Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke ( SHUR-bruuk, Quebec French: [ʃɛʁˈbʁʊk]) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. The city is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of the same name. With 172,950 residents at the Canada 2021 Census, it is the sixth-largest city in the province and the 30th-largest in Canada. The Sherbrooke Census Metropolitan Area had 227,398 inhabitants, making it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Quebec and 19th in Canada. Sherbrooke is the primary economic, political, cultural, and institutional centre of Estrie, and was given its nickname as the Queen of the Eastern Townships at the beginning of the 20th century. There are eight educational institutions in the city educating 40,000 students and employing 11,000 people, 3,700 of whom are professors, teachers and researchers. The direct economic effect of these institutions exceeds one billion dollars. The proportion of university students is 10.32 students per 100 inhabitants, giving Sherbrooke the largest concentration of students in Quebec. Sherbrooke rose as a manufacturing centre in the 1800s, and today the service sector is prominent. The Sherbrooke region is surrounded by mountains, rivers, and lakes. There are several ski hills nearby and various regional tourist attractions. Mont-Bellevue Park, a large park in the city, is used for downhill skiing. The city was named in 1818 for John Coape Sherbrooke, a governor general of British North America.