Ep 1. The River and Its Island

In May 1642 the French officer Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve, founds, with Jeanne Mance, one of the great port cities of North America. Following the collapse of New France, waves of immigrants arrive from the British Isles. John Molson brews beer and develops the steamboat. After a golden age as a cereal exporter, the great port and its city slide into a long decline.