asia. Cartier visits Hochelaga on October 2, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He becomes the first European to reach the area now known as Montréal. Cartier estimates the population to be "over a thousand". October 3, Cartier climbs the mountain on the Île de Montréal and names it Mont Royal; the name Montréal is generally thought to be derived from "Mont Royal". 1556 – On his map of Hochelega, Italian geographer Giovanni Battista Ramusio writes "Monte Real" to designate Mont Royal. 1580 – The St. Lawrence Iroquoians appear to have vacated the Saint Lawrence River Valley sometime prior to 1580.
17th century
1601 – On his map, Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan writes Hochelaga for the inhabited area, and calls the hill Mont Royal. 1603 – Samuel de Champlain reaches the Island of Montreal (Île de Montréal) and Île Perrot, and describes Mont Royal, Lake Saint-Louis and the Lachine Rapids. 1608 – Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
1610–1629
1611 Samuel de Champlain, in the company of a young Wendat, whom he had taken to and brought back from France on a previous voyage, visits the Île de Montréal. Champlain decides to establish a fur trading post at present-day Pointe-à-Callière. A young man named Louis drowns, thus giving his name to both the Sault-Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Louis. Saint Helen's Island is named by Samuel de Champlain, in honour of his wife. 1613–20 – The Compagnie des Marchands operates in New France but, in 1621, loses its rights in to the Compagnie de Montmorency, due to a breach of their contract. 1615 Denis Jamet and Joseph Le Caron say the first Catholic Mass on the island of Montréal. "La Première messe sur île de Montréal - 24 juin 1615" "Ontario's Pioneer Priest" by John J. O'Gorman Samuel de Champlain, expected at the Saint-Louis Rapids in late June, does not arrive by July 8, prompting the Aboriginals, angry, to leave, taking with them Joseph Le Caron and twelve Frenchmen. Les Franciscains des Recollets, an order of French missionaries, are the first to settle Canada. A century later, a faubourg of Montréal adjacent to their residence in that city was called Faubourg des Récollets, a name still in use today. 1627 Cardinal Richelieu replaces the Compagnie de Montmorency with the Company of One Hundred Associates (presided over by Jean de Lauzon). The French Crown grants the new Company a monopoly on the fur trade, and directs it to colonize the St. Lawrence Valley. the King of France introduces the seigneurial system to New France, and forbids settlement by anyone other than Roman Catholics.
1630–1649
1634 – Trois-Rivières founded by Sieur de Laviolette. 1635 - Death of Samuel de Champlain, 25 December. 1636 Jean de Lauzon becomes the seigneur of the Île de Montréal. Louis XIII grants the seigneurie of Madeleine to Jacques La Ferté, priest at Sainte Madeleine de Châteaudun. 1639–49 – Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in use. The establishment of Montréal was part of a large missionary movement based in France. 1641 – Establishment of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal pour la conversion des sauvages de la Nouvelle-France. 1641–42 – The colonists spend the winter at St Michel, near Sillery. 1642 Maisonneuve arrives on May 17; the mission is named Ville-Marie and built at Place Royale. Barthélemy Vimont, the superior of the Jesuits, leads the first mass in Ville-Marie on May 18. The construction of Fort Ville-Marie begins around the initial hamlet as protection against Haudenosaunee attacks. Construction of Fort Richelieu by Charles de Montmagny begins on August 13 when 40 men led by Montmagny arrive. Significant flooding on December 23. 1643 The first Mount Royal Cross is erected on January 6. On June 9, the first persons are killed at Montréal during an attack by Haudenosaunee. At the end of August, a vessel with a reinforcement commanded by Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge arrives at Ville-Marie. 1644 – Haudenosaunee attack on March 16 and on March 30. 1645 – The hospital is initially located within the fort. Maisonneuve grants the first concession outside the fortifications to Jeanne Mance to build Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal; work begins on it on October 8, 1645. 1646–53 – War with the Haudenosaunee. 1646 – Fort Richelieu is abandoned at the end of the year and burned down by the Haudenosaunee in February 1647. 1647 – Jacques de La Ferté from the Company of One Hundred Associates grants La Prairie to the Jesuits. 1648 The first white child is born in Ville Marie, Barbe Meusnier, on November 24. A fortified windmill is built by Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve (in the area now known as Old Montreal). The Haudenosaunee invade Huronia and wipe out most of the Wendat and the French missionaries living in the territory.
