On July 3, 2008, Québec City will celebrate its 400th anniversary since its foundation by French explorer Samuel de Champlain. Few cities in North America have reached this milestone. Canada's oldest city, it was settled by the French in 1608 as a trading post.

Champlain probably did not realize he was establishing the roots of French civilization in the Americas, when he chose the location of his settlement he named Kébec (a word from an Amerindian language meaning “place where the river becomes narrow”). Champlain chose to build his first dwelling at the foot of Cape Diamant, in a neighborhood known today as Place-Royale, considered the cradle of French civilization in the Americas.

The Recollets, who were the colony's first missionaries, arrived in 1615. They were soon followed by the Jesuits in 1635, then the order of nuns Ursulines and Augustines in 1639. Both orders of nuns are still active today,

In 1759, the famous battle of the Plains of Abraham would alter the course of the colony's history that had been, until then, relatively uneventful. The English won the battle and took control of the city, then later the colony. The following year, France signed the Treaty of Paris, thus transferring ownership of New France to England and putting an end to the Seven Year War.

 In 1775-1776, American troops tried, and failed, to capture Québec City. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the "Province of Québec" into Upper and Lower Canada and designated Québec City as the capital of Lower Canada.

During the 17th and18th centuries, Québec City was the centre of New France and its enormous territory. At the time, this empire covered all of what is known today as Eastern Canada, the Eastern United States, the Great Lakes and Louisiana, extending from Hudson's Bay in the North to Florida in the South.

Through nearly 400 years of its existence, Québec City has served as a capital many times:

• From 1608 to 1627 and 1632 to 1763, it was capital of French Canada and all of New France
• From 1763 to 1791, it was the capital of the Province of Québec
• From 1791 to 1841, it was the capital of the Province of Lower Canada
• From 1849 to 1865, it was capital of the Province of Canada
• From 1867 to today, it has been capital of the Province of Québec

 

In World War II, two conferences were held in Québec City. The first one was held in 1943 with United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill (the United Kingdom's prime minister), William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada's prime minister) and China’s minister of foreign affairs T.V. Soong . The second one was held in 1944, and was attended by Churchill and Roosevelt. They took place in the buildings of the Citadelle and of nearby Château Frontenac.

Old Québec was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.