Every Day Is Special: April 20 - Jacques Cartier begins a “Voyage of Discovery”

April 20 - Jacques Cartier begins a “Voyage of Discovery”

Posted on April 20, 2021

This is an update of my post published on April 20, 2010:

On this date in 1534, Jacques Cartier set sail from France, attempting to find for his king just what so many other explorers were trying to find: a westward passage to Asia, to lands filled with gold and spices.

He didn't find these things.

What he did find was the mainland of Canada, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island.

He found what he called the "Islands of the Birds," and his crew slaughtered around 1000 birds, most of them great auks. (Great auks are now extinct, but presumably not entirely because of Cartier's men!)

And of course, he found people already living on the land!

He engaged in some trading, but he also planted a 10-meter (30 foot!) cross in the ground and declared the territory the property of his king.

That was a prequel to kidnapping two Iroquoians. (Yikes!)

This event may not have been quite as violent as the word “kidnapping” suggests, because (after they had the native chief's sons in their possession), Cartier apparently bargained with the chief, Donnacona, for the right to take them back to Europe. Donnacona at last agreed on the condition that they return with European goods to trade.

On Cartier's return the next year, he brought back the two Iroquoians and things to trade.

Cartier and his men ended up staying the winter that year. Scurvy broke out among the Iroquoians and the French, but one of the men he had previously kidnapped paid a friendly visit to the French and told them of a medicine they could make from a local tree. According to Wikipedia, the remedy probably saved the French expedition, with 85 of the 110 men surviving the winter. (Cartier guessed that perhaps 50 of the Iroquoians died from scurvy, despite the medicine.)

At the end of Cartier's second voyage, he kidnapped
Chief Donnacona, his two sons, and at least six others
and took them all back to France! Horrible stuff -
but Donnacona (and I hope the others?) was at least
treated well in Europe.

Cartier ended up describing and mapping the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, and he gave Canada its name.

Cartier is usually given credit for "discovering" Canada,
even though (1) there were already a lot of people living
there - people whose ancestors must have "discovered"
Canada long before Cartier was born! and (2) Cartier
only explored a teeny portion of Canada. On the map above,
Cartier's route is depicted in green.

Learn about Canada.

Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories, and
Cartier only explored a wee bit of three or four provinces.

Canada is the second largest country in the world, after only Russia. (We're talking area, not population.) Also, the border it shares with the U.S. is the longest in the world.

Canada is a bilingual nation, with both English and French as official languages. As you might guess, this is because both England and France laid claims to parts of Canada. France let go of its claims to the land in 1763, and soon Canada became a federal dominion of the United Kingdom (which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

Canada never fought a war of independence against England. Instead it slowly-and-steadily became more and more independent, until 1982 when the Canada Act ended the nation's dependence on the British parliament. Even now, however, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is considered the head of state of Canada is pictured on some of its money!

Play a simple Sudoku-style game with Canadian symbols.

Zoom School is a cool place to learn about Canadian animals, geography, flag, culture, and more.

Play a game about explorers. Here is a matching game, and this is a version of concentration.

Yukon

British Columbia

Alberta

Canada is one of the most beautiful nations in the world. When I think of the nation's natural beauty, I think first of rugged Yukon, gorgeous British Columbia, and - my personal favorite - the Canadian Rockies, in Alberta.

But of course there are many beautiful landscapes and seascapes in eastern Canada, as well!