Jacques Cartier
—Chrissie

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            In the early sixteenth century, having learned the value of the Spanish colonies in the New World, the French sought also to make their mark in the Americas. Jacques Cartier is credited as the first European to travel into the interior of what is now Canada. He was commissioned by French King Francis I on the recommendation of the bishop of Saint-Malo, Cartier’s hometown. In April of 1534, Cartier sailed under the auspices of the French crown with the express purpose of finding a way through the Americas to Asia, the fabled Northwest Passage. He arrived at the coast of Newfoundland in mid-May, and followed the coastline into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There, he traded with locals and planted a cross and French flag to claim the territory. He was absolutely sure that he had found the Passage. Two tribesmen returned with him to France, possibly having been taken against their will, and they may have been the sons of the Iroquois Chief Donnacona.

            He returned to North America the next year, with three ships and 110 men. He went further up the St. Lawrence to an Iroquois town called Stadacona, which the locals referred to as “Kanata,” meaning “village.” It is possibly from this word that the name “Canada” is derived. Whatever the word’s origin, Cartier is the one who introduced “Canada” to Europe.  

            In October of 1535, he had travelled as far as he could on the St. Lawrence River before being stopped by a set of rapids. He was so absolutely certain that China lay on the other side of this obstacle that he referred to them as the “Rapids La Chine” (the Chinese Rapids), a name that has stayed to this day as Lachine, Quebec. He and his men wintered in Stadacona, where they waited for their fleet to be released from the winter pack ice on the St. Charles River. They dealt with an outbreak of scurvy, which killed 25 of the men before they learned it could be cured and prevented with tea made from the bark and needles of pine trees. When he set back to France in May 1536, he brought a group of Iroquois with him, including Chief Donnacona, to give personal accounts of the legendary Kingdom of Saguenay, which was supposed to be incredibly rich in gold and minerals.

            Cartier’s third and final voyage to Canada began in May 1541. He led five ships, whose passengers included the only remaining member of the Iroquois delegation taken to France six years earlier. Cartier was instructed to set up a colony and find the Kingdom of Saguenay. They built two forts near what is now Cap-Rouge, Quebec, naming their settlement Charlesborg-Royal. The men plowed fields, built pens for the livestock who had survived the trip, and huts for themselves. They also gathered many stones they believed to be diamonds and gold, but were merely quartz and iron pyrite, both abundant in the area of the Canadian Shield.

            In September, Cartier took a small team to scout for the location of Saguenay, but was turned back by the harsh and early onset of a Canadian winter. He found the settlement in poor condition: many of the men were ill, and the Iroquois no longer visited in a friendly manner. The winter saw 35 of the colonists killed by tribesmen. Cartier left Canada in June 1542. He spent the rest of his life in Saint-Malo, where he made himself useful in local society. Charlesborg-Royal was abandoned the next year, and the French did not establish a permanent settlement in North America until the founding of Quebec in 1604 during the voyages of Samuel de Champlain.