Explorers
European
Exploration
This partof thc reviervfbcuseson the earlyexploraThe termsexplortttitttr
tion of Canadab1 the Europeans.
anddiscot'en. in thisbook.ref'eronly to Europeans.
Althoughri hat is norvCanadawasnew to the European
erplorers.theAboriginalpeoplehadalreadydiscovered
theland.
andcrplorecl
Exploration
Seekingnew landsandnew routes.
900-1000,to):Norsesagas
QVit<ings (approximately
spokeof Bjarni Herjulfssonreachingthe coastof a nerv
landwhenhe rvasblownoff coursesailingfrom Iceland
to Greenland.A fer.vyearslater.Leif Erikssonexplored
the nervlandhe calledVinland.This r'vaspartof
rvhatlve nolv call North America.The
Vikingsmadesomeattemptsat settlein
mentat L'Anseaux Meadorvs
Ne*foundland,but did not settle
perrnanently.
@ Orcr the next500years.
French,Basque.and
Spanish,
Portuguese.
Englishshipscameto NorthAmerica'srich
fishineqruunds.
from
@ Duringthe latterpartof the 1400s.explorers
manyEuropeancountriesbegansearchingfor new water
routesto the SpiceLandsof the Far East(IndiaandChina)
in orderto obtaingoodssuchas srlksandspices.andto
find out moreaboutthe rvorld.Thesevoyagesled to the
Europeanexplorationof landsin theAmericas.
"ageof exploration"
From lul50to 1600therer.vasan
in Europe.Ner'videas.combinedrvithimprovedmethods
of buildingsailingships,allorvedmarinersto sailon
Thesevoyageslvererisky
longervoyagesof exploration.
As a result,voyages
money.
great
deal
of
ancltheycosta
t4
kings
on European
depended
of exploration
andqueensfor financialbacking.Fortuwerenot only
monarchs
nately.European
eagerto find out moreaboutthe rvorld,
they alsorvantedto gain powerandthe
richesof theFar East.Theyhiredmariners
to searchfor a rvaterrouteto the Far East.
Portugaland Spainlverethe first European
to seeka routeto theFar Eastb1'goingrvest
countries
EnglandandFrancesentexplorers
Atlantic;
acrossthe
soonafter.
Columbus
In 1492,the ItalianseacaptainChristopher
wassentby Spainto find a shortrouteto the richesof
the Far Eastby sailingrvest.He landedon islandsin the
andthe South
WestIndiesandexploredthe Caribbean
Amencancoast.
(John
@tn t+Ol. theItalianexplorerGiovanniCaboto
Cabot)rvasfinancedandsentby theEnglishto look for a
and
shortrouteto the Far East.He reachedNer'vfbundland.
there.
claim
England's
established
Mercantilism
Strugglefor Power
Desirefor Fower
o needfor wealthandprestige
(gold andsilver)
V
Mercantilism
r needfor colonies
V
Mercantilism
An economictheorythat calledfbr a countryto
wealthin gold and silver.This rvas
accumulate
done,in part, by developingcoloniesas sourcesof
raw materialsandmarketsfor finishedsoods.
Exploration
o seekingotherlands
V
Colonization
o claimingotherlands
r settlingandcontrollingotherlands
manl'European
coun@During the 1500sancl1600s.
rriesrvanted
to be rvealthyandporvcrful.Coloniesuere
because
.r'ntralto the practiceof mercantilism
of their
countries
to obtainra$
lnrportance
asplacesfor European
nraterials
andto sellfinishedgoods.
wasa majorreasonbchind
@ fne theoryof mercantilism
andcolonizationof the rvorld.Thc
I:Lrropean
exploration
overseas
explora'ings andqueensof Europeencouraged
for trade.andmissionarl
r()n.theestablishment
of colonies
bc
,'ltbrtsamongtheFirstPeople.BefbrecoloniescoLrlcl
had
landsthatrvereunknorvn
to theEuropeans
,'.tablished.
,, be explored.(Moredetailaboutcolonization
is lbund
n p a g e1 7 . )
@ As landsin theAmericaswereexplored,European
.rlersrvouldclaimor,vnership
overthem.By cLaiming
':reselands.the European
rulersbelievedtheyalsohad
rr li-ghtto controlall thetradein the area.This r'vasknorvn
.' il monopoly.Theybelievedtheircontrolalsoextended
','rondthe landandits resources
to includeits people.
- cn thoughthepeoplehadbeenlivingtherefor thousands
lar'vs.
: \ earsandalreadyhadtheirown -government.
.
t
(
)
l
n
s
.
.
a n dt r a d i t i o n s
( olonization settlingand controllingnervlands
\ l i : r i o n a r : b r i n g i n go n e ' sr e l i g i o u tse a c h i n gtso o t h c r sr r h o d o
i .ltiLIc lllL-1)l
\lonopol)
a l i g h t - s r a n t e df o r o n e p e r s o n o r - g r o u pt o c o n t r o l
. r . l i r l c is e l l i n g
rioulclplanta hugecrossand/orflag of
The explorers
theirhomecountf)intothecarthof thelandbeingclaimed.
countries.
This clairnuas lccognizedby otherEuropean
thelandtbr
In thispainting.Jacques
Cartieris claimin-e
theKing of Francein 1.53,1.
In 153-i.FrancisI sentCartierto explorelartherup
for the vastrichesof the Kingdomof
the St.Larvrence
Montreal,he and
Sailingasfar aspresent-day
Saguenay.
his crervspentther,vinter
in theNervFoundLand.In 154l.
FrancisI sentCartierto the St. Lar'vrence
onceagainto
Frenchsettlement.
After trvoharsh
a permanent
establish
tailed.
rvinters.
the settlement
l5