Chapter 2

EuropeanExplorers

French Explorer: Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier was born in St. Malo (France) in 1491. He was looking for a passage through or around North America to East Asia. He made the crossing of the Atlantic in only twenty days, and landed on an island near the coast of Newfoundland, by then already much frequented by Breton fishermen.

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Cartier’s Voyages

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French Explorer: Samuel de Champlain

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Samuel de Champlain was an explorer, map maker and governor of New France. Champlain helped found a colony in Port Royal, Nova Scotia (1605).

In 1608, Champlain led 32 colonists to settle Quebec in order to establish it as a fur-trading center. Only nine colonists survived the first bitter winter in Quebec, but more settlers arrived the following summer. The major role Champlain played in the St Lawrence River area earned him the title of “Father of New France."

Champlain

Habitation at QuébecChamplain built the "habitation" which was part fort and part village in 1608 at the site of present-day Québec City (courtesy John Ross Robertson Coll/Metropolitan Toronto Library).

Champlain’s Voyages

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French Explorer: Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle

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When Rene-Robert de LaSalle was 23, he set sail for Canada, with plans to be a farmer. However, La Salle became interested in fur trading and set up a fur trading post instead. He was important because of his exploration of the Mississippi River in North America. La Salle was the first European to sail down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. He claimed the Mississippi River Basin, which he called the Louisiana Territory, for France.

LaSalle’s Voyages

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French Explorers: Pierre Gaultier de la Verendrye

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La Verendrye had been both a soldier and farmer before being put in charge of a French trading post near Lake Superior in 1715. In 1728 he was appointed commandant of the French posts on the north shore of Lake Superior. Between 1731 and 1737 he built several trading posts between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg. La Vérendrye listened to the Indians who said they knew of a route to the Western Sea. He was responsible for opening a large area of the west to French traders.

La Verendrye’s Voyages

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British Explorers: Martin Frobisher

Frobisher wanted to find the Northwest Passage over North America to Asia. Many people were trying to find a faster way to Asia at this time, so the person who succeeded would be rewarded by the Queen and become rich and famous. When he finally got permission, he left with three ships. During his third voyage he thought he found gold, but it was really iron that looked like gold (fool’s gold) and was worthless. Frobisher was disgraced. Frobisher was one of the first English explorers to sail the northeast North American coast.www.thepirateking.com/bios/frobisher_martin.htm

Frobisher’s First Voyage: 1576

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Frobisher’s Second Voyage: 1577

During Frobisher’s second voyage, he and his crew found European clothing at an abandoned village and suspected that they belonged to the five men from his crew who were murdered on his first voyage.

Hoping to get information, he captured three Inuit -- a man, woman and child. He learned nothing and brought them back to England where they died a month later.

According to Inuit stories passed down through the years, the five men whom Frobisher thought the Inuit had killed, spent the winter at a village site, built a boat and sailed away.

When Charles Francis Hall, an explorer, came along later, he was told of legends that spoke of five men building a boat out of the expeditions' scraps, but who died of starvation before they could use it.

British Explorers: Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson was English navigator and explorer who, sailing three times for the English (1607, 1608, 1610–11) and once for the Dutch (1609). He was looking for a short route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic Ocean. He and his crew sailed closer to the North Pole than any other explorers. Hudson was looking for a Northwest Passage to the Orient and found there was no way through the North Pole. A river, a strait, and a bay in North America are named after him.

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Hudson’s Voyages

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British Explorer: Alexander Mackenzie

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Alexander Mackenzie was a fur trader and explorer. He is credited with being the first European to cross the north part of North America by land. He was a clever businessman who wanted to expand the fur trade across the continent of North America. The results of his two expeditions did this, but not until after he had died.

Mackenzie’s First Voyage: 1789

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Mackenzie’s Second Voyage: 1792-1793

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British Explorer: David Thompson

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David Thompson is remembered most as a surveyor and map-maker, but he was also a fur trader, explorer, justice of the peace, businessman and author. He is considered one of the most important geographers in the history of North America. During his life, he mapped almost four and a half million square kilometres. Thompson measured the latitude and longitude everywhere he went so the Native people nicknamed him "The Man Who Looks at Stars".

Thompson’s Voyages

•www.thefurtrapper.com/david_thompson.htm

Reflection: The explorers and their stories are far more

than that of the accomplishments of one person; they accomplished none of these feats alone. Each had the support of his employers, had the finances, friendship, and help of many Native Americans, guides, other traders to help meet the challenges that they faced.