Trois Rivières

In 1535, Jacques Cartier noticed a river where six small islands seemed to divide the watercourse into three streams. He called it the rivière de Fouez, (foi being the French word for faith). It later took the name of the rivière Saint Maurice. 

But it is the appearance of the river that imposes itself as the name of the station built at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Saint Maurice rivers: Trois Rivières. 

Under the orders of Samuel de Champlain in July 1634, the Sieur of La Violette went to the mouth of the Saint Maurice River to set up a trading post. He had a fort built, around which soldiers, settlers and Jesuit missionaries met. For a long time this region held sway as the most advantageous for the activities of trappers and fur traders.