Charlevoix - Definition and Overview

The Charlevoix region, located in Quebec, includes parts of the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River and the Laurentian mountains region of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands and bays.

Worthy of note are:

• the Haute-Gorges de la Rivière Malbaie
• the fjord of the Saguenay River
• Parc des Grands-Jardins
• Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area

The topography of this region was dramatically altered by a meteorite impact that occurred 350 million years ago. "The impact created the forty-mile-wide crater that is the heart of Quebec's Charlevoix region, ranging from just west of Baie-Saint-Paul to just east of La Malbaie. Today, the area inside the crater is home to 90 percent of Charlevoix residents and is a very pastoral setting by comparison to what it could have been." [1] (http://www.worldandi.com/newhome/public/2003/august/lfpub.asp) This area was subsequently reshaped by glaciation.

The Charlevoix region was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1988.

Footnotes

1. Some Might Call It Heaven-sent (http://www.worldandi.com/newhome/public/2003/august/lfpub.asp) - article in The World&I magazine, August 2003

Charlevoix is also a town in Michigan.

See also

• List of Quebec regions