Origins of Canada 1608-1867

1. Origins of Canada1608-1867 History 30 Mr. J. Hill

2. 1603 Samuel de Champlain – “The Father of New France” Born into a family of master mariners, Champlain, while still a young man of 16, began exploring North America in 1603. Champlain was the first European to explore and describe the Great Lakes, and published maps of his journeys and accounts of what he learned from the natives and the French living among the Natives. He formed relationships with Algonquin and Huron people, and agreed to provide assistance in their wars against the Iroquois.

3. 1608 Quebec City Founded • 1608 - Samuel de Champlain found Port Royal, Nova Scotia on the Bay of Fundy, the first permanent French settlement in North America.

4. Samuel de Champlain • Then, in 1608, he established the French settlement that is now Quebec City • In 1620, Louis XIII ordered Champlain to cease exploration, return to Quebec, and devote himself to the administration of New France. He established trading companies that sent goods, primarily fur, to France, and oversaw the growth of New France in the St. Lawrence River valley until his death in 1635.

5. In the 17th century, the French had a monopoly on the Canadian fur trade. However, two French traders, Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers, learned from the Cree that the best fur country was north and west of Lake Superior and that there was a "frozen sea" still further north. Correctly guessing that this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay, thus reducing the cost of moving furs overland. The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay was incorporated on May 2, 1670, with a royal charter from King Charles II. The charter granted the company a monopoly over the native Trade, especially the fur trade, in the region watered by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern Canada.

6. Rupert’s Land • The area was called Rupert's Land after Prince Rupert, the first director of the company and a first cousin of King Charles. This region constitutes 3.9 million km² in the drainage basin of Hudson Bay, comprising over 1/3 the area of modern day Canada and stretching into the north central United States. The specific boundaries were unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually be Canada's largest land purchase in the 1800’s.

7. 1759 British victory at Plains of Abraham The Battle of the Plains of Abraham took place on September 13th, 1759, during the SEVEN YEARS' WAR which was fought upstream from Québec. A powerful British force under Major-General James Wolfe and Vice-Admiral Charles Saunders was sent up the St Lawrence to capture Québec. The French, commanded by Lieutenant-General the Marquis de Montcalm, at first held the British at bay.

8. Having sailed upstream past the city on September 5 and 6, Wolfe's army landed without opposition on September 13, climbing the cliffs a few km above Québec. Montcalm's communications with his source of supplies were threatened; he felt obliged to accept battle and impulsively attacked without waiting to collect all his forces. The armies actually on the field seem to have been about numerically equal - some 4500 each - but the British were all regulars, whereas many of the French were ill-trained militia. The French attack was broken by British infantry fire, and the French retired in disorder. Both Wolfe and Montcalm were mortally wounded. The French field army retreated up the St Lawrence by a circuitous route that night. Québec surrendered on September 18. A French attack early in 1760 failed to recover the city, and later in the year the British captured Montréal and NEW FRANCE fell.

9. 1763 New France Renamed Quebec New France is renamed "Quebec" and formally delivered to England by the Treaty of Paris. The Treaty of Paris ends French rule in Canada. The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10th, 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. The Treaty was made possible by the British victory over France and Spain, and marked the beginning of an era of British dominance outside Europe.

10. War of 1812 The War of 1812, declared by the United States on Great Britain on June 18th, 1812, is a source of pride to Canadians as many inhabitants fought alongside the Regular British Army and native allies to thwart American plans to capture what were then the British colonies to the north of the United States. The war was primarily caused by the British Navy's boarding of American ships to forcibly enlist any sailors of British origin and its attempts to prevent the United States from trading with France. In addition, the Americans, who were encountering strong resistance from natives in their push westward, believed that Great Britain was encouraging native opposition. The United States planned to take over Upper Canada (the basis of modern-day Ontario) and Lower Canada (the basis of modern-day Québec) in a single mass attack. The invasion was to occur at four strategic locations: across from Detroit, in the Niagara area, at Kingston, and south of Montréal. If they succeeded, they would isolate and then capture the stronghold of Québec City, thereby cutting off any further British troop movement up the St Lawrence River and into the Great Lakes. There were wins and losses on both sides during the two years that the war lasted, with no clear victory for either of the warring parties (the Treaty of Ghent signed on 24 December 1814 maintained the status quo). The British colonies, however, remained independent of the United States and their inhabitants would continue to forge what would become some fifty years later the new Canadian nation.

12. Border With United States Established The Convention of 1818 described the boundary between British North America and the United States as a line from the farthest northwest point of Lake of the Woods "north or south, as the case may be" to the 49th parallel and thence west along the parallel to the "Stony" (now the Rocky) Mountains.

13. 1841 Act of Union Act of the British Parliament, passed July 1840 and proclaimed in February 1841, uniting UPPER CANADA (modern day Ontario) and LOWER CANADA (modern day Quebec) under one government. The new PROVINCE OF CANADA was introduced in the British Commons in May 1839. In September, Charles Poulett Thomson was sent as governor general to acquire Canadian consent, which he obtained from Lower Canada in November and from Upper Canada in December. After passage in the British Parliament in July 1840, the Act of Union was made official on February 10th, 1841 in Montréal.

14. 1856 Ottawa Becomes Capital The location of the capital city of the Province of Canada changed six times in its 26-year history. The first capital was in Kingston. The capital moved from Montreal to Toronto in 1849 when rioters, spurred by a series of incendiary articles published in The Gazette, protested the Rebellion Losses Bill and burned down Montreal's parliament buildings. In 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the permanent capital of the Province of Canada, initiating construction of Canada's first parliament buildings, on Parliament Hill. The first stage of this construction was completed in 1865, just in time to host the final session of the last parliament of the Province of Canada before Confederation.

15. Reference List • http://www.schoolsincanada.com/Canadian-History-Timeline.cfm, October 25, 2011 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_de_Champlain, October 25, 1011 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company, October 25, 2011 • http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?Params=A1ARTA0006320&PgNm=TCE, October 25, 2011 • http://www.rpsc.org/Library/1812/warof1812.htm, October 26, 2011 • http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001893, October 26, 2011 • http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=a1ARTA0000029, October 27th, 2011 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Canada, October 27, 2011