Province of Lower Canada

Province of Lower Canada
Province du Bas-Canada
British colony
1791–1841
Flag
Map of Lower Canada prior to 1809 (in green) with contemporary Canada (in pink) surrounding it
Capital		Quebec
Languages		French, English
Religion		Roman Catholicism
Government		Constitutional monarchy
Sovereign
•	1791–1820	George III
•	1837–1841	Victoria
Lieutenant-Governor and Executive Council of Lower Canada		See list of Lieutenant-Governors
Legislature		Parliament of Lower Canada
•	Upper house	Legislative Council
•	Lower house	Legislative Assembly
Historical era		British Era
•	Constitutional Act of 1791	26 December 1791
•	Act of Union 1840	10 February 1841
Area
•	1839	534,185 km² (206,250 sq mi)
Population
•	1839 est.	700,000
Density		1.3 /km²  (3.4 /sq mi)
Currency		Canadian pound
Preceded by Succeeded by Province of Quebec (1763–1791) United Province of Canada Colony of Newfoundland
Today part of		Canada - Quebec -  Newfoundland and Labrador

Flag

The Province of Lower Canada (French: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the modern-day Province of Quebec, Canada, and the Labrador region of the modern-day Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (until the Labrador region was transferred to Newfoundland in 1809).

Lower Canada consisted of part of the former colony of Canada of New France, populated mainly by Canadiens, which was ceded to Great Britain after that Empire's victory in the Seven Years' War, also called the French and Indian War in the United States. Other parts of New France ceded to Britain became the Colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.

The Province of Lower Canada was created by the "Constitutional Act of 1791" from the partition of the British colony of the Province of Quebec (1763–91) into the Province of Lower Canada and the Province of Upper Canada. The prefix "lower" in its name refers to its geographic position farther downriver from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River than its contemporary Upper Canada, present-day southern Ontario.