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In 1453 the Turks captured constantinople and cut off the trade routes which supplied Europe with essential and exotic goods from Asia.
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In 1492 Christopher Columbus reach the islands of the Carbbean.
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John Cabot, an Italian sailing for the English king, had raised the English flag, probably in Newfoundland in 1497.
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Verrazano in 1524 explored the Coast lines of North America from Florida as far north as modern Nova Scotia. Verrazano gave the name New France to the lands he explored.
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In 1534, Jacques Cartier began a series of explorations and discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River as far west as the Lachine Rapids.
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He took three ships on this expedition, and was guided by Donnacona's sons to Stadacona, Donnacona's village, or kanata in Iroquoian, which stood at the mouth of the St. Croix River, at the site of modern Quebec City.
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Cartier took prisoners from the French jails because he was unable to get enough men for his crew
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the French government renewed its interest in New France, when Samuel de Champlain began his remarkable career as a colonizer.