Discovery History

French makes main contribution to the Canada's discovery, which can be dated back to 1000. However, it's actually white-man history began at the end of 15th century. It took 200 years for French to discover and settle down in Canada although its colonization was unsucessful. The British had not touched the land until 1670.

1. The first inhabitants of Canada were native Indian peoples, primarily the Inuit (Eskimo).
   
2. In 1000,The North explorer, Leif Eriksson, probably reached the shores of Canada (Labrador or Nova Scotia)
   
3. In 1497,John Cabot, an Italian in the service of Henry VII of England, reached Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. The history of the white man in the country actually began.
   
4. In 1534,Jacques Cartier took Canada for France.
   
5. In 1604 French actually began to settle at Port Royal in Nova Scotia, which was then called new France;
   
6. In 1608, Quebec was founded.
   
7. By the end of the 17th century, French explorers had penetrated beyond the Great Lakes to the western prairies and south along the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, though France's colonization efforts were not very successful.
   
8. Meanwhile, in 1670, the English Hudson's Bay Company had been established.