L’Atlas historique de La Malbaie is a compilation of maps that show how the place, established during the winter of 1687-1688 at the gate of the King’s Domain, developed.
The collection of maps and plans contained in this atlas is the most complete ever assembled on La Malbaie. It begins after Jacques Cartier’s voyages in the 16th century and extends to modern governments maps. The atlas is not intended to be exhaustive, since it does not include all the maps showing La Malbaie. It is exhaustive in that it illustrates the different periods of local development. Given the lack of detailed plans of La Malbaie at the time of the French Regime, the atlas presents maps reconstituted from textual descriptions, showing the now vanished seigneurial settlements.
The development of European settlements around La Malbaie Bay was strongly influenced by the seigneurial regime and by the free and common socage land grants to two British officers who served on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. John Nairne’s estate encompassed not only the best farmland but also the most suitable for the establishment of a village, relegating commercial activities and residential settlements of non-farming professionals to a narrow strip between the river and the mountain at the mouth of the valley.
The book (11 x 17 in, soft cover, 122 pages) is available online at the Musée de Charlevoix and physically at the Museum’s shop in La Malbaie, or from the author for friends in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. A hard-cover deluxe edition was produced; all but one copy was sold. At the moment, this book is only available in French.
Bulletin 78
October 2025