French navigator;
born at St. Malo,
France, Dec. 31, 1494; was commissioned by Francis I.,
King of
France, to command an expedition to explore the
Western Continent.
On April 20, 1534, after appropriate ceremonies in the cathedral at St. Malo, he sailed from that port with two ships, having each a crew of 120 men, and, after a prosperous voyage of twenty days, they arrived at
Newfoundland.
Sailing northward, he entered the
Strait of
Belle Isle, and, touching the coast of
Labrador, he formally took possession of the country in the name of his king, and erected a cross, upon which he hung the arms of
France.
Turning southward, he followed the west coast of
Newfoundland to
Cape Race.
Then he explored the
Bay of Chaleurs, landed in Gaspe Bay, held friendly intercourse with the natives, and induced a chief to allow two of his sons to go with him to
France, promising to return them the next year.
There, also, he planted a cross with the
French arms upon it, and, sailing thence northeast across the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, entered the branch of the
St. Lawrence River north of
Anticosti Island.
Unconscious of having discovered a magnificent river, he turned and sailed for
France to avoid the autumn storms, and arrived at St. Malo on Sept. 5, 1534.
Encouraged by the success of this voyage, the
King placed
Cartier in command of three ships, which left St. Malo at the middle of May, 1535, bearing some of the young nobility of
France.
Separated by storms, they met at the appointed rendezvous, in the
Strait of
Belle Isle, in July, and sailed up the
St. Lawrence to the mouth of a river (now
St. Charles) at the site of
Quebec, which they reached on Sept. 14.
His squadron consisted of the
Great Hermine, 120 tons;
Little Hermine, 60 tons; and
L'Emerillon, a small craft.
On the day after their arrival, they were visited by Donnaconna,
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“
King of
Canada,” who received them with the greatest kindness, and, through the two young men whom
Cartier had brought back, they were enabled to converse.
Mooring the larger vessels in the
St. Croix (as
Cartier named the
St. Charles), he went up the river in the smaller one, with two or three volunteers, and, with a small boat, they reached the
Huron village called
Hochelaga, on the site of
Montreal.
He called the mountain back of it Mont Real (
Royal Mountain), hence the name of
Montreal.
There he enjoyed the kindest hospitality, and bore away with him a pretty little girl, eight years old, daughter of one of the chiefs, who lent her to him to take to
France.
Returning to
Stadacona (now
Quebec) early in October, the Frenchmen spent a severe winter there, during which twenty-five of them died of scurvy.
Nearly every one of them had the disease.
When
Cartier was prepared to leave for
France, in the spring, the
Little Hermine was found to be rotten and unseaworthy, and, as the other two vessels could carry his reduced company, she was abandoned.
He formally took possession of the country in the name of his
King, and, just before his departure (May 9, 1536), he invited Donnaconna and eight chiefs on board the flagship to a feast.
They came, and
Cartier treacherously sailed away with them to
France as captives, where they all died of grief.
Cartier reached St. Malo July 16.
There was now a pause in this enterprise, but finally
Francis de la Roque,
Lord of
Roberval,
Picardy, prevailed upon the
King to appoint him viceroy and lieutenant-general of the new territory, and
Cartier captain-general and chief pilot of the royal ships.
Five vessels were fitted out, and
Cartier, with two of them, sailed from St. Malo in May, 1541.
Late in August these reached
Stadacona.
The people there eagerly pressed to the ships
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to welcome their monarch, whom
Cartier had promised to bring back.
They shook their heads incredulously when he told them Donnaconna was dead.
To show his good faith, he showed them the pretty little
Huron maiden whom he was to return to her friends at
Hochelaga.
But they grew more sullen every hour, and became positively hostile.
After visiting
Hochelaga,
Cartier returned to
Stadacona, and on an island (
Orleans) just below, he caused a fort to be built for protection through the ensuing winter, where he waited patiently for the viceroy, but he came not. Towards the end of May the ice moved out of the
St. Lawrence, and
Cartier departed for
France.
He ran into the harbor of
St. Johns, Newfoundland, where he found
De la Roque on his way to the
St. Lawrence.
Cartier tried to induce him to turn back by giving him most discouraging accounts of the country, but he ordered the navigator to go back with him to the great river.
Cartier disobeyed and sailed for
France.
The viceroy went above the site of
Quebec, where he built a fort and spent the next winter in great suffering, returning to
France in the autumn of 1543.
Cartier had arrived the previous summer, and did not make another voyage.
He died in 1555.