Biography canada cartier jacques

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Ready to return to France in early May 1536, Cartier decided to kidnap Chief Donnacona himself, so that he might personally tell the tale of a country further north, called the "Kingdom of Saguenay," said to be full of gold, rubies, and other treasures. To add to the discomfort, scurvy broke out—first among the Iroquoians, and then among the French.

A fortified settlement was thus created and was named Charlesbourg-Royal. In 1949 another hypothesis was advanced: Marius Barbeau maintained that Rabelais rewrote Cartier’s accounts to present them to the king.

Having set tasks for everyone, Cartier left with the longboats for a reconnaissance in search of "Saguenay" on September 7. He was probably a native of Dol, in Brittany; he was first mentioned 31 March 1535, when he appeared before a meeting in Saint-Malo to submit the roll of the members of the next expedition.

Notes

  1. ↑H.P.

    The men also began collecting what they thought were diamonds and gold, but which turned out to be quartz crystals and iron pyrites, respectively—which gave rise to a French expression: Faux comme les diamants du Canada {"As false as Canadian diamonds"). If the crosses at Saint-Servan and on Île Brion were rather in the nature of landmarks or beacons, this one was much more: it is clear from the importance of the ceremony that the cross was intended to indicate that the territory was being taken possession of in the name of François I. Chief Donnacona protested; he approached Cartier’s boat with his brother and three of his sons to harangue the strangers.

    In his cargo were a dozen pieces of gold and some furs. On the evening of 29 June he sighted another land, “the best-tempered region one can possibly see, and the heat is considerable”; he had discovered Prince Edward Island, without however being able to determine that it was an island.

    Next, he explored bays that were disappointing, openings that held continual promise of being the passage to Asia, but which grew narrower as he advanced.

    biography canada cartier jacques

    Unlike the previous voyages, this one was led by the Huguenot Jean-François de la Rocque de Roberval, with Cartier as his subordinate. J., IX (1934), 113–25. Relations were resumed only in November, in an atmosphere of mutual distrust.

    Then came winter, the Laurentian winter which the Europeans were experiencing for the first time, and which furthermore was a severe one.

    But Canada had not finished its development. The same area, transformed in 1763 into the province of Quebec, became the Lower Canada of 1791, and in 1840 was merged with Ontario to form United Canada; up to Confederation the region called Canada still began only at the Gaspé Peninsula. When he compares the natives or the produce of Canada with those of Brazil, why does he never mention those of the North American seaboard?

    Having already located the entrance to the St. Lawrence on his first voyage, he now opened up the greatest waterway for the European penetration of North America. He was given a joyous reception which even took on the air of a religious ceremony; to the Iroquois, who presented their sick to be cured, Cartier read the gospel according to St. John and the Passion of Christ.