Jacques Cartier’s second voyage — up the Saint Lawrence River, 1535–1536

Jacques Cartier’s second voyage — up the Saint Lawrence River

The Breton navigator Jacques Cartier became the first European to sail up the Saint Lawrence River, reaching the Iroquoian villages of Stadacona and Hochelaga, the future Quebec City and Montreal.

Date

19 May 1535 – 16 July 1536exact date · duration: ≈ 14 monthsDate in the Julian calendar

Place

Hochelagaapproximate locationtoday: Montreal, Canada · North America

Route

Saint-Malo → Atlantic → Atlantic → Strait of Belle Isle → Gulf of Saint Lawrence along the north shore → Passage between Anticosti Island and the north shore → Saint Lawrence estuary → Saint Lawrence River → Île d’Orléans → Stadacona → Saint Lawrence River near Lac Saint-Pierre → Hochelaga

Participants

Jacques Cartier, Francis I of France, Kingdom of France

Threads

Age of Discovery and the New World

Also known as

Открытие реки Святого Лаврентия; Ошелага; Стадакона

A year earlier, on his first voyage in 1534, Cartier had searched for a western passage to Asia on behalf of King Francis I, explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and on 24 July raised a cross on the shore of Gaspé Bay, claiming the land for the French Crown. On 19 May 1535 he sailed from Saint-Malo again, with three ships and 110 men and with two sons of the Iroquoian chief Donnacona, whom he had carried off from Gaspé.

The captives, now serving as guides, led the French into the river, which Cartier took for a route to China. Leaving his ships near Stadacona, he went upstream in a smaller vessel and reached Hochelaga on 2 October; farther on, rapids barred the way. The winter at Stadacona nearly destroyed the expedition: scurvy killed 25 men, and the rest were saved by a brew made from the annedda tree (probably thuja, the eastern white cedar), a remedy the Iroquoians told them about. On 16 July 1536 Cartier returned to Saint-Malo, taking chief Donnacona with him. He recorded the Iroquoian word kanata (“village”) as “Canada”, the name of Stadacona and the surrounding lands — hence the name of the country. The map shows the route to Hochelaga.

Connections

Related events

John Cabot’s voyage to North AmericaMay 1497 – 6 August 1497 · North AmericaCabot had reached the shores of Newfoundland 38 years before Cartier; Cartier was the first to push deep into the continent

Same participants

Adjacent events in the thread

Jacques Cartier’s second voyage — up the Saint Lawrence River

Connections

Related events

Same participants

Adjacent events in the thread

Meanwhile in the world

Western and Central Europe

Eastern Europe

Balkans and Anatolia

Middle East and Egypt

Africa

South Asia

East Asia

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Latin America

The same period

Sources