Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PART 1 The Territory -- 1 Historical Depth -- General Characteristics -- Legal Evolution -- Horizons of Development -- PART 2 Prehistoric Ranges -- 2 Origins -- Postglacial Environment -- Human Arrivals -- Two Major Geographic Domains -- Geography as a Reflection of Way of Life and Culture -- 3 European Contact -- The Norse -- The First True Contacts -- Ascending the St. Lawrence -- French Trade Strategy -- Consequences for Aboriginals -- Vain Hopes -- PART 3 Frontier Farmers -- 4 Establishing a Colony -- Bridgehead Strategy -- An Original Land Distribution Approach -- Legal Framework -- The Church's Complementary Role -- 5 A Century of Expansion -- Royal Government -- A Chiefly Rural Development -- Colonial Geography -- A Dense Cultural Space -- 6 After the Conquest -- Relative Peace -- Institutional Change -- Economic and Social Change -- PART 4 Growth and Colonization -- 7 Transition -- Population Explosion, 1815-40 -- The Ecumene Transformed -- Institutional, Economic, and Social Change -- End-of-Era Tensions -- 8 Taking the Land -- The Colonization Argument -- Example from Afar -- Promotional Tools -- Other Ideological Tools -- Scientific Legitimacy -- Limited Results -- 9 The Other Frontier -- The Geography of the 1950s -- A Century of Change -- End of a Context -- PART 5 Prospects -- 10 From Growth to Recession -- The Backwardness Debate -- Maîtres chez nous! -- Demographic Breakdown and Territorial Redeployment -- Economic Restructuring and Its Territorial Consequences -- Uproar of the 1990s -- Today's Challenges -- Conclusion -- Afterword -- Notes -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.