Jean DE LAUZON
1635 - Jean de Lauzon becomes the owner of the Island of Montreal.

In 1635, Jean de Lauzon became the owner of the Island of Montréal, reflecting the early seigneurial system used by France to organize land and settlement in New France. Lauzon, an influential administrator and later Governor of New France, acquired the island as part of France’s broader effort to encourage colonization, control territory, and develop the fur trade along key waterways.

At the time, Montréal was still a strategic but vulnerable outpost, valued for its location at the confluence of major rivers and Indigenous trade routes rather than for large-scale settlement. Lauzon’s ownership represented a legal and economic claim rather than immediate development, as the island remained exposed to Iroquois raids and lacked the population needed for sustained growth.

The transfer of ownership in 1635 laid important groundwork for the island’s future. Within a few years, Montréal would become the site of Ville-Marie, founded in 1642 as a religious and trading settlement. Jean de Lauzon’s acquisition thus marks an early step in Montréal’s transformation from a contested frontier into one of the most important urban centers in Canada, shaping the city’s long-term political, economic, and cultural trajectory.



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