Montreal is an island on the St. Lawrence River. This city is 50 km long and 16 km in width, with a 230-meter mountain right on the center. The original inhabitants of Montreal are the Iroquois, who lived here for a long time. The Iroquois named this place Ka-we-no-te or Tiohtiake Tsi in their dialect. Jacques Cartier, the French Explorer was among the first settlers to set foot on this island. Upon landing, they took to the hill and planted a cross and claimed the land in the name of their motherland, France. He named this mountain Mont-Royal.

The island was colonized by the French in the 1600s and the city of Montreal (originally Ville Marie) was founded in 1642 by a man called Paul de Chomedey Maisonneuve. The name Montreal is derived from the French term, Mont-Royal.

The French were later defeated by the British in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 in Quebec. British took control over Montreal after their victory, however, the French were allowed to stay as but as subjects to the British. More people from Scotland, England, and Ireland came to settle here to live alongside the French.

Despite the heavy presence of the British, French Montrealers were the majority. Intermarriages occurred between English, Scots, the Irish and the French and this is evident today with many French Montrealers having an English last name. Some of those last names were also Frenchized such as O'Brien to Brien. You will also find many English speakers with a French last name.

Three centuries later, settlements and towns were developed in different parts of the island. Immigrants from different parts of the world also came to Montreal and their numbers have grown since then. As of 2001, Montreal had 27 towns with a population of 1.4 million and the whole island at 3.9 million people.

In order to cut the budgets and deficits and distribute the wealth evenly, the Quebec Government passed a registration in the year 2001 to merge the cities and towns in Quebec. This made all the suburb towns on the Montreal Island to become boroughs and merge with the city of Montreal.

This legislation was not received well by some leading to demonstrations in downtown Montreal but the legislation went ahead. Many politicians especially the Quebec Liberals promised to start demerger plans once elected into power and they were elected into government in 2003.

In 2006, there was a demerger and now Montreal has 19 boroughs, each with its own mayor and council.