The French Imperial Colony of Canada, more commonly referred to as French Canada or just Canada, is a major overseas possession of the French Empire , and is its oldest colony, composed of territory in North America owned by France for centuries, albeit with a brief fifty-year period of British control in the late 1700's and early 1800's. Canada has a population of about 15 million, and is centered largely along the St. Lawrence River. The capital of the colony is Québec, although the largest city is Montréal. The official language is French, which about 98% of the population speaks, and Roman Catholicism is the recognized colonial faith, making Canada the only colony with an official state-sponsored church/religion.