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Jacques Cartier

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geographers and explorers

   Portrait of Jacques Cartier by Théophile Hamel, ca. 1844. No
   contemporary portraits of Cartier are known.
   Enlarge
   Portrait of Jacques Cartier by Théophile Hamel, ca. 1844. No
   contemporary portraits of Cartier are known.

   Jacques Cartier ( December 31, 1491 – September 1, 1557) was a French
   navigator who first explored and described the Gulf of St-Lawrence and
   the shores of the St-Lawrence River, which he named Canada.

Biography

   Cartier was born in 1491 in Saint-Malo, a small village of the duchy of
   Brittany, which would later become incorporated to France in 1532.
   Cartier was part of a respectable family of mariners.He also improved
   his social status in 1520 by marrying Catherine des Granches, member of
   a leading ship-owning family. His good name in Saint-Malo is recognized
   by its frequent appearance on baptismal registers as godfather or
   witness.

First voyage,1534

   In 1534, Cartier set sail hoping to discover some western passage to
   the wealthy markets of Asia. He explored parts of Newfoundland starting
   on May 10 of that year, and what are now the Canadian Atlantic
   provinces, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. His first impression of the
   country was "I'm rather inclined to believe that this is the land God
   gave to Cain". On one stop at Iles-aux-Oiseaux, his crew slaughtered
   around 1000 birds, most of them great auks, which are now extinct.
   Cartier's first encounter with Aboriginal people, most likely the
   Mi'kmaq, was brief, and some trading occurred. On his second encounter
   Cartier panicked as forty Mi'kmaq canoes surrounded one of his long
   boats. Despite the Mi'kmaq signs of peace Cartier ordered his men to
   shoot two cannon over their heads. The Mi'kmaq paddled away. His third
   encounter took place at Baie de Gaspe with the Iroquois, where he
   planted a 10 metre cross bearing the words "Long Live the King of
   France". The change in mood was a clear indication that the Iroquois
   understood Cartier's actions. During this trip he captured Domagaya and
   Taignoagny, the sons of Chief Donnacona, and took them back to France.
   He also began to build diplomatic relations with the natives. Cartier
   returned to France in September 1534.

Second voyage, 1535-1536

   Cartier set sail for a second voyage on May 13 of the following year
   with 3 ships, 110 men, and the two native boys. Reaching the St.
   Lawrence, he sailed up-river for the first time, and reached the St.
   Lawrence Iroquoian village of Stadacona (located nearby the site of
   present-day Quebec City), where Chief Donnacona was reunited with his
   two sons.

   Cartier left his main ships in a harbour close to Stadacona, and used
   his smallest ship to continue up-river and visit Hochelaga (now
   Montreal) where he arrived October 2, 1535. Hochelaga was far more
   impressive than the small and squalid village of Stadacona, and more
   than a thousand Iroquoians came to the river edge to greet the
   Frenchmen. The site of their arrival has been confidently identified as
   the beginning of the Sainte-Marie Sault -- where the Jacques Cartier
   Bridge now stands.

   After spending two days among the St. Lawrence Iroquoians of Hochelaga,
   Cartier returned to Stadacona on October 11. It is not known exactly
   when Cartier decided to spend the winter of 1535-1536 in Stadacona, and
   it was by then too late to return to France. Cartier and his men
   prepared for the winter by strengthening their fort, stacking firewood,
   and salting down game and fish.

   During this winter, Cartier compiled a sort of gazetteer that included
   several pages on the manners of the natives -- in particular, their
   habit of wearing only leggings and loin cloths even in the dead of
   winter.

   From mid-November 1535 to mid-April 1536, the French fleet lay frozen
   solid at the mouth of the St. Charles river, under the Rock of Quebec.
   Ice was over a fathom (1.8 m) thick in the river, and snow four feet
   (1.2 m) deep ashore. To add to the discomfort, scurvy broke out --
   first among the Iroquoians, and then among the French. In his journal,
   Cartier states that by mid-February, "out of 110 that we were, not ten
   were well enough to help the others, a thing pitiful to see". Cartier
   estimated the number of Indians dead at 50.

   One of the natives who survived was Domagaya, the chief's son who had
   been taken to France the previous year. Upon his visiting the French
   fort for a friendly call, Cartier enquired and learned of him that a
   concoction made from a certain tree called "annedda" , a white cedar
   tree (thuja), would cure scurvy. This remedy likely saved the
   expedition from destruction, and by the end of the winter, 85 Frenchmen
   were still alive.

   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", claimed to be
   full of gold, rubies and other treasures. After an arduous trip down
   the St. Lawrence and a three-week Atlantic crossing, Cartier and his
   men arrived in Saint-Malo July 15, 1536.

   So ended the second and most profitable of Cartier's voyages, lasting
   fourteen months. 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 had made an
   intelligent estimate of the resources of Canada, both natural and
   human, aside from considerable exaggeration of its mineral wealth.
   Whilst some of his actions toward the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were
   dishonorable, he did try at times to establish friendship with them and
   other native peoples living along the great St. Lawrence river -- an
   indispensable preliminary to French settlement in their lands.

