In 1498, the voyage in which John Cabot probably died, he and his sons explored the waters in the northwest Atlantic. There they found a bountiful supply of fish filling the cold ocean waters.

Despite this discovery, the English largely ignored these newly discovered fisheries for nearly 100 years when, in 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the land around St John’s (as it’s known today) for an English fishery base. During this time, Portuguese, French and Spanish fishing vessels regularly crossed into the freezing waters, with the French claiming parts of Newfoundland as their own fishery bases.

These fisheries provided grounds for the first contact with the First Nations peoples for the Europeans. However, relations were very tense, and trade was somewhat sporadic. The fishing crews traded iron and manufactured goods for furs provided by the natives.

In 1535, Frenchman Jacques Cartier navigated the Saint Lawrence River, widely regarded as the great entrance to Canada. Here, he visited Stadacona and Hochelaga, modern-day Quebec City and Montreal.

The previous year, in 1534, he’d explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence, staking a French claim to its shores, in search for a direct route to Asia. This international effort was known as the search for the Northwest Passage.

Much further south, the Spanish searched for the mythical city of El Dorado in present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana and northern Brazil. Sir Walter Raleigh also famously led two Guianan expeditions searching for the legendary city of gold in 1594 (under Queen Elizabeth I) and 1617 (under King James I).

The legend of El Dorado turned out to be based in fact, although it referred to a tribal chieftain — not a city or empire.

The French had their own similar story.

When Cartier reached present-day Canada in 1534 on his first voyage, exploring the Gulf of St Lawrence (named because he arrived at the estuary on August 10th — St Lawrence’s Feast Day), he kidnapped two members of the Iroquoian tribe he encountered. Whom these two men were precisely differs according to different sources, although they likely included either the chief (Chief Donnacona) or his sons. Assumingly, this act was to prove to King Francis I of France that he had, in fact, reached Asia (of course, he hadn’t).

The two Iroquoian men further detailed the stories Cartier had heard from the natives he’d met on the shores of Canada. Myths of the Kingdom of Saguenay, sometimes referred to as the El Dorado of North America, spread through France and encouraged many an explorer to risk it all on a voyage out to Quebec.

According to the myth, the Kingdom of Saguenay was ruled by blonde-haired men and filled with gold, silver, copper and ruby mines. The blonde occupants supposedly had basements filled with furs and gold.

Greed — an emotion that would become synonymous with the European settlers of this time — drove the funding for the second voyage in 1535. Its primary objective was hunting for this kingdom.

Chief Donnacona himself assisted the French with their expedition. The flotilla sailed down the St Lawrence River and headed for a connecting waterway that would come to be known as the Saguenay River. Here, the expedition halted. Although we aren’t told why it’s safe to assume they ran low on supplies during winter.

Due to the weather — and the fact that the St Lawrence and St Charles rivers had frozen — Cartier’s flotilla had to take shelter near the Iroquoian capital of Stadacona (Quebec City), near what’s known today as the Rock of Quebec.

Around this time, the French expedition also discovered the village of Hochelaga, which would become known as Montreal after the French seized the land.

There are many interpretations around the origin of the name “Canada”. The most likely etymology is as follows.

The Huron-Iroquois word for a settlement or town was kanata. Cartier explains this himself in his book, Bref récit et succincte narration de la navigation faite en MDXXXV et MDXXXVI, where he writes, “They call a town Canada”. The book was published in 1545, 10 years after his second voyage described here.

His earliest name for the territory is “le pays des Canadas” — the land of Canadas, or villages.

In much of Bref récit, Cartier simply refers to the land as Canada. For example, during his second voyage, he refers to the St Lawrence River as the rivière de Canada — Canadian River. By the mid-1500s, many other publications, including maps, also referred to the land as this.

After the fourteen-month expedition, Chief Donnacona returned to France with Cartier. Although we have no records indicating whether or not this agreement was civil, it’s more likely that the chief was taken unwillingly than not.

With Chief Donnacona further exaggerating the stories of the mythical kingdom to King Francis I, interest was set in place for a third voyage. However, war broke out with the Holy Roman Empire, and so the treasury’s funds were devoted to the war effort.

In 1541, the war with the Holy Roman Empire finished, and Francis renewed his support for the proposed third voyage.

Again, Cartier was to lead it, but command of the expedition was given to the privateer Jean-François de La Rocque, sieur de Roberval. Rather than continue Cartier’s search for the Northwest Passage, the voyage was to focus on establishing settlements (including fortified) and searching for the Kingdom of Saguenay.

The French also decided to offload some prisoners from its overcrowded prisons, creating forced labour areas in Canada.

Roberval would follow after Cartier a year or so later, settling the area prepared for him. He was given the title of Lieutenant-General of New France.

In King Francis’ mind, fortified settlements would act as a deterrent to the Spanish, who were also making significant advances in the New World. With this in mind, Cartier founded Charlesbourg-Royal for Roberval to reign from.

Initially, there was what seemed like a promising development. Settlers of Charlesbourg-Royal discovered “gold” and “diamonds”! They would be rich!

Except, when the samples were returned to France for analysis, the “gold” turned out to be iron pyrite (“Fool’s Gold”) and the “diamonds” quartz crystals. The phrase faux comme les diamants du Canada (“false as Canadian diamonds”) developed around this time.

Things weren’t all good, though. When Cartier arrived back on Canadian shores for his third time, he noticed that the Iroquoian natives didn’t flock to welcome him. Tensions were higher.

(If he had, in fact, kidnapped their chief six years previous, there is perhaps little surprise here.)

In autumn 1941, Cartier set off to search for Saguenay again but didn’t get past Hochelaga due to poor weather and dangerous river rapids.

Instead, he returned to Charlesbourg-Royal. A few accounts from sailors on the voyage suggest that the native Iroquois turned on the French settlers during the winter, killing about 35. With depleted manpower and resources, Cartier set off back for France in June 1542, his ship loaded with what he thought was gold and diamonds.

Of course, it wasn’t.

As he was sailing past the Newfoundland coast, he encountered Roberval on his way to settle in Charlesbourg-Royal to take command. Roberval was in the process of marooning his relative (cousin, sister or niece — accounts vary), Marguerite de La Rocque.

Roberval did all he could to persuade Cartier to return with him to Canada, continue the search for Saguenay and establish French colonies. However, disheartened and probably knowing that the position was hopeless, Cartier snuck away under cover of darkness, returning to Europe.

He never went back to Canada.

Roberval would go onto Charlesbourg-Royal, but a scurvy outbreak, harsh winter, failed venture to find Saguenay and hostile natives meant that his tenure wouldn’t last long. He returned to Paris in autumn 1543, having spent just over a year in Canada.