Editing French Canadians (section)

== Etymology ==
French Canadians get their name from the [[Canada (New France)|French colony of Canada]], the most developed and densely populated region of [[New France]] during the period of [[French colonization of the Americas|French colonization]] in the 17th and 18th centuries. The original use of the term ''Canada'' referred to the area of present-day [[Quebec]] along the [[Saint Lawrence River|St. Lawrence River]], divided in three districts ([[Quebec City|Québec]], [[Trois-Rivières]], and [[Montreal|Montréal]]), as well as to the ''[[Pays d'en Haut]]'' (Upper Countries), a vast and thinly settled territorial dependence north and west of Montreal which covered the whole of the [[Great Lakes]] area.

From 1535 to the 1690s, ''Canadien'' was a word used by the French to refer to the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] they had encountered in the St. Lawrence River valley at [[Stadacona]] and [[Hochelaga (village)|Hochelaga]], though First Nations groups did not refer to themselves as ''Canadien''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.celat.ulaval.ca/temps/publications/hors_ethnonyme.htm |title=Gervais Carpin, Histoire d'un mot |publisher=Celat.ulaval.ca |access-date=28 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706214721/http://www.celat.ulaval.ca/temps/publications/hors_ethnonyme.htm |archive-date=6 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> At the end of the 17th century, ''Canadien'' became an [[ethnonym]] distinguishing the French inhabitants of Canada from those of France. At the end of the 18th century, to distinguish between the English-speaking population and the French-speaking population, the terms ''[[English Canadians|English Canadian]]'' and ''French Canadian'' emerged.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kuitenbrouwer|first1=Peter|title=The Strange History of 'O Canada'|url=https://thewalrus.ca/the-strange-history-of-o-canada/|access-date=7 July 2017|work=[[The Walrus]]|date=27 June 2017|archive-date=August 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817071426/https://thewalrus.ca/the-strange-history-of-o-canada/|url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Quiet Revolution]] of the 1960s to 1980s, inhabitants of Quebec began to identify as [[Québécois people|Québécois]] instead of simply French Canadian.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Jacques|last1=Beauchemin|title=L'identité franco-québécoise d'hier à aujourd'hui : la fin des vieilles certitudes|journal=Liberté|editor=Collectif Liberté|date=2009|volume=51|number=3|issn=0024-2020
}}</ref>