In the 1600s the French explored along water routes (such as the Fox and Wisconsin rivers) connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River. They built forts, missions, and trading posts along the strategic routes, long used by native peoples for trade.
Where did French explorers explore?
Samuel de Champlain, the greatest of the French explorers, founded Port Royal (1605) and Québec (1608). Jean Nicolet (Nicollet), a companion of Champlain, explored Lake Michigan and surrounding areas in the 1630s. Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette conducted explorations of the Mississippi Basin in 1673.
What lake system did the French explore?
Champlain explored the Great Lakes , Hudson Bay, and eventually made it to the Mississippi River. The French made an alliance with the Hurons and Algonquians; Champlain even agreed to fight for them against their enemy, the Iroquois.
What was Cartier route?
He sailed from Saint-Malo on April 20, 1534, with two ships and 61 men. Reaching North America a few weeks later, Cartier traveled along the west coast of Newfoundland, discovered Prince Edward Island, and explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence as far as Anticosti Island.
What was the name of the route French explorers searched for in North America?
Jacques Cartier was a French navigator who sailed to find the Northwest Passage . Cartier made 3 voyages to North America. In 1534 King Francis I sent Cartier to search North America for gold and other valuable metals.
Why did France send explorers to what is today Canada?
The French first came to the New World as explorers, seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean and wealth . Major French exploration of North America began under the rule of Francis I of France. ... In 1534, Francis sent Jacques Cartier on the first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and the St.
What two explorers came from France?
France: Giovanni da Verrazano, Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain . While Spain was building its New World empire, France was also exploring the Americas.
In the late eighteenth century, most of them were in the hands of the middle class , of people of French or British origin.
What were the French explorers looking for?
Besides expanding the fur trade, the French wanted to find a river passage across North America (for a trade route to Asia), explore and secure territory, and establish Christian missions to convert Native peoples.
Why did New France and New Netherlands struggle to attract colonists?
They failed as a farming settlement and few peoples moved there. Why did New France and New Netherland struggle to attract colonists? ... Therefore, the presence of the Puritan religion heavily shaped the colonists’ view of the Indians, and supported the idea of the “White Man’s Burden.”
Who founded Quebec?
Samuel de Champlain , French explorer and founder of the city of Quebec, statue by Paul Chevré, 1898; in Quebec city.
Who named Canada?
Canada likely comes from the word kanata — a Huron-Iroquois word meaning “village” or “settlement.” In 1535, French explorer Jacques Cartier asked some Aboriginal youths to show him the route to kanata, or to a village.
Who actually found America?
Five hundred years before Columbus, a daring band of Vikings led by Leif Eriksson set foot in North America and established a settlement. And long before that, some scholars say, the Americas seem to have been visited by seafaring travelers from China, and possibly by visitors from Africa and even Ice Age Europe.
Who were the first American explorers?
The first Europeans to land on the mainland of North America were the Viking explorer Leif Eriksson and his party. Leif was one of Erik the Red’s sons and had accompanied him to Greenland.
Why did the French colonize America?
Motivations for colonization: The French colonized North America to create trading posts for the fur trade . Some French missionaries eventually made their way to North America in order to convert Native Americans to Catholicism. ... The French in particular created alliances with the Hurons and Algonquians.
