Sherbrooke ( , ) 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,
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.
History
First Nations settled the region between 8,000 and 3,000 years ago. The Abenaki called it / ('the large forks'), or (where one smokes).
Americans from Vermont built mills in the area in 1802. Gilbert Hyatt led a group of loyalists, who settled around 1803. He dammed the Magog River and a gristmill and a sawmill were soon built nearby. The settlement was then known as Hyatt's Mills.
The first immigrants from England arrived in 1815. The British American Land Company was formed in 1832 to acquire and develop almost of Crown land and other lands in the area. It prioritized speculation over immigration.
In 1852 a railway linked Montreal and Portland, Maine via Sherbrooke. By the 1890s, there were rail connections to Boston, Halifax, and New York City.
thumb|left|Sherbrooke in 1889
thumb|[[Pictorial map of Sherbrooke from 1881, including a list of landmarks]]
Immigration from the rest of Quebec began in 1850, and by 1871 francophones were in the majority.
Geography
<!-- uncomment when there is enough surrounding text