A Brief History of the United StatesSteele, Joel Dorman
History
A Brief History of the United States
Steele, Joel Dorman
United States -- History
He supposed this had never been seen by Europeans, although we know
that Cabot had discovered it nearly thirty years before. He coasted
along the shores of Carolina and New Jersey, entered the harbors of
New York and Newport, and returned with the most glowing
description of the new lands he had found. He named the country New
France. This term was afterwards confined to Canada.
CARTIER (kar-te-a) ascended the River St. Lawrence (1535) to the
Indian village of Hochelaga (ho-she-lah-ga) the present site of
Montreal. The town was pleasantly situated at the foot of a lofty
hill which Cartier climbed. Stirred by the magnificent prospect, he
named it Mont Real (Mong Ra-al), Regal Mountain.
[Footnote: Cartier had discovered and named the Gulf and River St.
Lawrence the previous year. In 1541-2, he and Lord Roberval
attempted to plant a colony near Quebec. It was composed chiefly of
convicts and proved a failure.]
JOHN RIBAUT (re-bo) led the first expedition (1562) under the
auspices of Coligny.
[Footnote: Jean Ribaut, as his name is given in Coligny's Ms. and
in his own journal published in 1563, was an excellent seaman.]
[Footnote: Coligny (ko-lon-ye) was an admiral of France, and a
leader of the Huguenots (Hu-ge-nots), as the Protestants were then
called. He had conceived a plan for founding an empire in America.
This would furnish an asylum for his Huguenot friends, and at the
same time advance the glory of the French. Thus religion and
patriotism combined to induce him to send out colonists to the new
world.]
The company landed at Port Royal, S.C. So captivated were they,
that when volunteers were called for to hold the country for
France, so many came forward "with such a good will and joly
corage," wrote Ribaut, "as we had much to do to stay their
importunitie." They erected a fort, which they named Carolina in
honor of Charles IX., king of France. The fleet departed, and this
little band of thirty were left alone on the continent. From the
North Pole to Mexico, they were the only civilized men. Food became
scarce. They tired of the eternal solitude of the wilderness, and
finally built a rude ship, and put to sea. Here a storm shattered
their vessel. Famine overtook them, and, in their extremity, they
killed and ate one of their number. A vessel at last hove in sight,
and took them on board only to carry them captives to England. Thus
perished the colony, but the name still survives.
[Footnote: The most feeble were landed in France. It is said that
Queen Elizabeth while conversing with those sent to England, first
thought of colonizing the new world]
LAUDONNIERE (Lo-don-yare), two years after, built a fort, also
called Carolina, on the St. John's River.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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