Canada's History

Early exploration and New France

The first Europeans to reach Canada were the Vikings, who landed in Newfoundland about 1,000 years ago. Later explorers opened the way for permanent settlement.

• John Cabot, an Italian immigrant to England, was the first to draw a map of Canada's east coast, in 1497.
• Jacques Cartier made three voyages between 1534 and 1542, claiming the land for King Francis I of France and naming it Canada, from kanata, the Iroquoian word for village.
• Samuel de Champlain built a fortress at Quebec in 1608, founding the colony of New France.
• The first European settlements grew along the St. Lawrence River and in Acadia (in present-day Nova Scotia).

The fur trade and the Hudson's Bay Company

For 150 years, French and Aboriginal peoples collaborated in the vast fur-trade economy. The trade encouraged exploration deep into the continent and shaped early relations between newcomers and First Nations.

In 1670, King Charles II of England granted the Hudson's Bay Company exclusive trading rights over the watershed draining into Hudson Bay. The Company competed with French fur traders and helped extend British influence across the northern and western parts of the continent.

The British conquest and the Quebec Act

Rivalry between Britain and France led to war. In 1759, the British defeated the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City, a turning point that ended France's empire in America. Both General Wolfe (British) and the Marquis de Montcalm (French) died from wounds suffered in the battle.

To keep peace with the large French-speaking, Roman Catholic population, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act of 1774. It allowed religious freedom for Catholics, permitted them to hold public office, and restored French civil law while keeping British criminal law. The Constitutional Act of 1791 later divided the province into Upper Canada (mainly English-speaking) and Lower Canada (mainly French-speaking), and introduced the first representative legislative assemblies.

The Loyalists and the War of 1812

During and after the American Revolution, more than 40,000 people loyal to the Crown, known as the Loyalists, fled the United States and settled in Nova Scotia and what later became Ontario and New Brunswick. They included people of various backgrounds, among them Black Loyalists and Six Nations Aboriginal allies.

In the War of 1812, the United States invaded Canada, but the invasions were repelled by British troops, First Nations and Canadian volunteers. Major-General Sir Isaac Brock and the Shawnee chief Tecumseh were among those who defended the country. Laura Secord made a dangerous journey to warn of an American attack. The war helped lay the foundation for the future country of Canada.

The road to Confederation

In the 1860s, leaders from the British North American colonies, known as the Fathers of Confederation, worked to unite the colonies into a single country. They met at conferences in Charlottetown and Quebec to plan the new union.

On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act created the Dominion of Canada, with four founding provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Sir John A. Macdonald became Canada's first Prime Minister. Canadians celebrate July 1 as Canada Day.

Building the country

After Confederation, Canada grew rapidly across the continent. New provinces and territories joined, and a transcontinental railway tied the country together.

• The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was completed in 1885, linking eastern Canada with British Columbia, which had joined Confederation in 1871. Chinese and other labourers helped build the railway under difficult and dangerous conditions.
• Sir Wilfrid Laurier became the first French-Canadian Prime Minister in 1896 and promoted immigration to the West.
• Women gained the right to vote, first in some provinces and then in federal elections, with most Canadian women gaining the federal vote in 1918.

Canada and the World Wars

Canadians fought bravely in the great conflicts of the 20th century, and these sacrifices helped forge the nation's identity.

• In the First World War (1914 to 1918), the Canadian Corps captured Vimy Ridge in April 1917, a defining moment for the young nation. April 9 is commemorated as Vimy Day.
• More than 600,000 Canadians served in the First World War, and about 60,000 were killed.
• In the Second World War (1939 to 1945), more than one million Canadians served. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Canadian troops landed on Juno Beach in the Allied invasion of Normandy.
• About 44,000 Canadians lost their lives in the Second World War.