Unit 1

Early Canada

Skill Builders Targets

In 1534, the King of France sent a French sea captain named Jacques Cartier to find a passage through North America to Asia. He was a very important explorer.

Cartier arrived off the coast of Newfoundland.

Answer the following questions.

Can you guess whom he found there?

You probably answered that Cartier met a group of Mi’kmaq Aboriginals. (You likely remember learning about them in Lesson 2 of Chapter 1.)

Can you imagine how the Mi'kmaq reacted to the new arrivals? This would have been the first time a North American Aboriginal (First Nations) group saw people other than their own culture.

The response of Aboriginals to the arrival of Europeans in North America was mixed.

jacques cartier

Jacques Cartier © Public Domain