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C. Canada's First Explorers
From HCO Jr
| Part 2. Explorers of Canada → A. Early Exploration → B. Contact and Conquest → C. First Explorers →D. Cartier & Champlain →E. The Fur Traders → E. Later Explorers |
| Canada's First Explorers - Gallery | Stories & Texts | Web Links | Vocab | Student Activities | Class Projects |
Contact with the First Nations
Contents |
They also met First Nations people. In the beginning Europeans had very little contact with First Nations. Over time there was more contact. Even this limited contact affected First Nations people. Europeans soon realized they needed the help of First Nations to survive in Canada.
Exploring and Technology
Sailing hundreds of years ago was very dangerous. Ships did not have all of the technology and equipment that even small boats have today. Sea captains could not navigate easily. Often they took an educated guess when steering their ship. Slowly, over time, people invented new technology to help captains and sailors navigate.
Latitude and Longitude
Captains need to know where they are in the ocean. There are no landmarks to determine where you are. If you get lost in your town or city you look for landmarks: familiar buildings, trees or other things that tell you where you are. On the ocean there is only water.
Ships and captains needed equipment and methods to determine their position (both latitude and longitude) in the ocean
Dead-reckoning
Dead-reckoning was the least reliable way to navigate. Captains need to know or have four things to use dead-reckoning:
• The speed of their ship
• A compass to know the direction they are travelling in
• An hour-glass to know how long they have been travelling in one direction
A captain might leave their port, and sail east for two days. Then he would order his ship to turn in a different direction and sail so long for so many hours.
Captains could only guess how fast their ship was traveling. They would put a rope over the edge of the ship into the water. Knots were tied into the rope. Each knot was the same distance apart. The person holding the rope would count how many knots passed through his hands in a certain period of time. If 8 knots passed through his hand the ship was travelling 8 knots. Even today a ship's speed is in knots.
Dead-reckoning is not reliable. A ship's speed is affected by the wind and ocean currents (the direction the water is moving). A captain can only make an educated guess about the location of the ship.
To find your north position you have to find Polaris. Once you do you use equipment called an astrolabe or quadrant (explained below) to determine how high Polaris is in the sky. The astrolab measures this as an angle. For example
- If Polaris is on the horizon you are at the Equator (0° latitude)
- If the Pole Star is at an angle of 29°, then the ship is at 29° latitude (29° N)
During the day time stars are not visible. Captains used the location of the Sun at noon to determine latitude. Once they determined the Sun's position they compared it with charts. These charts told them how high the sun was at noon in different parts of Europe.
Determining longitude is more difficult. Captains need a very accurate way to tell time. All they had during this period was an hour-glass. Captains could not determine their longitude position until 1759 when John Harrison invented the marine chronometer.
Quadrant
Astrolabe
Astrolabes are similar to quadrants because they were used for the same thing: determining latitude. However, astrolabes are a full circle of metal instead of a quarter. They are very heavy. Captains hanged them from rope on the ship's deck. They are so heavy they did not move very much even if the ocean became rough due to weather.
Astrolabes are more accurate than quadrants. Two people used the astrolabe. One person lined up two small pin holes to locate Polaris. The second person took the reading from the astrolabe. To find out the height (or altitude) of the sun one person held the astrolabe at waist heigh. The other person took the reading by lining the sun up through the pin holes. When locating the sun the person did not look directly at the sun (this can cause a person to go blind over time). Instead, they directed the sunlight at a piece of paper.
Cross-staff
This was a simple piece of equipment. It was a straight piece of wood with marks on it (much like a metre stick). A second piece of wood ran straight across the staff (perpindicular). The person place one end of the staff against hsi cheek and look down to the end. He lined up the perpindicular piece with the horizon at one end and Polaris (or the sun) at the other. The reading on the staff gave your latitude position.
John Cabot
In the last chapter you read a little about an Italian explorer named Giovanni Caboto. In England his name was John Cabot.
John Cabot was born in Italy around 1455. His father was a merchant who traded spices. As a young man Cabot worked for his father. Soon he became a skilled sailor.
He traveled to Spain in 1490s. Perhaps Cabot wanted to explore for Spain. Columbus had already made his discovery. Cabot may have wanted to make similar discovery. However, the Spanish king did not hire Cabot.
Cabot had to find work. Like many other Italian sea captains he was out of work. When the Ottoman Turks closed the Silk Road the ships that sailed from Italy to Constantinople lost business. Many sailors lost their jobs. Cabot was one of them. Cabot went to England, and offered to explore for King Henry VII.
In 1497 King Henry VII of England hired Cabot to sail across the Atlantic. King Henry wanted to find new lands and wealth like the Spanish did. He hoped Cabot would find Asia or a route to get there.
