Who was Jacques Cartier?
Answer
A French navigator from Saint-Malo who made three voyages to the Gulf of St. Lawrence between 1534 and 1542, claimed the territory for France, and gave Canada its name.
Explanation
Jacques Cartier (December 31, 1491 to September 1, 1557) was a French navigator from Saint-Malo, Brittany who made three voyages to the Gulf of St. Lawrence between 1534 and 1542 and claimed the territory for France. Cartier was commissioned by King Francis I of France to find a western sea route to Asia and to discover lands rich in gold and other wealth. Although Cartier did not find a passage to Asia or significant precious metals, his voyages established France's foundational claim to what became New France.
Cartier's first voyage (April to September 1534) crossed the Atlantic in 20 days and explored the Strait of Belle Isle, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Gaspé Peninsula. On July 24, 1534 he erected a 9-metre wooden cross at Gaspé bearing the words 'Vive Le Roi De France' and the fleur-de-lis, claiming the territory for France. He took two sons of the Iroquoian chief Donnacona, Domagaya and Taignoagny, back to France with him to learn French and serve as guides on his next voyage. They returned with Cartier in 1535.
Cartier's second voyage (May 1535 to July 1536) sailed up the St. Lawrence River as far as the Iroquoian village of Hochelaga (the site of present-day Montreal). Cartier wintered at the village of Stadacona (the site of present-day Quebec City) in 1535 to 1536, where 25 of his 110 men died of scurvy before the Iroquoians shared a remedy made from the white cedar tree (annedda). Cartier kidnapped Donnacona, Domagaya, Taignoagny, and seven other Iroquoians and took them back to France in 1536; all but one young girl died before Cartier's third voyage.
Cartier's third voyage (May 1541 to October 1542) was intended to establish a permanent French colony at Charlesbourg-Royal, near Quebec. Cartier returned to France in 1542 carrying what he believed to be gold and diamonds (later determined to be iron pyrites and quartz, giving rise to the French expression 'faux comme les diamants du Canada' meaning 'false as Canadian diamonds'). The colony was abandoned in 1543. Cartier retired to Saint-Malo, where he died in 1557. The Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, the Jacques Cartier River, and Mount Jacques-Cartier in the Gaspé are named after him.
Why this matters for your test
Jacques Cartier gave Canada its founding French claim and its name. Recognising the 1534 to 1542 voyages and the July 24, 1534 cross at Gaspé gives candidates two specific anchors.
Source: Library and Archives Canada; Dictionary of Canadian Biography
