Hell, the only reason Quebec city was colonized before Montreal was because it is easier to control the river with cannon from there.
And Montreal WAS a settlement off and on for thousands of years, and a natural place for a fixed settlement as the technology evolved. Hochelaga was there when Cartier first showed, gone by the time Champlain tried to make a port here.
LC
On 7 May 2004 at 15:36, bethexton_at_... wrote:
> Good harbors. If you are starting a new settlement, you want the
> most favorable conditions possible, so given a long coast line, why
> not choose a the best combination you can find of a good harbor and
> arable land? After all, all of the early colonies were eager to see
> more transatlantic ships landing. So most of them ended up being at
> river mouths. (the exceptions being in Quebec, where the colonies
> were at the usual natural points on a river for cities to form--in
> the old world in particular Montreal would have been a city back into
> pre-history)
>
> --Bryan
>
>
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