Cote-Nord - Québec

Cote-Nord - Northen Shore

Cote-Nord or Northern Shore is the second largest administrative region in Quebec, after Northern Quebec (Nord-du-Quebec) region.

The total area of Cote-Nord region is of more than 247,627 square kilometres or 95,609 square miles. The territory occupies a fourth of the geographic area of Québec.

It has a population is of about one hundred thousand inhabitants. The region covers much of the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River's estuary. Besides, the land of the Gulf of St. Lawrence past Tadoussac is part of the region.

There are 25 municipalities in the Cote-Nord region.

Two towns, namely Baie-Comeau (23, 000 inhabitants) and Sept-Iles (25, 000) amount for more than half of the total population. Cote-Nord includes also Anticosti Island, the Mingan Archipelago and a few other islands. The economy is based on mining, electricity, aluminium production and tourism.

Lumbering is also active, but in decline. Nowadays, Cote-Nord has fourteen hydroelectric dams. The most important is the Manicouagan-Outardes complex. This complex supplies Québec with over 10,500 megawatts of power.

As to its tourist activities, Cote-Nord is well-known as the Whale Route. Indeed, whales are easily observable here, and the area is considered as one of the best places in the world for the observation of these mammals.

Photo of Daniel Johnson Power Station offered by © Mike Jones, site Web: www.beyondktaadn.org, site of a small group of researchers & naturalists in Québec/Newfoundland/New England dedicated to exploring, studying, and promoting the remote arctic-alpine mountain ranges in these areas.