Québec's first inhabitants were Indians and Inuit who migrated from Asia thousands of years ago. The first Europeans to visit the shores of Québec's fertile St. Lawrence Gulf were Norse, Basque whalers and cod fishermen. Commissioned by François I, the King of France, Jacques Cartier landed in the Gaspé in 1534. After Cartier claimed possession of this immense territory for France, the European presence in New France began to grow. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain anchored on the north shore of the St. Lawrence in a place the Indians called Kébec. He founded a trading post on the Place Royale, in what was to become Québec City. Soon after, French coureurs de bois arrived, eager to trade in precious furs. In 1642 Paul Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, landed with a group of French colonists at what is now Pointe-à-Callière in Old Montréal. There he founded a small Catholic mission named Ville Marie. From 1660 to 1713 the settlement of New France accelerated. By the late 18th century, Ville Marie had grown from a trading post into the thriving port of Montréal. During the French and English War, the armies of British Major General James Wolfe attacked Québec City on September 13, 1759 and defeated the French troops of Commander Louis Joseph de Montcalm. This Battle of the Plains of Abraham, in which both generals lost their lives, altered the destiny of New France. Four years later, under the Treaty of Paris, the King of France granted to "His Royal Majesty, the sole ownership of Canada and all its dependencies." This transfer of power and territory from France to England sparked a flood of new colonists from England, Ireland and Scotland. The Canadian Constitution Act of 1791 established two provinces: Upper Canada (primarily English-speaking Ontario), and Lower Canada (primarily French-speaking Québec) with Québec City as its capital. The British army crushed the Québec Patriot Rebellion of 1837-1838 and in 1841, the Act of Union united Upper and Lower Canada. In 1867, the signing of the British North America Act established the Confederation of Canadian Provinces including Québec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Québec's earliest commerce was based on fur trading. Until the early 20th century, the economic life of Quebecers centered around agriculture and forestry. As the industrial revolution sparked the rise of manufacturing in the cities, rural Quebecers left the farms to work in the cities, and the process of urbanization accelerated. By 1830, Montréal - the "Paris of the North"- had become Canada's major industrial center, welcoming waves of European immigrants fleeing war and misery in their homelands.