Sorel-Tracy

History

Early exploration in this area by the French was a catalyst for armed conflict with various indigenous peoples. The French also learned about existing rivalries among these nations and sought to build its own alliances with First Nations. The Battle of Sorel occurred on June 19, 1610: Samuel de Champlain had some French regulars or local militia, as well as First Nations allies, the Wyandot (also known as Huron by the French), Algonquin and Innu peoples. Together they held off the powerful Mohawk people in New France. Sorel is the fourth-oldest city in the province of Quebec. Its formation began in 1642 when Charles Huault de Montmagny, first Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of New France, built Fort Richelieu here as a defense for settlers and river travellers against the Iroquois, primarily the Mohawk, the powerful easternmost nation in the Confederacy based south of the Great Lakes. In 1647, the original fort was destroyed by the Mohawk, but it was rebuilt by the Carignan-Salières Regiment on the same site in 1665. The name Sorel comes from the first seigneur of the area, Pierre de Saurel. He was in command of a company of the Carignan-Salières Regiment that landed in New France in August 1665. He was granted a seigneury by King Louis XIV in 1672, after having already built a manor house four years prior. The parish of Tracy was named for Lieutenant General Alexander de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy, who was overall in command of the Carignan-Salières Regiment directly under the Governor. After Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester visited Sorel in 1787, the town took the name of William-Henry, a name it retained until 1845. It is probable that before the American Revolution, there were no English-speaking, Protestant people in Sorel, as it had been settled by…

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  9,177
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  8,507
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  8,022
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,886
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  7,860
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  7,603
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  7,296
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,029

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2024-10-02
  7 km ENE of Chertsey, Canada
• M 3.8 — 2024-09-01
  5 km SE of Pierreville, Canada
• M 2.7 — 2023-09-24
  1 km N of Charlemagne, Canada
• M 3 — 2022-11-15
  southern Quebec, Canada
• M 2.7 — 2022-02-15
  8 km WNW of L'Épiphanie, Canada
• M 2.7 — 2021-08-09
  12 km E of Bécancour, Canada