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Matthew Farfan
The southeast corner of the province of Quebec is home to the region
known as the Eastern Townships. The region is famous across Canada
and internationally for its scenic beauty and history.
The term "Eastern
Townships" is an old one. Geographically it refers to that
vast region of Quebec that is bounded on the west by the old seigneurial
lands along the Richelieu and Yamaska Rivers; on the south by the
Vermont border; on the southeast by the New Hampshire and Maine
borders, and on the east and north by the old seigneurial lands
along the Chaudière and St. Lawrence Rivers. Beginning with
a Proclamation in 1792 by Alured Clarke, Lieutenant-Governor of
Lower Canada (Quebec), this vast territory was subdivided into townships.
The process would take years, and eventually resulted in the creation
of 95 townships.*
By the early
1800s, the region began to be known collectively as "the Eastern
Townships."** The reason for this designation remains a subject
of discussion. The prevailing theory is that the term distinguishes
the region from the comparable and older "western" townships
of Upper Canada (Ontario). However, the term may equally have been
adopted to distinguish the region from the townships west of the
Richelieu River and those along the Ottawa River.
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The
term "Eastern Townships" remains in common use. Its first
French-language equivalent was "Les Townships de l'Est,"
but beginning in 1858, "Les Cantons de l'Est" came into
popular usage. The term "Estrie" was coined in the 1940s,
and officially adopted in 1981 with the creation of an administrative
region by that name. "Estrie," however, corresponds to only
a fraction of the historic Eastern Townships, and the term Cantons
de l'Est is preferred by many over the bureaucratic and historically
irrelevant "Estrie."
*This
figure does not include St. Armand, along the Vermont border east
of Lake Champlain, which was technically part of the seigneurial
lands, and never classified as a township. St. Armand was, however,
settled by Loyalists, and divided into lots similar to those of
the Eastern Townships. It is generally considered part of the Eastern
Townships. It also includes all of the later townships created on
the east side of Lake Megantic and the Arnold and Chaudière
Rivers, between the Maine border and the confluence of the Chaudière
and du Loup (Linière) Rivers. The last townships to be proclaimed
were Louise and Risborough, in 1920.
**The
term "Eastern Townships of Canada" was apparently first
used on a surveyor's map in1796.
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