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In 1642, a fort is constructed at the stream mouth of the river Richelieu, at Sorel, to pay tribute to the Richelieu Cardinal, the king Louis the XIIth ‘s prime minister : the Richelieu fort. This is how the river took the name of this fort to become the river Richelieu . It is Samuel de Champlain who gave name to the Patawabouke lake (“the inland sea”) in 1609 of his name : the lake will be named Champlain lake.
The Laurentides were born two billion years ago. Then , it is the Appalaches' turn (270 millions years ago) and the one of the Saint-Hilaire mountain (125 million year ago). The numerous glaciations transformed the land, at the fourth era, bevelling these mountains to give them a round shape. Little by little, the glaciers disappear, and the Champlain sea covers the land. The soil gets muddy and clayey. Whenthe Champlain sea goes away, main rivers, rivers and estuaries are created. This is how the Richelieu river finds its place inside this land. At the same site, at the fourth era, between 4 000 and 2 000 years B.C., the first human traces appear. |
