Lesson 11 — Activity 3: The Arrival of Europeans

Canada's Indigenous peoples spent thousands of years successfully living off the land. Then approximately 1,000 years ago, the first Europeans arrived in Canada. The continent of Europe is across the Atlantic Ocean from Canada.

The first Europeans were Vikings. They landed in Newfoundland and found rich forests and streams. Although the Vikings tried to establish a permanent settlement in Vinland, the name they gave to Newfoundland, they were not successful. The winters were harsh, and the settlers were attacked by the native Beothuk people. After a few years, the Vikings left Newfoundland.

It was nearly 500 years before other Europeans arrived in Canada. In Europe, countries like Spain, France, and Britain had been getting spices from China and the islands to the south of China (an area also known as the Far East). At this time, spices were very expensive, and people could make a large amount of money bringing spices from the Far East to sell in Europe. But the Far East was a long way from Europe, and spice merchants wanted to find a faster route. This is why explorers first set off across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe.

When explorers reached Canada, they soon realized that it was not China or the Far East. But they discovered that there were a lot of valuable resources in this new land. At this time, the powerful European countries were trying to increase their wealth by taking over lands that they "found" and claiming them as their own. This was called imperialism. The lands that a country claimed became known as colonies. Canada was a British colony (it was under Britain's control) for over 100 years.

In the 1500s, the Europeans began to take resources from Canada. The east coast of Canada had huge amounts of fish, especially cod fish. There were also a large number of whales. Whales were very important because their oil was used for many things, such as lamp oil and soap.

The next thing that Europeans were interested in was fur. Fishermen began to trade with Indigenous peoples. The fishermen would exchange things like woolen blankets, iron knives, and cooking pots for fur, especially beaver pelts. Beaver pelts were used in Europe to make hats. Soon, fur traders arrived in Canada and began to set up trading posts.

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Caption Zetong Li,Pexels

One more resource became important to Europe after the fur trade began. This resource was timber. Canada had huge forests with very large trees that were perfect for making wooden sailing ships. By the middle of the 1800s, about 150 years ago, one of every three ships in the British navy was built in Canada.

Europeans became interested in Canada because they wanted to improve their own economy. Canada had many resources that the European countries wanted. Britain and France both sent explorers and settlers to Canada, but after fighting over which country should control Canada, Britain ended up in charge.

Self-check!