But few in number, they stepped ashore in what would become Montréal in May of 1642—some 40 volunteers from France under the authority of Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance, determined to fulfil their dream of founding a missionary city on an island in America. As fraught with peril as it was, their project gave rise, in time, to one of North America’s great cultural, industrial and commercial cities.