April 20 – Jacques Cartier begins a “Voyage of Discovery”

That was a prequel to kidnapping two Iroquoians. (Yikes!)

This event may not have been quite as violent as the word “kidnapping” suggests, because (after they had the native chief’s sons in their possession), Cartier apparently bargained with the chief, Donnacona, for the right to take them back to Europe. Donnacona at last agreed on the condition that they return with European goods to trade.

On Cartier’s return the next year, he brought back the two Iroquoians and things to trade.

At the end of Cartier’s second voyage, he kidnapped Chief Donnacona, his two sons, and at least six others and took them all back to France! Horrible stuff – but Donnacona (and I hope the others?) was at least treated well in Europe.

Cartier ended up describing and mapping the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, and he gave Canada its name.

Cartier is usually given credit for “discovering” Canada, even though (1) there were already a lot of people living there – people whose ancestors must have “discovered” Canada long before Cartier was born! and (2) Cartier only explored a teeny portion of Canada. On the map above, Cartier’s route is depicted in green.

Learn about Canada.

Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories, and Cartier only explored a wee bit of three or four provinces.

Canada is the second largest country in the world, after only Russia. (We’re talking area, not population.) Also, the border it shares with the U.S. is the longest in the world.

Canada is a bilingual nation, with both English and French as official languages. As you might guess, this is because both England and France laid claims to parts of Canada. France let go of its claims to the land in 1763, and soon Canada became a federal dominion of the United Kingdom (which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

Canada never fought a war of independence against England. Instead it slowly-and-steadily became more and more independent, until 1982 when the Canada Act ended the nation’s dependence on the British parliament. Even now, however, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is considered the head of state of Canada is pictured on some of its money!