Discuss three historic sources of struggle on the Island of Montreal that had profound effects on the shaping of the city as we know it today.
Introduction
The island of Montreal has been shaped into the city that we know today because of various historic struggles. These struggles include: The struggle with racism, struggle with poverty and struggle with religious differences. This essay shall discuss the three struggles outlined before under the guidance of material collected from different sources.
Three struggles
Racism was one of the struggles that affected most if not all of the areas around the island of Montreal. This was one of the challenges that the region took a long time to get out of and probably ended up slowing down progress in the region.
The struggle with racism was heavily as a result of the different groups of individuals that settled on the island in its colonial days. the Dutch, the British and the French all wanted to claim a piece of the island and those who managed to settle on it brought with them slaves from Africa. Over time the slaves began to realize the oppression they were being subjected to especially in regards to the unfair treatment from their masters.
The struggle with poverty arose amidst America’s effort to break away from imperial ties (Marsan 129). In this regard, there was a concealment of social segregation amongst the residents stemming from the fact that some of the natives of the land collaborated with the colonialists and were in effect rewarded for their efforts (Levine 199).
Once the colonizers left, the individuals who had benefited from handouts from the colonial masters mismanaged the resources on the land leaving the other poor residents struggling to come out of abject poverty.
The struggle with religion could also be partly attributed to the entry of different colonial masters as well as to international trade. In essence, the major challenge was between the practitioners of the Catholic faith and Protestants. Both sides wanted to preserve the uniqueness of their faith (Marsan 133).
They were, however, in agreement on the fact that they had to protect Christianity from being infiltrated with the doctrines of other religions. This is basically the reason why Christianity is the dominant religion in the island. Religion has also contributed to the architecture of the city.
The Catholics were very well known for the distinctive way in which their churches were designed, and in the preservation of these designs they ensured that various land-marks were established. The Protestants also had their own particular designs, but these were as different as the number of denominations per region.
With each of the religious establishments trying to maintain their personality, so was the diversification of building styles in the region. This was one of the contributing factors to the non-standardized development rate of the island.
Conclusion
Various events that happen in the history of a country effectively contribute to the way it is viewed by the rest of the world in the future. This essay has analyzed three events in the history of the Island of Montreal that have contributed to its shaping into the city that we know today.
Bibliography
Levine, Marc V. 1991.The Reconquest of Montreal: Language Policy and Social Change in a Bilingual City. Pennyslvania: Temple University Press.
Marsan, Jean-Claude. 1990. Montreal in Evolution: Historical Analysis of the Development of Montreal’s Architecture and Urban Environment. Canada: McGill-Queen’s Press – MQUP