<b>Quebec City</b>&nbsp;is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is the eleventh-largest city and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Canada. It is also the second-largest city in the province after Montreal.&nbsp;<br />The Algonquian people had originally named the area <b>K&eacute;bec</b>, an Algonquin word meaning &quot;where the river narrows&quot;, because the Saint Lawrence River narrows proximate to the promontory of Quebec and its Cape Diamant. Explorer <b>Samuel de Champlain</b> founded a French settlement here in 1608, and adopted the Algonquin name.&nbsp;<br /><br /><b>Samuel de Champlain</b> (13 August 1567 &ndash; 25 December 1635) was a French colonist, navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He made between 21 and 29 trips across the Atlantic Ocean, and founded Quebec, and New France, on 3 July 1608. An important figure in Canadian history, Champlain created the first accurate coastal map during his explorations, and founded various colonial settlements.