Canada

The name Canada comes from a St. Lawrence Iroquoian word meaning “village” or “settlement.” Canada is currently a country of slightly more than 33 million inhabitants. It occupies the northern portion of the North American continent and is the world’s second largest country in land mass.

Originally inhabited by Aboriginal peoples,1 Canada was settled by Europeans as early as the latter part of the 15th century, and these Europeans included both French and English.2 Evidence of Basque cod fishermen and whalers in Labrador and Newfoundland, a few years after Columbus, has also been found, with a large settlement at Red Bay station. Shortly after these settlements, John Cabot landed either in Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island in 1497 and claimed the territory for King Henry VII of England. Under the leadership of Jacques Cartier, the French began to explore further inland and set up colonies in 1534. The first French settlement was made in 1605 at Port-Royal (today’s Annapolis Royal) under Samuel de Champlain. In 1608 Quebec City, the town that became the heart of New-France, was established. The French claimed Canada as their own and 6,000 settlers arrived, settling along the St. Lawrence River and in the maritime areas flanking the Atlantic Ocean. Britain also continued to have a presence in Newfoundland and with the advent of actual British settlements, it claimed the south of Nova Scotia as well as the areas around Hudson Bay.