From Mr Frank Packard.

Sir, It is wonderful to celebrate history, and the diverse sources of development, yet Christopher Mason’s article “Quebec reflects on its anniversary”(July 3), on the year-long celebrations of Quebec’s 400th anniversary, neglects important parts of North American history. Mr Mason describes Quebec City as “North America's oldest non-Aboriginal settlement”, but the French were not the earliest settlers. Spanish settlements pre-dated the establishment of Quebec: namely Pensacola, Florida (1559); St Augustine, Florida (1565); and Santa Fe, New Mexico (1598) has the oldest government buildings in North America. The British colony of Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607.