settlements and sites dating from the 16th and 17th centuries depicting a bend in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec
First Nations Flowing through and adjacent to numerous
Indigenous homelands, the river was a primary thoroughfare for many peoples. Beginning in
Dawnland at the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the river borders
Mi'kma'ki in the South (what is today known as the
Canadian Maritimes), and
Nitassinan in the North, the national territory of the
Innu people. On the south shore beyond the
Mi'kmaw district of
Gespe'gewa'ki, Continuing, the river passes through the former country of the
St. Lawrence Iroquois and then three of the six homelands of the
Haudenosaunee: the
Mohawk or Kanienʼkehá꞉ka, the
Oneida or Onyota'a:ka, and the
Onondaga or Onöñda’gaga’. Nionwentsïo occupies both the north and south shores of the river, and, upstream, the further reaches of Anishinaabewaki, specifically the homelands of the
Algonquin and
Mississauga Nations. The St. Lawrence River is today partly within the U.S. and as such is that country's sixth oldest surviving European place-name.
Early colonists The earliest regular Europeans in the area were the
Basques, who came to the St Lawrence Gulf and River in pursuit of whales from the early 16th century. The
Basque whalers and fishermen traded with indigenous Americans and set up settlements, leaving vestiges all over the coast of eastern Canada and deep into the St. Lawrence River. Basque commercial and fishing activity reached its peak before the
Armada Invencible's disaster (1588), when the Basque whaling fleet was confiscated by King
Philip II of Spain. Initially, the whaling galleons from
Labourd were not affected by the Spanish defeat. Until the early 17th century, the French used the name
Rivière du Canada to designate the St. Lawrence upstream to Montreal and the Ottawa River after Montreal. The St. Lawrence River served as the main route for European exploration of the North American interior, first pioneered by French explorer
Samuel de Champlain.
Colonial control Control of the river was crucial to
British strategy to capture New France in the
Seven Years' War. Having
captured Louisbourg in 1758, the British sailed up to Quebec the following year thanks to charts drawn up by
James Cook. British troops were ferried via the St. Lawrence to attack the city from the west, which they successfully did at the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The river was used again by the British
to defeat the French siege of Quebec under the
Chevalier de Lévis in 1760. In 1809, the first steamboat to ply its trade on the St. Lawrence was built and operated by
John Molson and associates, a scant two years after Fulton's steam-powered navigation of the
Hudson River. The
Accommodation with ten passengers made her maiden voyage from Montreal to Quebec City in 66 hours, for 30 of which she was at anchor. She had a keel of 75 feet, and a length overall of 85 feet. The cost of a ticket was eight dollars upstream, and nine dollars down. She had berths that year for twenty passengers. Within a decade, daily service was available in the hotly-contested Montreal-Quebec route. Because of the virtually impassable
Lachine Rapids, the St. Lawrence was once continuously navigable only as far as Montreal. Opened in 1825, the
Lachine Canal was the first to allow ships to pass the rapids. An extensive system of canals and locks, known as the
St. Lawrence Seaway, was officially opened on 26 June 1959 by
Elizabeth II (representing Canada) and President
Dwight D. Eisenhower (representing the United States). The Seaway (including the
Welland Canal) now permits ocean-going vessels to pass all the way to
Lake Superior.
Modern Canada Alcoa,
Reynolds Metals Company, and
General Motors (GM) Central Foundry operated along the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries for decades. The Alcoa plant opened in 1903, and Reynolds and GM began operations in the late 1950s. These facilities released toxic substances into the St. Lawrence River and the surrounding area, including
PCBs,
PAHs,
cyanide,
fluoride, and
dioxins. During the
Second World War, the
Battle of the St. Lawrence involved submarine and anti-submarine actions throughout the lower St. Lawrence River and the entire
Gulf of St. Lawrence,
Strait of Belle Isle and
Cabot Strait from May to October 1942, September 1943, and again in October and November 1944. During this time, German
U-boats sank several merchant marine ships and three Canadian warships. In the late 1970s, the river was the subject of a successful ecological campaign (called "Save the River"), originally responding to planned development by the
United States Army Corps of Engineers. The campaign was organized, among others, by
Abbie Hoffman. ==In popular culture==