La Prairie (Québec)
| La Prairie | |||
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 Houses in the city center |
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| Location in Quebec | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Province : | Quebec | ||
| Administrative region : | Montérégie | ||
| MRC or equivalent : | Roussillon | ||
| Coordinates : | 45 ° 25 ′ N , 73 ° 30 ′ W | ||
| Height : | 24 m | ||
| Area : | 43.28 km² | ||
| Residents : | 23,357 (as of 2011) | ||
| Population density : | 539.7 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Time zone : | Eastern Time ( UTC − 5 ) | ||
| Municipality number: | 67015 | ||
| Postal code : | J5R | ||
| Area code : | +1 450 | ||
| Mayor : | Lucie F. Roussel | ||
| Website : | www.ville.laprairie.qc.ca | ||
 Location in the MRC Roussillon |
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La Prairie is a city in the southwest of the Canadian province of Quebec . It is located in the administrative region of Montérégie , about 15 km south of central Montreal . La Prairie belongs to the regional municipality of Roussillon , has an area of 43.28 km² and has 23,357 inhabitants (2011).
geography
La Prairie is located in the Rive-Sud region on the southern bank of the Saint Lawrence River and is part of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal . A section of the Sankt-Lorenz-Seeweg is located in the municipality . Neighboring municipalities are Brossard in the north, Carignan in the northeast, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in the east, Saint-Philippe in the south and Candiac in the west.
history
Jacques de La Ferté of the Compagnie de la Nouvelle France transferred what is now the municipality to the Jesuits in 1647 . The term prairie was a widely used name for a fief at that time . In 1667 the Jesuits built the mission station La Prairie de la Magdelaine to convert the indigenous people living in the region. In 1677, the escape of Kateri Tekakwitha, who was later canonized, came to an end here. The French colonial troops built Fort Laprairie in 1687 to better protect Montreal from English colonists and the Iroquois allies with them. On August 11, 1691, an English attack was repelled during the Beaver Wars . The fort was abandoned in 1713 and destroyed in 1775 during the invasion of Canada by the American Continental Army .
The parish was founded in 1835 and the civil parish eleven years later. La Prairie experienced a great boom as the starting point of the first railway on Canadian soil, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu , which opened on July 21, 1836 . Until the line was extended in 1852, a ferry provided the connection to Montreal. In 1909 La Prairie received city status.
Transport and economy
Autoroute 15 , a freeway from Montreal to the border of the US state New York , runs through La Prairie . South of the village, it crosses with Autoroute 30 , which bypasses the Montreal agglomeration extensively. Other important connections are the main roads Route 104 and Route 134 . The bus company CIT Le Richelain operates several lines to the neighboring communities and to Montreal. Due to the favorable traffic situation, there is an extensive industrial park in La Prairie .
population
According to the 2011 census, La Prairie had 23,357 inhabitants, which corresponds to a population density of 539.7 inh / km². 87.3% of the population stated French as their main language, while English accounted for 4.1%. 1.1% said they were bilingual (French and English), other languages and multiple answers accounted for 7.5%. Only French spoke 43.7%. In 2001, 90.5% of the population were Roman Catholic , 2.5% Protestant and 4.2% non-denominational.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ La Prairie. Commission de toponymie du Québec, accessed December 7, 2013 (French).
- ^ Lieu historique national du Canada du Fort Laprairie. Répertoire des lieux patrimoniaux du Canada, accessed December 7, 2013 (French).
- ↑ Population profile of the municipality of La Prairie. In: 2011 Census. Statistics Canada , 2011, accessed December 10, 2013 (French).
- ↑ Population profile of the municipality of La Prairie. In: 2001 Census. Statistics Canada , 2001, accessed December 10, 2013 (French).