Third voyage, 1541-1542

   On May 23, 1541 Cartier departed Saint-Malo on his third voyage with
   five ships. This time, any thought of finding a passage to the Orient
   was forgotten. The goals were now to find the "Kingdom of Saguenay" and
   its riches, and to establish a permanent settlement along the St.
   Lawrence.

   Anchoring at Stadacona on August 23, Cartier again met the Iroquoians,
   but found their "show of joy" and their numbers worrisome, and decided
   not to build his settlement there. Sailing nine miles up-river to a
   spot he had previously observed, he decided to settle on the site of
   present-day Cap-Rouge, Quebec. The convicts and other colonists were
   landed, the cattle that had survived three months aboard ship were
   turned loose, earth was broken for a kitchen garden, and seeds of
   cabbage, turnip and lettuce were planted. A fortified settlement was
   thus created and was named Charlesbourg-Royal. Another fort was also
   built on the falaise overlooking the settlement, for added protection.

   The men also began collecting quartz crystal ("diamonds") and iron
   pyrites ("gold"). Two of the ships were dispatched home with some of
   these worthless minerals on September 2.

   Having set tasks for everyone, Cartier left with the longboats for a
   reconnaissance in search of "Saguenay" on September 7. Having reached
   Hochelaga, he was prevented by bad weather and the numerous rapids from
   continuing up to the Ottawa river.

   Returning to Charlesbourg-Royal, Cartier found the situation ominous.
   The Iroquoians no longer made friendly visits or peddled fish and game,
   but prowled about in a sinister manner. No records exists about the
   winter of 1541-1542 and the information must be gleaned from the few
   details provided by returning sailors. It seems the Native Americans
   attacked and killed about 35 settlers before the Frenchmen could
   retreat behind their fortifications. Even though scurvy was cured
   through the native remedy, the impression left is of a general misery,
   and of Cartier's growing conviction that he had insufficient manpower
   either to protect his base or to go in search of Saguenay. Everyone
   boarded the three remaining ships in early June 1542, and arrived back
   in Europe in October 1542. This was his last voyage.

   Cartier spent the rest of his life in Saint-Malo and his nearby estate,
   and died aged 66 on September 1, 1557 from an epidemic. He died before
   any permanent European settlements were made in Canada; that had to
   wait for Samuel de Champlain in 1608.

Legacy

   Cartier was the first to record the name "Canada" to designate the
   territory on the shores of the St-Lawrence river. (see entry on
   Canada's name).Thereafter the name Canada was used to designate the
   small French colony on these shores, and the French colonists were
   called Canadiens, until the mid-ninteeth century when the name started
   to be applied to the loyalist colonies on the Great Lakes and later to
   all of British North America. In this way Cartier is not strictly the
   discoverer of Canada as it is understood today, a vast federation
   stretching from sea to sea: this territory had previously been
   "discovered" by Native Americans, the Norse, Basque and Breton
   fishermen, and perhaps John Cabot. However the name of today's country
   does stem from Cartier's discoveries.

   Cartier's particular contribution to the "discovery of Canada" is as
   the first European to penetrate the continent, and more precisely the
   interior eastern region along the St. Lawrence River. This region was
   to become the first European-inhabited area of that country since the
   Vikings. It is also important to bear in mind that the title
   "discoverer of Canada" was applied to Cartier at a time when
   Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada. Moreover, Cartier used the
   word "Canada" (see Canada's name) to describe the village (Stadacona),
   the surrounding land and the river itself. Thus understood, Cartier was
   in effect the first European to explore "Canada". But even to this
   extent, the use of "discoverer" is perhaps too enthusiastic, as the two
   sons of Donnacona guided Cartier in his first exploration of the inner
   continent (in the second voyage) through the St. Lawrence estuary up to
   the village of Stadacona.

   Despite these critical notes, Cartier's professional abilities can be
   easily ascertained. Considering that Cartier made three voyages of
   exploration in dangerous and hitherto unknown waters without losing a
   ship, that he entered and departed some fifty undiscovered harbours
   without serious mishap, and that the only sailors he lost were victims
   of an epidemic ashore, he may be considered one of the most
   conscientious explorers of the period.

   Cartier was also one of he first people to formally aknowledge that the
   New World was really a seperate land mass from Europe/Asia

Rediscovery of Cartier's first colony

   On August 18, 2006, Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced that Canadian
   archaeologists have discovered the precise location of Cartier's lost
   first colony of Charlesbourg-Royal. The colony was built where the Cap
   Rouge river runs into the St. Lawrence River and is based on the
   discovery of burnt wooden timber remains that have been dated to the
   mid-16th Century and a fragment of a decorative Istoriato plate
   manufactured in Faenza, Italy, between 1540 and 1550 that could only
   have belonged to a member of the French aristocracy in the
   colony--probably Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval himself who was
   the leader of the settlement. This colony was the first European
   settlement in modern day Canada. Its discovery has been hailed by
   archaeologists as the most important find in Canada since the c.1000 AD
   L'Anse aux Meadows Viking village was unearthed in northern
   Newfoundland.

Monuments

     * Place Jacques-Cartier, a major street in the Vieux Port of Montreal
     * Jacques-Cartier River
     * Jacques-Cartier Bridge

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