Illustrious visitors' commentaries on Quebec
Throughout history, Quebec received the visit of individuals who were already or would later become famous on the international scene. Luckily for us, some of those illustrious personages took notes during their travel and the conservation of these makes it possible for us today to acquaint ourselves with their impressions, feelings and opinions of our country and our people at various moments in history.
Pehr Kalm, 1749
Bougainville, 1757
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, military commander, first French navigator to accomplish a circumnavigation, served under General Montcalm during the War of Conquest of Canada.
- Translated excerpt of Bougainville's Mémoire on the state of New France during the Seven Years' War (1757)
Alexis de Tocqueville, 1831
Biography in Wikipedia: Alexis de Tocqueville
The famous author of Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville left us some interesting notes of his 1831 visit in the province of Lower Canada, today the province of Québec.
- Notes taken in Lower Canada (1831)
Charles Dickens, 1842
Charles Dickens, the celebrated author of Oliver Twist (1839), A Christmas Carol (1843) and A tale of two cities visited the North American continent in 1842. Chapter 15 of his notes relate his visit of what were then Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Québec). His notes were first published around 1850.
Henry David Thoreau, 1853
American naturalist and philosopher, famous author of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau payed himself a little trip to Lower Canada in 1853. His comments on the country and its population are most interesting and often funny.
- An Excursion to Canada (1853)
Charles de Gaulle, 1967