History of Canada

Canada is a nation of 33 million inhabitants, occupying almost all of the northern half of the North American continent, and being the second largest country in the world. Canada has evolved in four hundred years from a group of European colonies into a federation of ten provinces and three territories, having been granted its sovereignty peacefully from its last colonial possessor, the United Kingdom.

Viking discoveries

The first documented European colonization of the Americas was by the Norse people known as the Vikings, who had previously traveled from their homelands in Scandinavia and settled in Iceland and later Greenland. The first recorded Europeans to reach the North American mainland was Bjarni Herjulfsson and his crew, who were blown off course on a journey from Norway to either Iceland or Greenland and landed on the coast of Labrador in 986 CE. Herjulfsson did not spend much time exploring the new lands and soon traveled to his intended destination, reporting that he saw low-lying hills covered with forests somewhere to the west. Soon afterwards Greenlanders explored the area for timer.

Related Topics:
European colonization of the Americas - Norse - Vikings - Scandinavia - Iceland - Greenland - Bjarni Herjulfsson - Norway - Labrador - 986 CE - Hill - Forest - Timer

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In 999 or 1000, Leif Erikson, a son of Eric the Red, using Herjulfsson's boat and possibly some of his crew, explored the east coast of North America. Sailing southward,

Related Topics:
999 - 1000 - Leif Erikson - Eric the Red

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Erikson explored and named some areas he encountered: Helluland ("land of the flat rocks"), possibly Baffin Island, Markland ("forest-land"), possibly Labrador, and Vinland ("wine-land").

Related Topics:
Helluland - Baffin Island - Markland - Labrador - Vinland

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Canada is believed to have been first visited by Europeans around 1000, when the Vikings briefly settled at L'Anse aux Meadows.

Related Topics:
Europe - 1000 - Viking - L'Anse aux Meadows

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Basque fishermen from southern Europe, who began fishing the Grand Banks, maintained seasonal fishing outposts on what became the island of Newfoundland as early as the 15th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries English and French colonists established settlements in eastern Canada largely to support fishing or fur trade. French settlement began with Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, first in Acadia in 1604, then Québec in 1608.

Related Topics:
Basque - Fishermen - Grand Banks - Newfoundland - 16th - 17th centuries - English - French - Fur trade - Samuel de Champlain - Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts - Acadia - 1604 - Québec - 1608

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