Transcript history of canada

HISTORY OF CANADA
The Pre-French Years
• Viking settlements
• John Cabot - sailed from Bristol, in an attempt to
find a trade route for King Henry VII to the
Orient. He ended up landing somewhere on the
coast of North America (probably Newfoundland)
in 1497 and claimed it for King Henry VII of
England.
• 1583 Humphrey Gilbert, armed with letters patent
from Queen Elizabeth I, formally took possession
of Newfoundland in St. John's harbour on behalf
of England
The French
• Jacques Cartier – voyage into the St Lawrence
River. He mistook the Indian word for village,
‘Kanata’, for the natives name of their homeland”,
thus proclaiming the name of the land.
• The French soon lost interest in exploring the New
World, and it was only in 1608 that Samuel de
Champlain established the first French foothold on
the cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence at Quebec
City.
Acadia
• In 1604 the fur trade monopoly was granted to
Pierre Dugua Sieur de Monts.
• The origin of the designation Acadia is credited to
the explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, who on his
sixteenth century map applied the ancient Greek
name "Arcadia" to the entire Atlantic coast north
of Virginia
• Arcadia derives from the Arcadia district in
Greece which since Classical antiquity had the
extended meanings of "refuge" or "idyllic place".
The meaning remained only in Canada.
• The before mentioned Samuel de
Champlain was one of the settlers of
Acadia.
• But when the fur monopoly ran out,
Champlain, allong with others settled in the
St. Lawrence, while those who remained
continued to develop Acadia.
New France
• Originally based in Quebec
• It was the fur trade and not agriculture that
dominated French interest in this part of the
world.
• Each year saw the French push further into
the depths a continent unknown to
Europeans, usually with the assistance of
Indians
• 1672 - Louis Jolliet, attempted to discover
the Mississippi River This river was
described to the French by the Indians.
• 1681- Cavalier de La Salle went down the
river, discovering new territory which he
claimed for King Louis XIV and called the
land Louisiana.
The conflict with the British
Colonies
• The conflict arose over fur trade and the control of land in
the Ohio River Valley.
• 1754 - George Washington leads militia forces to push the
French out in order to make way for the inflow of British
settlers (French and Indian War)
• 1763 – Treaty of Paris - made New France another British
Colony. French settlers settle in the Maritimes
• 1774 - Quebec Act decreed the Ohio-Mississippi Valley
an are of fur trading that would be governed by Quebec.
British North America
• After the war Britain gained control over North American
colonies - British North America
•
• American Revolution - in a geographical sense, the
American Revolution fathered not only the United States,
but Canada, too.
• The most important outcome of the Revolution, as the
conflict helped to define the Canadian English speaking
population with over 40 000 Americans who had remained
loyal to the British Crown being forced to move north to
remaining British colonies. They fled to the North and
settled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Upper Canada,
as Ontario was known at the time
• 1791 - Constitutional Act - Ontario (Upper
Canada) and Quebec (Lower Canada).
• The beginning of the Napoleonic era in Europe
and the resulting battles had their way into North
America. The Americans toyed with the idea of
annexation of the British colonies in the North and
the Loyalists had high hopes that the Revolution
could be undone. As a result, The United States
declared war on Canada in 1812. The end of the
Napoleonic wars and the defeat of the French
Emperor allowed Britain to ship a large number of
troops to Canada to fight the war with the United
States. Overwhelmed by English forces, a peace
treaty was signed that restored the status quo
• The British allowed colonial products into the
country without having to pay tariff duty. Because
goods which came from the United States, shipped
through Canada into Britain, could also pass duty
free, the Americans transported their products.
• the British adopted free trade and the colonies
ceased to receive special treatment. Colonial
products would now have to compete with
European and American on an equal level.
Thankfully, there was demand for Canadian
products, which increases especially during the
American Civil War
• The amount of multicultural immigrants is
growing along with a sense of unity. A united
economy as in the United States might allow
survival. Furthermore, there existed a danger that
the United States might soon take control the
Prairies in the West and the Pacific area as, more
probably, thousands of Americans came to the
colony of British Columbia after the discovery of
gold (Saywell, 1994: 32).
• An event which unified Canada was the building
of a trans-continental railway. Immigrants, and not
only, could now easily travel westward
Towards the Confederation
• 1840 - Union Act - uniting Upper and Lower
Canada into the Province of Canada.
• July 1st 1867, three British North American
colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and
Upper/Lower Canada - Confederation of Canada
• The term dominion was chosen to indicate
Canada's status as a self-governing colony of
the British Empire, the first time it was used in
reference to a country.