1. Norse explorer Leif Erikson leads a Viking expedition to Iceland and sees unfamiliar land. Later he returns to formally explore this new world.
Aug 31, 1142
2. Iroquois Confederacy creates their own constitution known as Great Binding Law. This is still in effect today.
1400
3. The First Nations on Canada's west coast establish a large trading network.
Jun 24, 1497
4. John Cabot, an Italian explorer reaches land near Labrador and claims this new land for Henry VII, King of England
1534
5. French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail searching for a passage to Asia, but instead arrives in the eastern part of what is now Québec. He marks the land with a cross, and claims it for the King of France.
1540
6. European settlers from France arrive on the east coast of Canada. The settlement of Acadia is established. It will be a rich source of agriculture and fishery.
7. Samuel de Champlain, a French citizen, establishes a new French settlement named New France in Québec City.
8. While searching for a route between Europe and Asia called the North West Passage, English explorer Henry Hudson finds the area now called Hudson’s Bay.
9. Montreal is established by Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve. He is a French military official.
10. The Iroquois people attack the Huron villages around the Great Lakes. The villages were destroyed in the attacks. Many Huron people were killed in this attack.
11. The Hudson’s Bay Company is officially formed. This company will control almost all of the trading that occurs anywhere in the Hudson’s Bay watershed for two hundred years.
12. Under the Treaty of Utrecht, France agrees that Britain has control over the Hudson’s Bay area, Acadia and Newfoundland.