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Period: Sep 4, 1400 to
Timeline of Canada
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Mar 12, 1487
Diaz sails around Africa
Bartolomeu Diaz sails around the southermost tip of Africa, the first European to do so. -
Sep 4, 1492
Christopher Colombus discovers America.
1492, Columbus left Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Niña along side. He has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization. -
Sep 4, 1497
Vasco da Gama sails to India.
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who is one of the most succesful explorers of the Age of exploration, became the first commander to sail ships directly from Europe to India. -
Sep 4, 1497
John Cabot lands in the East Coast of Canada.
He made a voyage in 1497 on the ship Matthew and claimed land in in the East Coast of Canada—mistaking it for Asia—for King Henry VII of England. -
Sep 1, 1500
The Europeans Arrive
During the late 15th century, the Europeans were very interested in exploration. They wanted goods in the Far East such as precious metals, spices and silk but the routes were blocked off by the Ottoman Turks. Since the overland route was blocked off, a water route was the only other option. -
Sep 4, 1519
Magellan completes first circle of Earth.
Magellan is credited for completeting the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although he himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines. -
Sep 4, 1534
Jacques Cartier completes first voyage
In his first voyage, Jacques Cartier explored and mapped the Gulf of St-Lawrence, reported what he thought was gold but ended up finding lots of fish, timber, and furs. His main goal in the voyage was to find a route to Asia, to look for precious metals and to claim land for the King of France. -
Sep 4, 1535
Jacques Cartier completes second voyage.
In his second voyage, he sailed up the St-Lawrence, and reached Stadacona (Quebec). When he landed in Quebec, nice natives showed him how to survive scurvy and winter. The Europeens returned with native captives. -
Sep 4, 1541
Jacques Cartier completes third voyage.
In his third and final voyage, he attemped to set up a colony which was not succesful. Missionaries attempted to convert natives but that
didn't work out either. At the end, France lost interest in the territory for the next 60 years. -
Establishment of Port Royal
The King sent a voyage to establish a permanent settlement in Nova Scotia callled Port Royal. The settlement failed due to the fact it is far east. -
Quebec is founded
In 1608, Champlain returned to establish a trading post near Stadacona, a point where the river narrows. -
New France expands due to the Fur Trade.
At the time, the main export back to France was fish. It was quickly replaced by furs because the beaver pelt was good for making felt hats. This was very stylish for men. Since the fur was such a success, explorers were going further up the river to establish new settlements. -
Trois-Rivieres is founded.
Trois-Rivieres is founded by Laviolette in 1634. He became the first commandant of that settlement. -
Ville-Marie is founded.
Paul Chomdey, who was a french military officer, founded Quebec in 1642. -
King Louis takes over France
In 1661, King Louis XIV took control of France for himself. He had two objectives: settle wars in Europe, and take command of his colonies. -
Royal Government is founded.
In New France, the companies who held a monopoly were almost destroying the colony. The king ended the monopoly and placed New France under the Minister of Marine who at the time was Jean-Baptiste Colbert. He and Louis decided to implement Royal Government in 1663. -
Treaty of Ryswick
The First Intercolonial War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick. -
Treaty of Utrecht
The Second Intercolonial War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht. By it , France ceded to Great Britain her claims in North America to the Hudson bay territories, to Newfoundland, and to Acadia. -
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
The Third Intercolonial War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It ended War of the Austrian Succession following a congress assembled at the Free Imperial City of Aachen—Aix-la-Chapelle in French—in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, on 24 April 1748. -
Seven Years War 1756-1763
One of the most important wars in North American History was the Seven Years War. There was also fighting going in both Europe and North America (the battle for N.A. ends first in 1760). The British had tried for many years to take New France by land.This was unsuccessful, so a sea attack was planned. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, in which England was victorious. -
Battle of the Plaines d'Abraham
The culmination of a three-month siege by the British, the battle lasted about 15 minutes. British troops commanded by General James Wolfe successfully resisted the column advance of French troops and Canadian military under Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, using new tactics that proved extremely effective against standard military formations used in most large European conflicts. Both generals died because of the battle. -
Articles of Capitulation
