Jacques Cartier: The French Mariner Who Named Canada

Join us as we chart the voyages of Jacques Cartier, the explorer from Saint-Malo who became the first European to map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and travel inland in North America. In this episode, we follow Cartier’s three expeditions commissioned by King Francis I, where he sought a western passage to Asian markets and precious metals.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• The "Country of Canadas": How Cartier applied the Huron-Iroquois word for village (kanata) to the entire territory, permanently naming the land.
• Encounters and Kidnappings: The complex relationship with the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, including the kidnapping of Chief Donnacona and his sons to present them to the French King.
• Surviving the Winter: The harrowing winter of 1535 at Stadacona (modern-day Quebec City), where the crew was frozen in and saved from a deadly scurvy outbreak by a native remedy likely made from spruce or arbor vitae.
• "False as Canadian Diamonds": Cartier's third voyage and the failed colonization attempt at Charlesbourg-Royal, which ended in retreat after the "gold and diamonds" harvested turned out to be iron pyrites and quartz.
• A Lasting Legacy: From planting a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula to opening the waterways for New France, we examine how Cartier consolidated France's claim to the continent.