Posted
on December 31, 2014
Okay,
he kidnapped some guys. Actually, he kidnapped the sons of the chief.
But he did (eventually) return them!
French
explorer Jacques Cartier, born on this date in 1491, had been sent to
the New World in 1534, in search of a passage to “Cathay” (Asia).
If he couldn't find a way to Cathay, he was supposed to look
for....(Do you know what the French king wanted? What did EVERY king
want, back then?)...gold!
Actually,
Cartier discovered neither a passage to the Indies and China NOR
gold. He discovered what he considered barren, uninviting land
(Newfoundland) a bit of greener land (Prince Edward Island), some
islands with lots of birds (which he named Iles aux
Oiseaux—Islands of the Birds—and he and his crew proceeded to
shoot more than a thousand of the birds, because, you know, it's what
you do!), and a large bay (actually, the mouth of a river, the Gulf
of Saint Lawrence).
He
encountered a fleet of five canoes full of friendly Native Americans
and traded small things with them as tokens of friendship. But later,
when other canoes approached, he had canon shots fired to scare them
away.
Then
he saw some more Native Americans on shore, and Cartier and his men
rowed ashore. Cartier met with Chief Donnacona of the St. Lawrence
Iroquois, and he exchanged more gifts and used hand signs to create a
friendly alliance.
But when Cartier erected a 30-foot wooden
cross on the land—a cross marked “Vive
le Roi de France”
(Long
live the King of France)—Chief
Donnacona became concerned. He made some hand signs that seemed to
indicate to the Frenchmen that the land that the cross stood on, and
all the land around it, belonged to him and his people. Cartier
agreed with him and assured the chief that the cross was a marker so
he could find his way back. He invited the chief and his three sons
aboard his ship.
But
then Cartier took two of the sons hostage. He put the chief and the
third son ashore, told them that he would be back, and he would bring
the two kidnapped sons back, and off he sailed for France.
Oh,
my! What a way to treat the “allies” you just made!
Chief
Donnacona's sons learned some French and communicated with Cartier
about their home. Their village was located where Quebec is now
situated, and they indicated that their land was called “Kanata.”
Cartier wrote Kanata
on his charts and maps—and that is how the name Canada
came to be.
 |
| Chief Donnacona |
Cartier
did return the chief's sons to Canada the following year. He also
brought the chief some gifts from the French King. Apparently, Chief
Donnacona didn't trust Cartier but didn't out-and-out attack him,
either!
I
don't know how wise the chief's restraint was! In 1535, Cartier again
kidnapped the same two sons, Donnacona himself, three other adult
Iroquois natives, and four children. All of those Iroquoian hostages
had to stay in France for five years, between Cartier's second and
third voyages—and all of them died except for one of the children!
So
not how you should treat your allies!!
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