Jacques Cartier

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Jacques Cartier was a French trader and explorer. He was born on December 31, 1491 in Saint-Malo, France, and lived until September 1,1557). He sailed three times to Canada looking for gold.

He was the first European man to see Prince Edward Island, the St. Lawrence River, and also Hochelaga (today called Montreal), where the Wendats and other Indian tribes lived in those days.

Following in the footsteps of Chistopher Columbus with his memorable 1492 exploration of the West Indies, European countries decided to get some of the enormous wealth and riches to be had from the New World. All countries facing the Atlantic then woke up to the evidence that the earth was really round and to the fact that the best road to the East was not sailing East but sailing West, to where the sun set. To them, the West Indies were the logical territories to explore. Already, Spain and Portugal were reaping great profits from the New World. In France the king François Ier then chose an experienced mariner from Saint-Malo and familiar with the New World fishing expeditions: Jacques Cartier.

Cartier captured and took the sons of the Wendat chief, Donnacona, with him to France on his first trip. On his second trip, he brought them back, but captured chief Donnacona himself and took him to France, where he soon died.

On his third trip, he tried to plant a French colony on Wendat lands. He found the Wendats not as welcoming this time as they had been on his first two visits, so he had to forget planting a colony and sail back to France. But because of his trips, the French still said they could make the eastern part of Canada their colony later on.

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