• Sailed for France with a mission to discover riches and colonize the New World
  
• Explored the Saint Lawrence River Valley (near Quebec Canada)
  
• Gave France a North American claim

Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in St. Malo France. No one knows too much about his life before his first sea voyage. The King of France, Francois I, sent him to look for a passage through or around North America to East Asia. Cartier set sail with two ships and landed on an island near the coast of Newfoundland twenty days later. He sailed around the Bay of St. Lawrence, visiting islands. They were so large, he thought they were part of the mainland. He met up with 50 canoes filled with Micmac Indians who greeted him. There was a large celebration and trading between the French and Micmac. Cartier was disappointed that the bay was not the route to China. He met a fishing party of 200 Hurons (indians) led by their chief, Donnacona. His sons, Domagaia and Taignagny, sailed with Cartier to act as interpreters and accompanied Cartier back to France.

Jacques Cartier died at the age of 66 in 1557, on his estate in St. Malo, France.

Additional Information about Cartier

• http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/discovery/cartier.html
  

Page created by Brooks Widmaier
January 5, 2002

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