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Vikings become first Europeans to reach North America; colonies and settlements founded in Newfoundland, Maine, and Massachusetts
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King Francis I sends Jacques Cartier on an exploration expedition to the New World.
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Quebec founded as a fur trading outpost on the St. Lawrence River.
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English troops seize Quebec after disputes over fur trading rights.
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The French liberate Quebec after it was captured nearly three years ago.
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The Iroquois invade Huronia, and the Algonquin and Huron flee. The French are now effectively alone on the North American continent.
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King Louis XIV makes New France a colony of France. Various improvements are made to the colony.
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The HBC opens fur-trading posts along Hudson Bay, to the north of New France. New France is now hemmed in by the English.
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Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette sail down the Mississippi to the Arkansas River. French territory expands as a result.
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Rene-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, reaches the mouth f the Mississippi River. He claims the river and all of the land drained by it and its branches for France. French territory expands again.
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After Queen Anne's War, France surrenders control of Newfoundland to Britain as per the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht.
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Fighting between British and French breaks out in the Ohio River Valley, sparking the Seven Years War.
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British forces defeat French forces outside Quebec. General Wolfe and General Montcalm are both fatally wounded in the battle. This battle marks the end of French power in North America.
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British forces capture Montreal.
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France surrenders control of New France to Britain as per the Treaty of Paris.