Native
settlement at the
site of
modern-day
Montreal. When
Jacques Cartier visited the mouth of the
St Lawrence River in 1535, he found nearly a
dozen villages between Hochelaga and
Stadacona (now
Quebec) inhabited by a
Huron peoples. Hochelaga remained to
Cartier's second visit in 1641-1642, and was at that time a
fortified village with a
population of 3000, surrounded by
corn fields.
When the French returned in 1603, with Samuel de Champlain, the Iroquoian people had been replaced by Algonquin and Montagnais settlers, probably due to attacks on the Huron by Algonquin and Iroquois.
Hochelaga was settled by the French in 1642 by a mix of religious and secular colonists led by Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve. He founded the Ville Marie de Mont Réal (the town of Mary of the Royal Mountain).
Sources: http://www.dickshovel.com, The Columbia Encyclopedia