Wishlist Map: 5 Things About Montreal You Probably Never Knew

Next up on my wishlist: Bellin's Carte de L'Isle De Montreal et de Ses Environs (Map of the Island of Montreal and its Surroundings) from 1744. This map is available for purchase here, from Arader Galleries (who I have no affiliation or relationship with).

It seems typical of Bellin to show geographic features on his map, but to minimize man made elements. According to wikipedia, at the time this map was made, some 22,000 people lived in Montreal, yet the map does not make this obvious.

Here are five awesome facts about Montreal that we can learn from this map that probably all but the most die-hard Montrealers never knew.

1) Lachine was an island: Today Montrealers are familiar with the neighborhood of Lachine and the Lachine canal that borders it. The canal was built to bypass the rapids shown on the map (the "sault"). The Canal, however, was not all a new waterway. Instead, it was an expansion of Lac St. Pierre that was already separating Lachine from the rest of Montreal.

2) Yes, they really called it "La Chine" (China): La Chine, which evolved into the modern Lachine, was originally a derisive nickname. The explorer La Salle believed that China lay just beyond the impassible rapids upstream of Montreal. Of course it didn't, and what he returned to his home in Lachine from his failed efforts to reach China, he and his companions were mockingly called "Chinese".

3) Forts, forts, forts! There were forts all over the island of Montreal. It would be interesting for a real Montreal historian (i.e. not me) to indicate if any of these still exist, but there were lots of them. I see a fort Roland, fort De La Chine, even a fort Pointe Claire: today an important suburb of the city.

4) The island was crisscrossed by streams. This is not obvious in present day Montreal, and some of these have even been filled in. A modern map of the city, especially in the downtown area, shows no sign of some of the waterways on the map in 1744.

Downtown Montreal today. No streams.

5) Windmills. The city was dotted with them, and they help emphasize the rural nature of the city at the time. Windmills would have been an important part of rural life in the 18th century. There are only a handful of these left today, including the one in Pointe Claire.