1650–1669
1650 – The first commercial brewery in New France established in Montréal by Louis Prud'homme 1651 – On July 26, 200 Haudenosaunee attacked the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal. 1653 The Great Recruitment, still better known as La Grande Recrue — Jeanne Mance redirects funds donated by Duchesse d’Aiguillon for the Hôtel-Dieu hospital to Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve for the recruitment of a hundred people; the contingent arrive at Ville-Marie on 16 November. Of the 95 who embark in Saint-Nazaire, 24 are massacred by Haudenosaunee, four drown, and one burned when his house caught fire. Congregation of Notre Dame founded. 1657 In mid-August, four priests (Gabriel de Queylus, Gabriel Souart, Antoine d'Allet, and Dominique Galinier) belonging to the Society of Saint-Sulpice in Paris land in Montreal to take over from the Jesuits. Marguerite Bourgeoys – the town's first teacher, who would found a community of teachers, opens the first school in a former stable on 25 November. 1658 – Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve signs a contract with Jacques Archambault to have him dig "a well in Fort Ville-Marie in the middle of the Court or parade ground." 1659 – Jeanne Mance brings three nuns from the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in France to act as staff at Hotel-Dieu. 1663 Charlevoix earthquake struck 5:30 p.m. on 5 February. March, seigniorial rights to the Île de Montréal are transferred by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal to the Sulpicians. The Sulpicians become the seigneurs of Montréal, taking over from Chomedey de Maisonneuve. New France made a royal province. Emigration of approximately 800 young French women (to become known as the filles du roi, or King's daughters) to New France begins, under sponsorship of King Louis XIV, and continues through 1673. 1665 Fort Saint Louis (now Fort Chambly) built. Carignan-Salières Regiment rebuilds Fort Richelieu. 1666 – According to the 1666 census of New France, Ville-Marie recorded 582 inhabitants. 24 of the 111 families living in Montréal had already been formed in France. A few houses, flanked by a windmill and fort, and connected by a footpath (now beneath Rue Saint-Paul), represented the beginnings of Ville-Marie. 1666–75 – Fort Saint-Jean built. 1667 – Almost from its inception, pelts were bartered in Montreal, which, after 1667, becomes a centre for trade. An annual market for pelts takes place in June on the common of Pointe-à-Callière. 1668 – Maison Saint-Gabriel is bought to receive the King's Daughters. The current structure dates back to 1698, when it was rebuilt following a fire in 1693. 1669 – Louis XIV ordered that men of New France between 16 and 60 years of age must perform mandatory military service; every parish would have its militia.
1670–1689
1670s – A large orchard is planted on the side of Mount Royal during the mid-1670s. 1670 – Hudson's Bay Company founded. 1670–80 – Initially, trading is done in people's homes; traders soon set up stalls between Rue Saint-Paul and the Little St. Pierre River, west of the marketplace. Natives camp on the Point, numbering about 900 in 1672. 1671 — founding of the municipality of Verdun. 1672 Commissioned by François Dollier de Casson, superior of the Sulpicians; notary and surveyor Bénigne Basset Des Lauriers makes the first street layout in Montreal. The original plan of Old Montreal consists of 10 streets, of which three run parallel to the river– Notre-Dame Street, Rue Saint-Paul, Saint Jacques Street –and seven extend perpendicular from the river, including Saint Pierre, Saint François Xavier, Saint Jean Baptiste, Saint Gabriel, and Saint Vincent. The cross is planted to designate the future location of the first Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal) on June 29 and the first five stones are laid the next day. As a churchwarden, Pierre Gadois supervises the construction of a public well in the Place d'Armes. 1674 – Louis Jolliet is wrecked at Sault-Saint-Louis in May. 1676 – A Sulpician mission is founded at Mount Royal. 1677 – Jacques Bizard is sent to Montreal by Frontenac to investigate claims of illegal sale of alcohol to the natives. However, the leader of the smugglers, Montreal Governor François-Marie Perrot, imprisons Bizard. With the help of Frontenac, Bizard is liberated and Perrot is removed from office. 1678 – Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel is completed. 1679 Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut reaches the western end of Lake Superior in the fall of the 1679 where he concludes peace talks between the Saulteur and Sioux nations. The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes. 1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha dies. 1680–85 – More and more voyageurs, coureurs des bois and missionaries were exploring the regions upriver from Montreal. As the new territory opens up, part of the fur trade shifts toward the Great Lakes. Fewer and fewer natives came to Montreal, and the annual fur fair became less popular from 1680 to 1685. 1682 Montrealer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle travels to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Notre-Dame Church is completed; constructed by François Bailly. Throughout the 18th century the city's primary landmarks are the bell tower of Notre-Dame and Citadel hill. 1684 – The Congregation of Notre Dame convent is destroyed by a fire.