Jacques Cartier is one of the most famous explorers of all time. The French-born navigator made significant discoveries in North America and was the first person to claim Canada in the name of France.
While his entire career was not as successful as it could have been, Cartier still made some significant discoveries and has had a long-lasting impact on the country we now know as Canada.
Let’s take a look at ten interesting facts about the life and discoveries of Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier Interesting Facts
1. Jacques Cartier spent a long time building his reputation before his first voyage
Jacques Cartier was born in December 1491 near St Malo in Brittany. He studied navigation in the Northern French town Dieppe. He spent a lot of his adult years building himself a reputation as an excellent navigator before finally receiving a commission from the king.
In 1520, Cartier, now an experienced navigator, boosted his social status further by marrying Mary Catherine des Granche, who was from a well-respected family in the region.
2. Jacques Cartier joined the famous navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano on a voyage to North America
Cartier and his wife Catherine des Granche moved to Dieppe and Jacques met the famous navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano. It is said that Verrazzano took Cartier under his wing and in 1524, Cartier accompanied him on a trip to the North American East Coastline and Florida.
3. Jacques Cartier made his first voyage to North America in 1534
Following a number of high profile recommendations, including one from Giovanni da Verrazzano, King Francis I of France selected Jacques Cartier to go on an exhibition to explore the Eastern Coast of North America in 1534, which is a very important fact about Jacques Cartier that changed his life. He had been on many successful expeditions in the past and this is believed to be the reason why the King selected him for this journey.
The objective of the voyage was to discover gold among other riches and also to try and find a safe passage to Asia.
Jacques Cartier took two ships and 61 men with him on his voyage and the trip, which took around 20 days, was largely successful. The men explored Newfoundland as well as discovering Prince Edward Island and the Gulf of St Lawrence.
4. Jacques Cartier Second Voyage was his most successful
After returning from his mission successful, King Francis I sent Jacques Cartier back out on a second voyage, this time with three ships and 110 men.
This time around, Cornier went further north on the St Lawrence River, which had not been explored by a European before. He eventually arrived at the Iroquoian capital of Stadacona. He then his smallest ship up to what is now known as Montreal, Quebec and was greeted warmly by the locals.
He never went any further than this however has he found his further navigation up the river was blocked by rapids.
During this second voyage, the French fleet was caught out by the harsh Canadian winters and had to wrestle an outbreak of scurvy. After surviving this, Cartier and his crew returned to France after 14 months. This second voyage is often viewed as the best of his three.
5. Jacques Cartier’s third voyage was largely a failure
Following a war in Europe, King Francis I wanted to claim Canada as a colony and was in direct competition with Spain for the land. He sent out a third voyage to the country in 1541, this time led by Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval. Jacques Cartier was then appointed subaltern to Roberval. Cartier sailed out before Roberval, who wouldn’t set sail until a year later.
He made another journey to Montreal but was once again stopped from going any further by the rapids. Their second winter in Canada proved just as difficult as their first and it was made more difficult by increasingly difficult relations with the locals.
Cartier and his men discovered what they believed to have been gold and diamonds and returned to France. They were left disappointed however when it turned out that they were iron pyrites and crystals of quartz. Roberval would have the same outcome he visited after Cartier. The failure of his third voyage is not a well-known fact about Jacques Cartier.
6. Jacques Cartier was the first to claim Canada for France
Jacques Cartier is most famous for claiming Canada as belonging to France and he did this during his second voyage to the country.
During his time in Quebec Jacques Cartier planted a cross on Gaspe Bay’s shore on July 24th, 1534. He had engraved it with the phrase ‘Long Live the King of France’ and claimed the land in the name of the king.
7. Jacques Cartier was the first person to document the name ‘Canada’.
An important fact about Jacques Cartier is that he was the first person to document the name Canada, after having misinterpreted the Huron/Iroquois word for village, which was ‘Kanata’.
The first documented use of the name ‘Canada’ by Cartier was in ‘Bref récit’’ which was written in 1545 by Cartier’s secretary Jehan Poullet.
Cartier used the name to describe Stadacona, the surrounding land and the river. Canada was then used as the name for the French colony that had settled on these shores.
It would be sometime later, in 1867, when the name was adopted by the rest of the country.
8. Jacques Cartier was the first European to navigate the St Lawrence River
During his voyages, Jacques Cartier became the first European to navigate and map the St Lawrence River.
While there are some who claim Cartier was the first European to discover Canada, his contribution towards the discovery of the country is as the first European to get to the interior eastern region along the St Lawrence River.
9. Jacques Cartier retired in 1545 and published Bref Recit
After returning from his final voyage in 1542, Jacques Cartier announced his retirement three years later in 1545. He would then go on to publish his book Bref Récit the same year with the help of his secretary Jehan Poullet.
10. Jacques Cartier died aged 65
Following his retirement, Cartier saw out the rest of his life in fairly humble circumstances. Very little is known about Cartier’s private life but he returned to live in his home town of St Malo in his later years.
Cartier died in St Malo in 1557 at the age of 65. The cause of his death is believed to have been typhus due to an outbreak at the time but this has never been confirmed.
Jacques Cartier’s influence on Canada is undeniable and he is still one of the most significant figures in the history of both Canada and France.
His legacy is still felt today, with hundreds of statues and buildings being named in his honour in both of those countries.
I hope that this article on Jacques Cartier facts was helpful. If you are interested, visit the historical people page!
