7.1.1 to 7.1.5

Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) French mariner, whose explorations of the North American coast and the St. Lawrence River (1534, 1535, 1541-42) laid the basis for later French claims to Canada. He appears also to have voyaged to Brazil. When King Francis I of France decided in 1534 to send an expedition to explore the northern lands in the hope of discovering gold, spices, and a passage to Asia, Cartier received the commission. Cartier sailed from Saint-Malo on April 20, 1534, with two ships and 61 men; he explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence as far as Anticosti Island, then seized two Indians at Gasp� and sailed back to France. His report piqued the curiosity of Francis I sufficiently for him to send Cartier back the following year, with three ships and 110 men, to explore further. Guided by the two Indians he had brought back, he sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as Quebec and established a base near an Iroquois village. In September he proceeded with a small party as far as the island of Montreal, where navigation was barred by rapids. He was warmly welcomed by the resident Iroquois, but he spent only a few hours among them before returning to winter at his base. He had, however, learned from the Indians that two rivers led farther west to lands where gold, silver, copper, and spices abounded. The severity of the winter came as a terrible shock; no Europeans since the Vikings had wintered that far north on the American continent, and a mild winter was expected because Quebec lay at a lower latitude than Paris. Scurvy claimed 25 of Cartier's men. To make matters worse, the explorers earned the enmity of the Iroquois. Thus, in May, as soon as the river was free of ice, they treacherously seized some of the Iroquois chiefs and sailed for France. Cartier was able to report only that great riches lay farther in the interior and that a great river, said to be 800 leagues (about 2,000 miles [3,200 kilometres]) long, possibly led to Asia.