Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. He lived from 31 December 1491 to 1 September 1557. Cartier became famous for being the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River.

During his journeys, Cartier named the area “Canada” after the Iroquoian names for two big settlements he saw at Stadacona (Quebec City) and Hochelaga (Montreal Island). His work helped Europeans learn about this new region, even though Spanish settlers had already established places in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and were starting to explore Peru.

Early life

Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in Saint-Malo, a port city on the northeast coast of Brittany. He was a skilled mariner. In 1520, Cartier married Mary Catherine des Granches, who came from an important aristocratic family, which helped raise his standing in the community. His good reputation in Saint-Malo is shown by how often he appeared in church records as a godparent or witness to events.

First voyage (1534)

In 1534, two years after the Duchy of Brittany joined the French crown, explorer Jacques Cartier met with King Francis I. The king wanted Cartier to find new lands and perhaps treasures across the ocean. Cartier sailed on April 20, 1534, looking for a sea route to faraway places rich in gold and treasures.

It took twenty days to cross the ocean. Starting in May, Cartier explored parts of Newfoundland, the Strait of Belle Isle, and the coastlines around the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He also visited islands like Prince Edward Island, Anticosti Island, and the Magdalen Islands. During one stop, his team found many birds and took some of them. Cartier met local people and traded with them. On July 24, he put up a big cross to show that France claimed this land. He also took two boys from a local leader’s family back to France, promising they would return with trade goods.

Second voyage (1535–1536)

Jacques Cartier began his second voyage on May 19 with three ships and 110 men. He reached the St. Lawrence River and arrived at the Iroquoian capital of Stadacona, where Chief Donnacona lived. Cartier left his larger ships nearby and took a smaller ship to Hochelaga, now Montreal, on October 2, 1535. The people there welcomed the French explorers.

Because the river was blocked by rapids, Cartier thought he had found a way to China. After spending a short time with the people of Hochelaga, he returned to Stadacona. The winter was very harsh, and many people, including the French and Iroquoians, suffered from a sickness called scurvy. They discovered that a special tree could help cure this sickness, and this saved many lives. In the spring, Cartier took Chief Donnacona back to France to share stories of a northern land called the "Kingdom of Saguenay", said to hold many treasures.

Third voyage (1541–1542)

In 1540, King Francis asked the navigator Jacques Cartier to return to Canada to help with a colonization project. Cartier was to be the main navigator for this trip. However, in early 1541, another leader named Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval took charge of the expedition.

Cartier left Saint-Malo on May 23, 1541, with five ships. This time, the goal was to find the "Kingdom of Saguenay" and its riches, and to build a permanent settlement along the St. Lawrence River.

Cartier and his team landed near present-day Cap-Rouge, Quebec, and built a settlement called Charlesbourg-Royal. They also built another fort for protection. The settlers tried to grow food, planting cabbage, turnip, and lettuce.

They collected materials they thought were valuable, like diamonds and gold, but these turned out to be ordinary stones when they returned to France.

Cartier searched for the Saguenay Kingdom but faced difficult weather and rapids. When he returned to the settlement, he found the situation was tense with the local people. Many settlers faced hard times during the winter of 1541–1542.

Cartier left for France in June 1542, arriving there in October. This was his last voyage. Meanwhile, Roberval took over the settlement, but it was eventually abandoned in 1543 due to disease, bad weather, and difficulties with the local people.

Later life

Jacques Cartier lived the rest of his life in Saint-Malo and nearby, sometimes helping as a translator for Portuguese speakers. He passed away at age 65 on September 1, 1557, during an illness, though the exact reason for his death is not known. He is buried in Saint-Malo Cathedral.

No lasting European settlements were created in Canada until 1605, when Pierre Dugua and Samuel Champlain started Port Royal in Acadia.

Legacy

Jacques Cartier was the first European to explore and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Saint Lawrence River. He was also the first to use the name Canada for this area, which came from the Huron–Iroquois word for "village." His journeys helped France understand and claim this land, which later became part of New France.

Although some of his actions toward the local people were unfair, Cartier tried to make friends with them. This was important for French settlers who came later. Cartier’s careful navigation and exploration made him one of the most skilled explorers of his time. He was also among the first to recognize that the New World was a separate land from Europe and Asia.

Rediscovery of Cartier's first colony

In August 2006, the leader of Quebec shared exciting news: archaeologists had found the exact spot of Cartier’s first colony, called Charlesbourg-Royal. They discovered burnt wood and a special plate from Faenza, Italy, showing this was a place for important French people. This colony, led by the Sieur de Roberval, was the first European settlement in Canada after a very old village from around the year 1000, found in northern Newfoundland. Finding this place is a big deal for learning about Canada’s history.

Ships

• Grande Hermine
  • Built in France in 1534; given to Cartier by the King of France in 1535; used in the voyages of 1535–1536 and 1541–1542; a replica was built in 1967 for Expo 67 in Montréal; it was abandoned in 2001 in the Saint-Charles River near Québec City
• Petite Hermine
  • Built in France; used in the 1535–1536 voyage and left in the Saint-Charles River in 1536 because many sailors had become sick during the winter in Québec City
• Émérillon
  • Built in France; used in the 1535–1536 and 1541–1542 voyages
• Georges (1541–1542)
  • Built in France; used in the 1541–1542 voyage
• Saint-Brieux
  • Built in France; used in the 1541–1542 voyage

Monuments, remembrances and other art

Jacques Cartier Island is located at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, near the town of Quirpon. It is said that Jacques Cartier named the island himself during one of his voyages through the Strait of Belle Isle in the 1530s.

Many places and artworks honor Jacques Cartier, including the Jacques-Cartier River in Donnacona, Quebec, Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau, Quebec, and the Jacques Cartier Bridge between Montreal and Longueil, Quebec. Other sites include Jacques Cartier Provincial Park near Alberton, PEI and Jacques-Cartier State Park in St. Lawrence County, New York. There is also a square named Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal.

Statues and paintings of Cartier can be found in many places, such as his birthplace in Rothéneuf, Quebec City, Paris, and Montreal. These artworks celebrate his voyages and discoveries.

Popular references

The Banque Jacques-Cartier operated and printed money from 1861 to 1899 in Lower Canada, which is now Quebec. It later became part of the Banque provinciale du Canada and then the National Bank of Canada.

In 2005, Cartier's book Bref récit et succincte narration de la navigation faite en MDXXXV et MDXXXVI was chosen as one of the 100 most important books in Canadian history by the Literary Review of Canada.

The Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip mentioned Jacques Cartier in their 1992 song "Looking for a Place to Happen." The song talks about how Europeans arrived in the New World and took over lands that belonged to Indigenous peoples in North America.