Since time immemorial, Indigenous Peoples have frequented the site where Québec City now stands. Around 1400, the St. Lawrence Iroquoians formed the village of Stadacona here. When French navigator Jacques Cartier first visited the region in 1535, Stadacona was home to between 500 and 800 inhabitants.

In 1541, Cartier and 400 settlers founded a first settlement on the Charlesbourg-Royal site, now known as Cap-Rouge. After a disastrous winter, the French, who were ill-adapted to the local climate, returned to Europe and set aside any idea of colonization for the next 60 years.