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Despite its minute size, a favourable climate and abundant cod stocks induced French entrepreneurs to establish a seasonal fishery operation there in the 1600s. Simon Denys obtained seigneurial title (1674); his son Pierre had a chapel erected, soon thereafter razed by fire (1690).

Île Lamèque, 150 km2, is located off the northeast corner of New Brunswick at the entrance to Chaleur Bay.

Île aux Coudres, 30 km 2 , 11 km long, 4.3 km wide, 92 m high, is situated 60 km downstream from Québec City in the ST LAWRENCE RIVER estuary. The island consists of 2 Appalachian ridges joined by an embankment.

The island is connected by a suspension bridge to the North Shore near CHUTE MONTMORENCY. The largest island in the river after Île de Montréal, it is a relatively level plateau, 137 m at its highest point, and is quite steep-sided.

Île de la Grande Entrée, Qué, is situated almost in the middle of the Gulf of ST LAWRENCE and flanked in the north by Île d' ANTICOSTI, in the south by PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND and on the east by CABOT STRAIT. It is one of the 16 islands and islets comprising Îles-de-la-MADELEINE.

Bic, Île du, uninhabited island, 14 km2, is located in the ST LAWRENCE R, 30 km west of Rimouski, Qué. Because of its advantageous position at the mouth of the St Lawrence near the natural harbour of Bic, it played a key military role under the French regime.

Île du Cap aux Meules, Qué, 50 km2, is one island in the Îles de la MADELEINE archipelago, located in the middle of the Gulf of ST LAWRENCE. It is named after the sandstone hill that supplied the stone used to make grindstones (meules in French) for flour mills.

Montréal-based trader Thomas FROBISHER built the first fur trade post in the area in 1776. Competing posts were set up by Alexander MACKENZIE in 1785 and the Hudson's Bay Company in 1799. From here the Athabasca brigades headed northwest. In 1846 Fathers LAFLÈCHE and TACHÉ established a mission.

Native burial grounds indicate they were inhabited before Jacques Cartier first reported the islands in 1535. Surveys have also uncovered 16th-century Spanish coins and the remains of Basque habitations.

Preceded by Basque fishermen, Jacques Cartier arrived at Île Brion in 1534; he named it in honour of the great French admiral. He christened the islands "Les Araynes" (arènes is a French poetry word for sand) because of the endless beaches of sand. Later French fishermen called them Îles Ramées.