For: Mr. Morgan
By: Kaya Batur
February 25, 2011
Jacques Cartier was born in St. Malo, France on December 31st in 1491 and died there also on September 1st 1556 when he was 65 years old. The name of his home was Limoelou. He married Mary Catherine des Granches in 1520. He was a respectable sailor and had travelled to South America and mainly Brazil before his great expeditions to Canada.
The King in France was named Louis I and he was looking for a northern passage to China which was called the Orient in that time.
Cartier had two relatives called Jean LeVeneur and the Abbot of Mont saint-Michele who convinced the king of France to fund and help Jacques Cartier find the passage to the Orient.
Cartier left to find this passage on April 20th of 1534 and sailed with two ships. This was Cartier’s first of 3 trips that he made to Canada. The ships were called the Triton and the Goeland. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean and got to Newfoundland in only 20 days. It was at this time that he started to explore Newfoundland, the areas that se now know as the Atlantic Provinces and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Some of the islands he visited were The Islands of Birds. His crew killed about one thousand birds. Most of the birds were Great Auks, which look like puffins, and now they are extinct.
When he landed in Newfoundland he met with Indians called Micmacs but he didn’t trust them and then when he sailed north to Gaspe he met Indians fishing that were from a tribe called the Iroquois. This place was called Honguedo and the chief of the Iroquois group was Donnacona.
Cartier wanted to show his importance to the Indians and put up a big wooden cross with the French symbol of the Fleur des Lys on it. It was July 24th 1534. During this time he also took the land in the king of France’s name. Donnacona was not very happy. However, Cartier made a large feast and invited Donnacona and his two sons (Domagaya and
Bibliography: World Wide Web Encyclopedia of French cultural heratige in North America. “Jacques Cartier” http://www.ameriquefrancais.org Helen rain. http://helen-rainblogspot.com/2009/03/jacquescartier.html Wikipedia. “Jacques Cartier”. http://www.wikipedia.org Birth of Jacques Cartier. http://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/?p1983 Jacques Cartier, Explorer. http://www.answers.com/topic/jacques-cartier Internet Images Google Images. Jacques Cartier. http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1276&bih=791&q=jacques+cartier&gbv=2&aq=5&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=jacqu