At the wake of defeat by the English with the fall of Quebec, the french troups waited out in the winter in Montreal, and then in September a document was signed giving the terms under which the French would surrender. It consisted of:1. The French Militia could return home, no one would lose their property 2.The French Regular military would lay down their arms and leave. 3. The people could practice the R.C. religion, but the Bishop would have to leave. 4. Whoever stayed became a Brit. Subject -
Jean Talon's Policies
To increase the population, Jean-Talon wanted just about anybody to come to New France. This is a list of what he did to increase the population: - Soldiers were offered free land if they agreed to stay in N.F after their service was done, minor criminals trying to escape going to prison in France were offered homes, files du roi- orphan girls were sent in from France, payments were also given to couples who married young, fathers of unmarried girls paid fines. -
Treaty of Paris
This treaty ends the Seven Years War. All the Territory known as New France is given to the King of England except two small Islands, (St.Pierre, Miquelon) -
Royal Proclamation
In 1763, the first constitution was put in place. It was called the Royal Proclamation. Britain needed to do something about the large number of French speaking subjects. Their goal was to try and change them to be more British meaning assimilate them. -
Quebec Act
Before the Quebec Act was signed, the Royal Proclamation didn't work out because 99% of the population was french. James Murray, who was fired because of his rule changes, was very lenient towards the french. Guy Carleton, his replacement, also had the same mindset as James Murray. Nobody was happy with the Province of Quebec so in 1774, the Quebec Act was signed to guarantee french loyalty. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution start's in 1776. Before the revolution had begun, the Americans had asked the Canadiens to join in their cause against the British but because of all the assurances they received in the Quebec Act they said NO. As a reaction to that the Americans attacked the Province of Quebec several times. -
Treaty of Versailles
This treaty signed in 1783, ended the American Revolution. -
Constitutional Act
The Quebec Act displeased many of the English People. Many of these anglophones were loyalists, who came to Quebec after the American Revolution. They sent many letters to the King of England stating a change in constitution. In 1791, they got their wish and the Constitutional Act was signed. It seperated Quebec in two, Upper and Lower Canada, and it also implemented the Representative Government. -
Steam Power Created
In 1802, James Watt invented steam power, then it was adopted to ships and then trains. -
Timber replaces fur as the main export.
In 1807, timber replaced fur as the main export in Quebec. This happened because Britain is in high demand of trees (timber) to build its great naval fleet, because they were cut off from their normal sources. -
War of 1812
Since the Americans were now independant, they began trading with the French. This aggravated the English and they ended up intercepting the trading routes the Americans and English had in place. This ended up in a conflict between the English and Americans which led to the WAR OF 1812. The war ended with neither side winning and it boosted Canadian Economy. -
Starving Irish Arrive
Because of the Irish Potato Famine, in which this event left many poor Irish people starving, they needed a new place to immigrate to. Many chose to come to Quebec. Most of the immigrants from Ireland went to Upper Canada because it was all English but some also moved to Lower Canada because the French practised the same religion as them. -
92 Resolutions
In Lower and Upper Canada, there were two main politcal parties. They were the British Pary and the Parti Patriote. Tensions grew because those got elected in the Legislative Assembly had no real power. Louis-Joseph Papineau wrote the 92 resolutions (a list of demands) in 1834. His main demand was a Responsible Government. -
10 resolutions
Lord Russell responded with the 10 resolutions and it rejected ALL of the Patriotes demands and made matters even more worse. -
Reblllions 1837-1838
Since both Canada's didn't get what they wanted, they both rebelled against Britain. Lower Canada was lead by Louis-Joseph Papineau and Upper Canada by William Lyon Mackenzie. The Parti Patriote got destroyed because they didn't have enough support. At the end, 12 patriotes were hanged and 58 were exiled ro Australia. -
Union Act
After the 10 resolutions was sent to Quebec by Britain, tensions grew stronger and the French, led by Louis-Joseph Papineau, rebellled. After the three rebelllions, England sent Lord Durham to analyze the problems in Quebec. He stated in his recommondations to unite both Canada's, increase immigration to assimilate the french and grant resp government. It was rejected by the British Parliament until finally in 1840, the Union Act was created. -
Responsible Government
Since the Governor still had veto power, the Responsibe government was not implemented during the Union Act. This changed in 1848, when for the first time in history, Lord Elgin would not use his veto power and allowed the the Prime Minister to have executive powers. -
Treaty of Reciprocity
The trade in Canada was doing well until Britain ended their free trade partnership. Canada was forced to find a new partner so they looked to their neighbour, the United States. In 1854, they signed the Treaty of Reciprority which meant customs between the two countries were ceased.
