Founded in 1608, Québec City was designed as a military defence post for the French colony. Québec City’s military vocation continued for several more decades during the English Regime, which began in 1759. After the War of 1812, British authorities reinforced the city’s defences, earning it the nickname “the Gibraltar of North America.” Québec City’s military role gradually diminished thereafter, but the city retained a military omnipresence. Several artworks of the period bear witness to this.
View of the esplanade and the fortifications of Québec City
W. Walton, after Robert Auchmuty Sproule
From the moment it was laid out between 1779 and 1783, the esplanade was central to the British army. The esplanade was headquarters for soldiers’ training, and also the setting for military parades and ceremonies that drew large crowds. This engraving by Sproule illustrates the British army’s strong presence on these crucial sites of defence, now adorned with many commemorative monuments.
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