Canada under British Rule 1760-1900Bourinot, John George
History
Canada under British Rule 1760-1900
Bourinot, John George
Canada -- History
returned to England.
The Portuguese, Gaspar and Miguel Cortereal, in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, were lost somewhere on the coast of Labrador or
Newfoundland, but not before they gave to their country a claim to new
lands. The Basques and Bretons, always noted for their love of the sea,
frequented the same prolific waters and some of the latter gave a name
to the picturesque island of Cape Breton. Giovanni da Verrazzano, a
Florentine by birth, who had for years led a roving life on the sea,
sailed in 1524 along the coasts of Nova Scotia and the present United
States and gave a shadowy claim of first discovery of a great region to
France under whose authority he sailed. Ten years later Jacques Cartier
of St. Malo was authorised by Francis I to undertake a voyage to these
new lands, but he did not venture beyond the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
though he took possession of the picturesque Gaspé peninsula in the name
of his royal master. In 1535 he made a second voyage, whose results were
most important for France and the world at large. The great river of
Canada was then discovered by the enterprising Breton, who established a
post for some months at Stadacona, now Quebec, and also visited the
Indian village of Hochelaga on the island of Montreal. Here he gave the
appropriate name of Mount Royal to the beautiful height which dominates
the picturesque country where enterprise has, in the course of
centuries, built a noble city. Hochelaga was probably inhabited by
Indians of the Huron-Iroquois family, who appear, from the best evidence
before us, to have been dwelling at that time on the banks of the St.
Lawrence, whilst the Algonquins, who took their place in later times,
were living to the north of the river.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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