Charlevoix

Jesuit explorer of North America, born in St Quentin, N France. In 1720 he was sent by the French regent to find a route to W Canada. He travelled by canoe up the St Lawrence River across the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and was finally shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico. He became the only traveller of that time to describe the interior of North America. He described his travels in Histoire et description genérale de la Nouvelle France (1774).

The Charlevoix region, located in Quebec, includes parts of the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River and the Laurentian mountains region of the Canadian Shield.

Worthy of note are:

the Haute-Gorges de la Rivière Malbaie the fjord of the Saguenay River Parc des Grands-Jardins Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area Île aux Coudres Le Domaine Forget music festival and academy

The topography of this region was dramatically altered by a meteorite impact that occurred 350 million years ago.

The Charlevoix region was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1988.

There have been several major earthquakes in the region:

on February 5, 1663, centred south of La Malbaie on December 6, 1791, centred near Baie-Saint-Paul on October 17, 1860, centred under the Saint Lawrence River on October 20, 1870, centred near Baie-Saint-Paul on February 28, 1925, centred under the Saint Lawrence River

The region was named after Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix, a French Jesuit explorer and historian who travelled through this region in the 18th century.

The Charlevoix region includes the regional county municipalities of Charlevoix-Est and Charlevoix.