The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby in the southwest to Drummondville in the northeast. Its largest city is Sherbrooke. Since 1987, most of the area is within the administrative region of Estrie, which covers nearly 12,500 km² and is composed of eight regional county municipalities (MRCs) along with the city of Sherbrooke. With the exception of its eastern portion around Lake Mégantic and the upper Chaudière River, the region largely corresponds to the middle and upper basin of the Saint-François River, fed by major lakes such as Lake Memphrémagog, Lake Magog, Lake Massawippi, Lake Aylmer, and Grand Lake Saint-François. Their ancestral land, called , comprises the area south of the St. Lawrence River from the eastern seaboard of the Atlantic Ocean to the Richelieu River and northward to the Gaspé Peninsula. then from the British Isles, and finally French-Canadians from surrounding areas. The proximity of the United States explains the arrival of Loyalists at the end of the eighteenth century, especially in the townships bordering Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The first of 95 townships to be granted was Dunham, established in 1796, Many of the earliest settlers were Loyalists or their descendants, joined later by other New England farmers seeking affordable land.