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30,000 BCE
Migration to North America
Nomads from Asia crossed the Bering Strait (land bridge) and migrated to North America. -
Foundation of Quebec
Explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founded Quebec in order to facilitate fur trade with the Amerindians. -
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French Regime
New France was a French Colony controlled by King Louis XIV. -
Foundation of One Hundred Associates
Founded by Cardinal Richelieu, One Hundred Associates also known as Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France had full control of the fur trade with the agreement that they would contribute in the colonization by bringing in 4000 settlers, paying fees to sustain the settlers and granting artisans shops in New France. -
Outbreak of Disease in the Amerindian Population
With the integration of Europeans in their lives, contagious diseases such as typhus, cholera, small pox, chicken pox and influenza brought over by the Europeans from France wiped out a large portion of the Amerindian population. These diseases were foreign to the Amerindians and were therefore even more deadly. This contributed to the decrease in the overall Amerindian population; disease, low birth rate and conflict between tribes. -
Foundation of Trois-Rivieres
Laviolette founded Trois-Rivieres as a permanent colony used for commercial purposes to assist in the fur trade. -
Foundation of Ville-Marie
Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founded Ville-Marie (Montreal). The colony was used for fur trade as well as to convert Amerindians to the Catholic faith. -
King Louis XIV took back control of New France
Due to the fur companies not respecting their obligations leading to low population of New France, King Louis XIV regained control of the colony and with the help of his intendant Jean Talon established birth and immigration which doubled New France's population in less than 12 years (3 035 to 6 700 people). -
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Filles du Roi
Over 800 orphan women were sent over to New France from France to help balance out the ratio of men to women which would help populate the colony by marrying and having children. -
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Pro-birth policies established
Jean Talon established pro-birth policies to encourage people to have many children. His goal was to increase the population; he succeeded and doubled the population of New France from 3 035 to 6 700 inhabitants in less than twelve years. -
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Immigration
Jean Talon encouraged 4 types of people to migrate from Europe to New France to help balance out genders and trades. He encouraged the engages, the filles du Roi, volunteers and soldiers to immigrate; contributing to the large increase in New France's population within 1665-1673. -
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British Rule
New France, renamed The Province of Quebec became a British Colony as a result of the 7 Years War and was controlled by the King of Britain. -
Royal Proclamation
When the British officially took control of New France, they established the operations that needed to take place in order to convert the French to the English way of living. No more boats were allowed to bring immigrants from France, no longer practice the Catholic religion, implement the British civil laws and get rid of the French civil laws as well as divide the land into townships instead of seigneuries. -
New France becomes a British Colony
As a result of the Seven Years War, Britain occupied New France from 1760 to 1763. New France officially became a British Colony in 1763 and was renamed "The Province of Quebec". -
Quebec Act
Seen as a gift from the British to the French to prevent political unrest from the Thirteen Colonies spreading to the Saint Lawrence Valley. The act allowed French civil law to return. It replaced the Test Act and allowed the French to keep their religion. -
Loyalists emigrate to Quebec
As a result of the Declaration of Independence of the United States on July 4th, 1783, loyalists (Americans devoted to the King of Britain) emigrated to Quebec and settled near the border (Eastern Townships). -
Declaration of Independence
Signing of the Treaty of Versailles enabled the independence of the Thirteen British colonies due to the Declaration of Independence of the United States on July 4th. This lead to a loyalists movement. -
Constitutional Act
Seen as "the compromise", the act devised Canada into two portions; Upper and Lower. The English-speaking population majorly populated Upper Canada whereas the French-speaking population majorly populated Lower Canada. Each portion had their own laws, religion and land divisions. -
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Rebellions in Lower Canada
Caused by economic and agricultural crises. Lower Canadians wanted political reforms but were not granted them and therefore became very upset and angry. -
Irish Immigration
Escaping the potato famine following the Napoleon Wars, over 1 million Irishmen arrived in New France. Many carried disease therefore a quarantine program was put in place. The Irish boats were stopped at le Grosse-Ile for 40 days; if you were still sick after 40 days you stayed on the island, if you were healthy you went to Quebec or Montreal. -
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Exodus to the United States
The exodus was a result of overpopulation of Lawrence Valley and major cities which left little to no land available and minimal jobs. People were drawn to the US who had higher factory wages and more land. 200 000-350 000 people emigrated to the states within these 30 years. -
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Contemporary Period
Period in which urbanization and industrialization occurred making Montreal and Toronto major industrial centres. -
Industrialization of Toronto and Montreal
The second phase of industrialization in Canada transformed the big cities into industrial centres with the improvement of the railway networks and factories. -
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World War One
Immigration decreased during and after this period due to the war making it difficult to cross the Atlantic and boats were at a minimum availability. -
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Baby Boom
Post World War Two Baby Boom, over 2 million babies were born.
