Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier ( born December 31, 1491 Rotheneuf in Saint -Malo (France), † September 1, 1557 ) was a French explorer and navigator.

Life

From King Francis I. Cartier received the command of two ships, the St. Malo left on 20 April 1534 to investigate fishing grounds off Newfoundland. He passed the north coast of Newfoundland, sailed through the Strait of Belle Isle and arrived on July 6 in the Baie des Chaleurs. Here came the first contact with the Native Americans from the Algonquian people of the Mi'kmaq. He then drove up the entire St. Lawrence Gulf and sailed almost Newfoundland. These newly discovered territories were called New France.

1535 examined the Cartier St. Lawrence River and arrived on October 2 at the heavily fortified Iroquois village of Hochelaga. The mountain above the village was named Mont Royal, royal mountain. The crew was suffering from scurvy, which was an unknown disease at the time and the cause of which you could not understand. With it, he returned in 1536 to Europe.

1540 was Jean -François de la Rocque de Roberval permission to establish a branch in Canada on his own and the king's cost, Cartier was sent for this purpose, with three ships. Near the present Quebec near the village of Stadacona he built the Fort Charlesbourg, examined the current and wintered again. In June 1542 Cartier returned to Europe. 1544 Cartier was to return to France the order, de Roberval and his people. After his death, Samuel de Champlain led the discoveries continue.

In his honor, among other things, a street in Montréal ( Canada ) named the rue Cartier, as well as the highest mountain in Quebec, Mont Jacques- Cartier.