Gaspé Peninsula
Encyclopedia
The Gaspésie or Gaspé Peninsula or the Gaspé, is a peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

 along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

 in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, extending into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the world's largest estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean...

. It is separated from New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

 on its southern side by the Baie des Chaleurs (Chaleur Bay) and the Restigouche River
Restigouche River
The Restigouche River is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec....

.

The name "Gaspé" may come from a Mi'kmaq
Mi'kmaq language
The Mi'kmaq language is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 9,100 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States out of a total ethnic Mi'kmaq population of roughly 20,000. The word Mi'kmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' ; the adjectival form is Míkmaw...

 word gespeg meaning "land's end". However, "Gaspé" may instead be a mutation of the Basque word "Gerizpe", meaning "shelter".

Landscape

Sea cliffs dominatate the peninsula's northern shore along the St. Lawrence River. Cap Gaspé
Cap Gaspé
Cap Gaspé is a headland located at the eastern extremity of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Canadian province of Quebec.It is located within Forillon National Park....

, jutting into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the easternmost point of the peninsula. Percé Rock (or rocher Percé)
Percé Rock
Percé Rock is a huge sheer rock formation in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, Canada, off Percé Bay. Percé Rock appears from a distance like a ship under sail. It is one of the world's largest natural arches located in water and is considered a natural icon...

, an island pierced by a natural arch
Natural arch
A natural arch or natural bridge is a natural geological formation where a rock arch forms, with an opening underneath. Most natural arches form as a narrow ridge, walled by cliffs, become narrower from erosion, with a softer rock stratum under the cliff-forming stratum gradually eroding out until...

, is located just offshore of the peninsula's eastern end. The peninsula's interior is rugged, being a northward continuation of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

 called the Chic-Chocks (or Shick Shocks)
Chic-Choc Mountains
The Chic-Choc Mountains, often called Shick Shocks in English, is a group of mountains in the central Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, Canada. It is a part of the Notre Dame Mountains, which is a continuation of the Appalachian Mountains....

, with Mont Jacques-Cartier
Mont Jacques-Cartier
Mont Jacques-Cartier is a mountain in the Chic-Choc Mountains range in eastern Quebec, Canada. At , it is the tallest mountain in southern Quebec....

 at 1268 metres (4,160 ft) the peninisula's highest peak.

Mount Albert (Mont Albert)
Mount Albert (Quebec)
Mont Albert is a mountain in the Chic-Choc range in the Parc national de la Gaspésie in the Gaspé Peninsula of eastern Quebec, Canada. At , it is one of the tallest mountains in southern Quebec, and is popular for hiking....

 at 1151 m (3,776 ft) is another high mountain in the Chic-Chocks. Its summit, an alpine
Alpine
The term alpine refers to the Alps, a European mountain range.Alpine may also refer to:- Geography and geology :* Alpine tundra, the biological community that occurs above the tree line at high altitude...

 area above the tree line, is a nearly flat plateau about 13 km (8 mi) across composed of serpentine bedrock and supporting a quite unusual flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

. The ascent of Mount Albert from near sea level is challenging, but popular with hikers, offering a view of the St. Lawrence and the Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord is the second largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec...

, the river's north shore, part of the ancient bedrock of the Canadian Shield
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...

.

Inland

The interior portions of the peninsula are dominated by the Chic-Choc Mountains
Chic-Choc Mountains
The Chic-Choc Mountains, often called Shick Shocks in English, is a group of mountains in the central Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, Canada. It is a part of the Notre Dame Mountains, which is a continuation of the Appalachian Mountains....

, part of the Notre Dame Mountains
Notre Dame Mountains
The Notre Dame Mountains are a portion of the Appalachian Mountains, extending from the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec to the Green Mountains of Vermont....

, an extension of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

.

The town of Murdochville
Murdochville, Quebec
Murdochville is a small mining community located in Quebec, Canada. Its population is 812.The mining operation in the town was comparatively large, starting with mining the raw ore and finishing with an end product of pure copper anode. In the 1970s, the mining operation in Murdochville was large...

, at about 660 metres (2,165.4 ft) above sea level, has had a varied history, and is now home to several wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

 farms which together have one of the largest wind-generating capacities in the world. It is reached by Route 198
Quebec route 198
Route 198 is a 132 km two-lane highway which cuts through the Appalachian Mountains in the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, Canada. It acts both as a shortcut to get to Gaspé without having to go through many small villages and steep climbs on Route 132, and it also is the only link to Murdochville, the...

, which extends inland from the northern shore of the peninsula, soon climbing into the mountains and entering vast forests, crossing several small rivers before reaching the town. From Murdochville, Route 198 follows the York River to the city of Gaspé on the peninsula's eastern tip.

Tourism

The peninsula has about 100,000 inhabitants, and is one of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

's popular tourism regions. Route 132
Quebec route 132
Route 132 is the longest highway in Quebec. It follows the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River from the border with the state of New York in the hamlet of Dundee , west of Montreal to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and circles the Gaspé Peninsula...

 circles the peninsula, with one branch following the coast and the other cutting across it at Sainte-Flavie
Sainte-Flavie, Quebec
Sainte-Flavie is a parish municipality in the La Mitis Regional County Municipality of Quebec, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, about northwest of Mont-Joli. It is named after Flavia, a martyred saint....

, and a section of the International Appalachian Trail
International Appalachian Trail
The International Appalachian Trail is a hiking trail which runs from the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at Mount Katahdin, Maine, through New Brunswick, to the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, after which it takes bridge crossings to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, a ferry ride to...

 travels through the peninsula's mountains. The Gaspé National Park (Parc national de la Gaspésie) is located in the Chic-Chocs, and Forillon National Park
Forillon National Park
Forillon National Park, one of 43 national parks and park reserves across Canada, is located at the outer tip of the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec and covers 244 km². Created in 1970, Forillon was the first national park in Quebec. The park includes forests, sea coast, salt marshes, sand dunes,...

 is at the peninsula's northeastern tip.

See also

  • Gaspé, Quebec
    Gaspé, Quebec
    Gaspé is a city at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of eastern Quebec, Canada. As of the 2006 census, the city had a total population of 14,819....

  • Percé, Quebec
    Percé, Quebec
    Percé is a small village near the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec. As a municipality, it is 432.39 square km in area. It has a long history of being an important seasonal fishing centre under the French...

  • Acadia
    Acadia
    Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...

  • List of people from the Gaspé Peninsula
  • List of Quebec regions


External links

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