Cabot's first voyage did not go well. He left in one ship in 1496. Cabot had an argument with his crew, and ran very low on food. He turned around because he did not think he would survive.
In 1497 Cabot tried again. Cabot and a small crew of only 18 men set sail in a ship called the Matthew. He arrived off the coast of Newfoundland that summer. They sailed along the coast, and Cabot mapped what he found (although his maps have long been lost). Cabot anchored his ship and took a row boat to shore to explore. Historians are not sure where exactly Cabot did this. Many people think it was in Cape Bonvavista, Newfoundland. In his diary Cabot refers to an area he called Buona vista (which means "happy sight"), and says he went ashore there.
Cabot sailed to Canada again in 1498. This time he had a fleet of five ships. One ship returned to England because it was damaged in a storm. Cabot never returned. It is believed that all of his ships were lost during a storm.
Cabot's son Sebastian explored a little after his father's death. in 1508 and 1509 Sebastian Cabot sailed north of where his father explored. Like John Cabot he was looking for a route to Asia. He returned to England unsuccessful.
For many years history textbooks stated that John Cabot discovered Canada. Today we know that the Norse arrived in Newfoundland 500 years before Cabot. We also know that First Nations people arrived in North American many thousands of years before Cabot.
Cabot is still an important person in Canadian history. In the last chapter you read that Cabot discovered the Grand Banks and the massive cod fishery. This discovery is very important in Canadian history. When Cabot returned to England news of his discovery spread very quickly. Soon dozens of ships from different European countries sailed to the Grand Bank every year. Cabot's discovery started regular European trips to Canada.
The Colonization of America
European rulers started to think about the New World differently after John Cabot. Explorers were sailing across the Atlantic, but they were not finding a route to Asia. Some countries, like Spain, started creating settlements in the lands they found. Soon other countries did the same thing. This started a process called colonization.
A colony is permanent. The people who live there usually spend their entire lives in the colony. They start farms and businesses. They marry and have children. Their children also live in the colony. Over time the colony grows and more land is taken.
Why Create Colonies?
European countries started colonizing the New World in the early 1500s. By the 1600s many countries had colonies in the Americas:
- Spain
- France
- England
- Portugal
- Holland
Why did these countries want colonies? There are many reasons why colonization started.
1. Wealth: European countries hoped their colonies would bring them wealth. Spanish colonies in Mexico and South America had silver and gold mines. Other colonies had furs or fish. Other colonies were used to grow cotton, rice, tobacco or sugar.
2. Control Land: By starting a colony a country could claim that land. European countries ignored First Nation at first. Some colonies signed treaties with the First Nations. This did not always help because the colonies ignored the treaties.
3. Religion: Some religions sent missionaries to convert First Nations people. Catholic priests and Protestant ministers thought First Nations people need to give up their religion and become Christian. Some colonies started just to convert people.
4. Religious Freedom: Some people left Europe because of their religious belief. Plymouth Rock was an early colony in North America. It was founded by a religious group called the Puritans. They left England in the early 1600s for North America. They wanted to create their own colony where they could practice their religion. Other religious group came to North America to find freedom to practice their religion too. England set up the colonies of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland as "plantations of religion."
5. A Better Life: Some people left Europe to find a better life in North America. Land in Europe was very expensive. People had a very hard time finding enough money to feed themselves. They hoped their lives would improve in North America. Some European governments, religious groups and colonization companies gave people support to help them settle in North America.
Mercantilism
Mercantalism was a belief that European rulers and business people had the between 1500 and the late 1700s. It was an economic theory. A theory is an idea that explains how something works.
Mercantalism was a theory that explained how European countries (called mother countries) could become richer if they had colonies. We can use France as an example to explain mercantilism.
→ 1. France (the mother country) establishes a colony on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. This colony is called Quebec.
→ 2. Quebec is rich in natural resources such as: fur, fish, and timber.
→ 3. Quebec gathers these raw materials and sends them back to the mother country. Under mercantilism colonies can only trade with their mother country. Quebec, for example, cannot trade with England or Spain.
→ 4. In France these raw materials are made into manufactured goods. Beaver furs, for example, were made into beaver felt hats. These were very expensive hats that many people wanted.
→ 5. These manufactured goods are sold to other European countries and French colonies at a higher price than the cost of the raw materials.
→ 6. By selling these manufactured good European countries wanted to accumulate gold and silver.
| Canada's First Explorers - Gallery | Stories & Texts | Web Links | Vocab | Student Activities | Class Projects |
| Part 2. Explorers of Canada → A. Early Exploration → B. Contact and Conquest → C. First Explorers →D. Cartier & Champlain →E. The Fur Traders → E. Later Explorers |
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