Gaspé and the Musée de la Gaspésie

Gaspé holds a foundational place in the history of French presence in North America: it was on this site, on July 24, 1534, that Jacques Cartier planted a cross and officially claimed the territory on behalf of King Francis I, a pivotal gesture commemorated today by several monuments throughout the city, including the Cartier Cross erected in memory of this landmark event in French colonial history. The Musée de la Gaspésie, the region's museum institution established in the city, chronicles through its permanent collections more than five centuries of human occupation of the peninsula, from the Micmacs, the region's first inhabitants, to successive waves of Basque, Jersey, Irish, Scottish, and Acadian fishermen who settled there over the centuries, shaping the distinctive cultural mosaic that continues to define Gaspésien identity today. The city of Gaspé, now the main urban and administrative centre at the eastern tip of the peninsula, serves as the logical starting point for exploring the nearby Forillon National Park and stands as an essential stop for anyone wishing to understand the very origins of European presence in the territory that would eventually become modern-day Quebec.