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PRINT THIS MAP Canada, A Brief Description Canada's initial inhabitants originated in Asia; as they searched for food, people from that continent crossed the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia. Over an indefinite period of time, a wide variety of unique Indian cultures and nations developed and prospered across most of North America, including all of Canada. Convincing evidence exists that near the end of the 11th century, Leif Ericson, a seafaring Vikings from Scandinavia, traversed the frigid waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and established a small settlement named Vinland along the coast of Newfoundland; it was eventually abandoned. Giovanni Caboto, an Italian navigator and explorer, known in English as John Cabot, landed along the northeastern shore of Canada in 1497, and immediately claimed the land for his patron, King Henry VII of England. The Cabot discovery substantiated England's claim to a significant slice of North America. News of this bountiful land soon spread across Europe, and in the years that followed European fishing vessels regularly harvested the coastal waters. In 1524, not to be outdone by England, the King of France commissioned Giovanni da Verrazano to explore this New World. The Italian explorer's discoveries along the eastern coastline of North America gave France its own claim to parts of this land. A decade later the King dispatched Jacques Cartier on another mission of discovery. Cartier and crew would make three trips into the Gulf of St. Lawrence area. By the turn of the century, the French were heavily involved in the lucrative fur trading business in Canada. On one of those fur trapping missions in 1605, the French geographer and explorer, Samuel de Champlain, established France's first settlement in western Nova Scotia. Port Royal would later be abandoned, but in 1608, he founded a permanent colony at Quebec, a colony that would later become the capital of New France. New France continued to grow, albeit slowly, and Champlain was appointed governor in 1633. Trois-Rivieres was founded in 1634, and Montreal, a missionary outpost in 1642 would eventually grow to become Canada's largest city. For the indigenous Indians, contact with these early Europeans proved disastrous, as explorers and traders unintentionally brought diseases, such as smallpox with them. Thousands would get sick and die, and relationships between Indians and Europeans were strained, at best. The French, seemingly out of necessity, befriended several Indian nations, including the Algonquin and Huron. On the other hand, the Iroquois detested the French, and using weapons provided them by the British, waged relentless war on their sworn enemies, In 1666, a detailed census of New France indicated a small population of just over 3,000. In contrast, the English were still controlling parts of Canada's Maritime Provinces, as well as their heavily-populated colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, colonies that would later form the heart of a new nation called America. Also, England's Hudson Bay Company, founded in 1670, would later become North America's most significant fur trader. Conflict between these two nations was inevitable, and in the late 17th century the French (New France) began to fight the British (New England) for control of this valuable real estate. The French utilized their local Indians friends as allies, and those experienced warriors attacked numerous English settlements in the Colonies; countless houses were burned and many settlers were kidnapped or killed. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht restored a certain level of peace between France and the forces of England. However, as part of that agreement, France was forced to cede Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Nova Scotia to England. Regardless, the French continued to build forts across their massive territory for protection from Indians, and from the expanding influence of Britain in the Americas. By the middle of the 18th century, over 70,000 people inhabited New France, but Britain's colonies along the Atlantic Ocean coastline now exceeded one million. During the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), a war involving all of the major European powers of the day, France was the biggest loser. Its position as a major colonial power in the Americas ended, as it lost much of its long-held possessions on the North America continent to the British. That war verdict aside, eastern Canada was still culturally and politically French, and in the on-going effort to administer and control their new French-speaking territory, the British faced many problems, especially from Indians. In one daring and unexpected move, rebels from within Britain's original colonies developed a plan to invade and capture all the Canada colony; Montreal was quickly taken, but the fort at Quebec held firm in an inspirational battle that changed the future of Canada forever. After the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783, a large group of loyalists to the British Crown (Tories) immigrated to Canada from the American colonies. In 1791, with this large English-speaking aggregation now living in French-speaking Canada, the British Parliament made its move. In a Constitutional Act, it split the Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada; each to have its own representative government and its own individual lanquage. Throughout the 18th century, the Hudson Bay Company gave traders the opportunity to explore uncharted lands in northern and western Canada. One of those fur traders, Samuel Hearne, discovered Great Slave Lake and became the first non-Indian to reach the Arctic Ocean over land. In 1783, a prominent group of Montreal merchants began the North West Fur Trading Company, in direct competition with England's Hudson Bay Company. Alexander Mackenzie, one of their traders, and a Scottish-Canadian explorer, followed his now namesake river from its source to the Arctic Ocean, He later crossed the Rocky Mountains, finding a route to the Pacific Ocean. He was knighted for his efforts in 1802. The Canada Description continues here! Contact Us | Privacy Statement Copyrighted by Graphic Maps All rights reserved! All maps, graphics, flags, photographs and original descriptions created by Graphic Maps, a d/b/a of the Woolwine-Moen Group, unless otherwise noted and/or directly linked to the source, and use of same for any application whatsoever requires written permission. 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