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Sep 1, 1500
Ice bridge
In 30 000 BCE, the Ice Age caused the waters between Russia and Alaska to freeze over and form a land brindge allowing the natives to enter a newly discovered North America. -
Period: Sep 1, 1500 to
Population and settlement
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Sep 2, 1534
Jacques Cartier voyages
In 1534, Jacques Cartier mapped and explored the Saint Lawrence river in hopes of finding gold, a route to Aisia and to clame land in the name of the king of France. On this voyage, he did not find gold but he did notice that the land was rich in timber, fish and furs.
In 1535, Jacques Cartier sailed up the Saint Lawrence and reached Stadacona where he took native captives back to France.
In 1541, he attempted to establish a colony although it proved unseccesful. -
Port Royal
In 1605, the king of France sent a voyage to establish a settlement in Nova Scotia called Port Royal. This settlement did not succeed because they were too far away from the indiends with whom they traded. -
First permanent settlement
In 1608, Champlain returned to the new world to etablish the first permanent settlement/trading post near Stadacona. This post would be called New France and would rapidly grow in search of more furs.
This is the begining of the French regime. -
Period: to
French Regime
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Second permanent settlement in Trois-Rivieres
Champlain put Sieur de Laviolette in charge of establishing a sencond permanent settlement where the three rivers connect in order to allow easy acces from river to river. -
Third permanent settlement in Ville-Marie
Paul Chomedy founded Ville-Marie near Hochelaga, which at the time was an Iroquois village. The original purpose of this settlement was to evangelize the very large surrounding Amerindian population but due to the large presence of natives, Ville-Marie became a very popular trading post. -
Intendant Jean Talon
Once the king took control over the colony he sent Jean Talon to help encourage population growth in New France. -
Jean Talon birth incentives
Jean Talon offered a sum of money to men who married when younger than 20 and to women who married at the age of sixteen or less and to fathers of 10 children or more he offered a yearly payment.
He banned men who did not get married within fifteen days upon the arrival of a group of filles du roy from the fur-trade and he taxed fathers with single sons over the age of 20 and single daughters over the age of 16. -
"Thirty-six months"
Young men who lacked work experience ans seeked to earn the title "master craftsmen" had the choice to come to New France for a three-year apprenticeship in order to return to France as master craftsmen. However, at the end of their contract they were encouraged to stay in New France and practice agriculture on a seigneury. -
Filles du Roy
In order to balance the predominantly male population of New France, the king of France sent orphan girls over to the colony to find a husband and start a family. -
Carignan-Salieres
The king sent 1200 solidiers to contain the Iroquois and protect the colony. After three years, conflicts with these natives became less relevant and the soliers were permitted to return. However, if one decided to stay in New France, as a high ranked solider, he would become a seigneur and as a regular soldier, you would be give land on a seigneury. -
Great Peace of Montreal
The Great Peace of Montreal was a treaty that ended the wars between the French and the Iroquois that lasted nearly a century. -
Battle of the Planes of Abraham
In 1760, the British defeated France in the battle of the Planes of Abraham. The British stayed there and imposed a military regime until France officially gave Canada to the British after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which put an end to the Seven-year war that was being fought in Europe. -
Period: to
British Regime
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Beginning of British immigration
After Canada had officially became a colony of England, the first British immigrants were sent. These immigrants were wealthy business men who sought to take over economically. However, the population would only become 1% British/English. -
Loyalist immigration
After the 13 colonies became the independant country, the United States of America, those who stayed loyal to Great-Britain were no longer wanted on American soil so these loyalists sought to move onto British territory (England, Canada, etc.)
36,000 loyalists moved to Canada and 6,000 moved to Quebec and the English population increased from 1% to 10%. -
Irish immigration
Due to the Irish potato famine, many Irish families made the decision to move to Canada. However, the conditions of life on the voyage were very difficult and disease spread. The most apparent disease was cholera so those who immigrated to Canada were first put on Grosse-Ile to wait for the cholera to disappear and if, after a certain amount of time, you were cleared, then you could settle in Canada. -
Francophone emmigration to the US and the west
In the 1840s, the seigneuries became over populated and people had to move. They emmigrated to the west of Canada or to the United Staes. Emmigration to the US was more popular because there were more opportunities there. -
First phase of industrialization in Canada
The industrialisation of Canada was the primary cause of urbanisation. Since machines became helpful on farms and demanded less workers to maintain a farm, these people needed jobs. At the time, more and more factories were built in the city and good were produced in large quantity. While the work done in these factories was being done by machines, they was a high demand for workers who did not have to be specialized to operate the machinery. These workers were under paid and lived poorly. -
Indian reserves
With Canada's expansion towards the west, the government forced the natives, who were previously moved west, to relocate onto Indian reserves that were owned by the government. -
Emmigration to the US and western Canada
Towards the end of the 19th century, due to the poor quality of life in the cities, many under paid factory workers made the decision to move out west and pursue agriculture or they would go to the United States because the working conditions were better. -
Period: to
Contemporary period
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British North American Act
Under this act, the federal and provincial governments shared immigration matters. -
Indian Act
The Indian Act was created in order to assist the assimilation of the first nations in Canada. -
National Policy
The national policy was created to help immigration towards western Canada. The majority of the success came from giving away land to railway companies and their employees who aided the expansion towards the west by building railroads. -
Great depression
The beginning of the great deprssion ended the emmigration to the United States because the quality of life there sank bellow that of Canada. -
End of the Second World War
The end of World War Two marks the beginning of the diversification in Canadian immigration. -
Quebec immigration criteria
In 1978, since Canada and Quebec agreed to share the responsability of immigration, Quebec added necessary criteria for immigration into the province.
In Quebec immigrants would be chosen primarily for their ability to adapt to a francophone society. -
Oka crisis
In 1990, conflict erupted when a golf course tried to expand its course onto a native reserve. The Mohawk warriors set baricaded the streets and rioted until the Canadian army was called in and the crisis ended in an armed conflict.
