Background
Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in Saint-Malo, the port on the north-west coast of Brittany.
Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in Saint-Malo, the port on the north-west coast of Brittany.
In 1534, Jacques Cartier was given a grant by King Francis I of France to search for the Northwest Passage. Cartier explored the coast of Newfoundland, but finding no passage to the westward, he landed on the Gaspe Peninsula, claiming it for the French Crown, and returned to St. Malo. Though this expedition added little to the discoveries of Cabot and Verrazano, it did bring to light the existence of a country in the interior, named Saguenay, which the natives described as containing gold and precious stones, and in 1535 Cartier was commissioned to make a second voyage. Departing from St. Malo with three ships, he entered and named the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and, finding the entrance to the St. Lawrence River, proceeded to a point near the present site of Quebec. After wintering there, Cartier explored farther up the river, reaching an island which he named Mount Royal (Montreal), but his advance was then stopped by the Lachine Rapids. He was again told of fabulous riches in the interior of the Saguenay country, but obstacles again intervened with the discovery of scurvy among his crew in addition to trouble with the natives, and he was forced to return to France in the spring of 1536.
The outbreak of war between Francis I of France and Charles V of Spain, together with the opposition of Admiral Chabot, prevented another expedition for several years, but in 1541 Cartier was again commissioned to lead an expedition to the New World in an effort to discover the treasures of the Saguenay country and to establish a French colony on the St. Lawrence. This expedition was on a more ambitious scale, and many colonizers were assembled, with FrançoisFrancois de Roberval as viceroy and commander in chief.
Cartier sailed in May 1541, leaving De Roberval to follow him later, and established a settlement at Cap-Rouge, above Quebec, where he spent the winter. The following spring he again reached Montreal but succeeded only in obtaining some illusory samples of the promised gold. The increasing hostility of the natives then forced him to return to Cap-Rouge and abandon the settlement. Putting in at Newfoundland, he encountered De Roberval's ships, but Cartier refused to return to the settlement and sailed for Europe.
Cartier may have returned to Canada the following year in order to bring back De Roberval, but there is no reliable information regarding this last voyage. The remainder of his life was spent in St. Malo, where he occasionally served as a nautical advisor and as a Portuguese interpreter. He published an account of his voyages in 1545, which was translated into English by Richard Hakluyt in 1600.
Jacques Cartier's good name in Saint-Malo is recognized by its frequent appearance in baptismal registers as godfather or witness.
Cartier, who was a respectable mariner, improved his social status in 1520 by marrying Mary Catherine des Granches, member of a leading family.