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acques Cartier was born in St. Malo, 1491. His death took place in 1557. The reason for his death is unknown. St. Malo is a fishing town near the water. He and his father loved to fish and that could fish all day if you let them. Very little is known for his childhood. Many people at his time paid attention to him until after his travels to find the Northwest Passage to Asia. He studied navigation in Dieppe, a major French center for navigators. After that he became a highly respected navigator. He may have sailed to Newfoundland with a fishing fleet in the early 1500s. Some historians believe Cartier accompanied Giovanni de Verrazano on French expeditions to the New World.
As Cartier and his crew were traveling they had very few food to share among each other. Later on in the middle of the trip they discovered that they weren’t the only ones eating the food. There were mice, rats, insects, and other bugs infesting the foods. There were as well other problems. Pirates will board a ship and they would mostly carry guns and take all of the goods and treasures. To find goods and treasures Jacques Cartier traveled the east route.
Most explorers believed that by sailing west they would eventually reach China or India. European Merchants wanted to buy silk fabrics and gold and silver treasures in these countries. Many people set off to voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to reach Asia. On his trip to Asia he discovered a place called Newfoundland. Another explorer, John Cabot, traveled in search of the Northwest Passage. He got there and came back with a handful of stories. This also inspired Jacques Cartier to travel to the Northwest Passage.
Cartier got two little ships and 61 crew members. He departed from Saint Malo in April. In less than three weeks, he was sailing down the shore of Newfoundland, discovering the Magdalen and Prince Edward islands. They then crossed the Gaspe Peninsula and took over France. Unhappily he had mistaken the mouth of the St. Lawrence River for a bay, and unsuccessfully he did not get to examine it. Cartier’s description of the far-away land thrilled many youthful explorers to seek out their destiny in the New World.
In 1535, the king sent him out again. He sailed up the St. Lawrence River and acknowledged it for what it was. He continued on, establishing Mont Real (Mount Royal) which is now Montreal, Canada. They spent the winter at an Indian parish near Quebec, where Cartier watched 25 of his men pass away of scurvy due to the lack of vitamin C. He betrayed the Huron, who were ever kind to Cartier. He took twelve Indians and their chief and headed directly for France. Cartier hoped that the prisoners will tell him where their gold was located. But there was no gold.
His last journey was in 1541.This trip was put together to assist Jean-Francois De La Rocque, Sier De Roberval. They could not find enough French colonists eager enough to give up the privileged. Roberval asked the government for help. They were liberating prisoners to join the expedition. In 1544 Roberval was ready with a supply ship, only to find that Cartier went back to France. Cartier abandoned Roberval, who was left stranded in a ship with robbers and murderers. Cartier never found the Northwest Passage. Instead he found a route from Canada to France.
He impacted our world today in many ways. He's discovered routes through the eastern section of what is now the United States and northeastern Canada. This opened it up for trade and commerce. He discovered the St. Lawrence River, and named Canada "Kanata," which means the village or settlement. Life changed with his discovery because we now know of the main passageway he took and it has helped many explorers after him.
