Donnacona et jacques cartier biography

DONNACONA, chief of Stadacona until May 1536, taken into exile by Jacques Cartieralong with two sons (Domagaya and Taignoagny); d. in France probably in 1539.

In July 1534, in Gaspé Bay (“la baie d’Honguedo”), Jacques Cartier entered into relations with Indians who had come from Stadacona (Quebec) to fish. When Cartier erected a cross there 24 July 1534, their chief, Donnacona, felt that he had been wronged; he harangued the French; his canoe was seized and he was forced to go aboard the ship along with those who were accompanying him. Cartier feasted him and persuaded him to let his two sons, Domagaya and Taignoagny, sail away with him, promising to bring them back. The French needed to train interpreters. Donnacona accepted and his two sons left for France. They spent eight months there and sailed again with Cartier 19 May 1535, without, however, having been baptized. They had learned French, they were able to give valuable information about their country; thanks to them, Cartier discovered in 1535 the great river which he had missed the previous year. Under the guidance of his two interpreters Cartier sailed up the river and took “the route to Canada”; on 7 September the interpreters finally arrived home, in “the province of Canada.”

At this point Cartier, who was attracted by the hypothesis of a route to Asia, wanted to go on, to reach Hochelaga; from then on the interpreters began to intrigue against the French; Taignoagny in particular, we are told, “was intent on nothing but treason and malice.” To dissuade Cartier from making this voyage they put on for him a scene of sorcery, which had no effect; Donnacona vainly offered gifts. Cartier left for Hochelaga without his interpreters. On his return, he found that his allies were no longer to be relied upon; he built fortifications. The chief of Achelacy (in the neighbourhood of Portneuf) put him on his guard against Donnacona and his sons: having become familiar with bus

French maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)

This article is about the French explorer. For other uses, see Jacques Cartier (disambiguation).

Jacques Cartier (Breton: Jakez Karter; 31 December 1491 – 1 September 1557) was a French-Bretonmaritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas" after the Iroquoian names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona (Quebec City) and at Hochelaga (Montreal Island).

Early life

Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in Saint-Malo, the port on the north-east coast of Brittany. Cartier, who was a respectable mariner, improved his social status in 1520 by marrying Mary Catherine des Granches, member of a leading aristocratic family. His good name in Saint-Malo is recognized by its frequent appearance in baptismal registers as godfather or witness.

First voyage (1534)

In 1534, two years after the Duchy of Brittany was formally united with France in the Edict of Union, Cartier was introduced to King Francis I by Jean Le Veneur, bishop of Saint-Malo and abbot of Mont Saint-Michel, at the Manoir de Brion. The King had previously invited (although not

Iroquois chief in Quebec (died c. 1539)

This article is about the First Nations chief. For the town, see Donnacona, Quebec.

Chief Donnacona (died c. 1539 in France) was the chief of the St. Lawrence Iroquois village of Stadacona, located at the present site of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. French explorer Jacques Cartier, concluding his second voyage to what is now Canada, kidnapped Donnacona along with nine other Iroquois captives, and brought them to France, where Donnacona died. Later Cartier would make a third voyage to the same area.

Cartier's first voyage

Jacques Cartier made three voyages to the land now called Canada, in 1534, 1535 and 1541. In late July 1534, in the course of his first voyage, he and his men encountered two hundred people fishing near Gaspé Bay. Cartier's men erected a "thirty foot long" cross which provoked a reaction from the leader of this fishing party. After some presentation of gifts to the people there, he left the area the next day, with two men on board, Domagaya and Taignoagny, from the fishing party. He returned to France with them, concluding his first voyage in September 1534. Some sources say that these men were the sons of Donnacona and the fishing party's leader was Donnacona himself, although the original 16th-century report does not mention this directly.

Upon the 25 of the month, we caused a faire high Crosse to be made of the height of thirty feet, [...] in the top was carved in the wood with Anticke letters this posie, Vive le Roi de France. [...] And after we were returned to our ships, their Captain clad with an old Bears skin, with three of his sons, and a brother of his with him, came unto us in one of their boats, but they came not so near us as they were want to do so: there he made a long Oration unto us, showing us the cross we had set up, and making a cross with two fingers, then did he showed us all the Coun

Canada is also home to a large indigenous population, who constitute five per cent of its people. Canada, like its big southern neighbour, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, is a ‘settler-colonial society’. Indeed, the very story of Canada begins with a kidnapping.

A Breton mariner

The ‘discovery’ of Canada is attributed to Jacques Cartier, a French explorer. Born in 1491, Cartier was a resident of Brittany, in the remote northwest corner of France. Brittany has always been distinct among the regions of France due to its Celtic culture, in comparison to the Gallo-Roman and Germanic culture of the rest of the country.

Cartier was born in St Malo, a port on the English Channel (Manche in French) coast of France. In 1534, Philippe Chabot, Sieur de Brion and High Admiral of France, introduced him to Francis I, the French king. Praised as a competent mariner by the high admiral, Cartier was commissioned by Francis to explore the eastern coast of North America.

He set out on the first of three voyages, on April 20, 1534, from St Malo with two ships weighing 60 tons each, the US historian James Phinney Baxter notes in his 1906 work, A memoir of Jacques Cartier.

An abduction

On the morning of July 24, the ships reached Gaspe, which is today on the coast of Quebec in Canada. Here, as Cartier and the other Frenchmen were erecting a 30-feet-long cross to claim possession of the land, the local inhabitants led by a chief had an uncanny feeling of what they were doing as they watched them.

Baxter describes what happened: “Around the cross with joined hands knelt the adventurers, regarded with astonished wonder by the natives. Returning to the ships, they were followed by the old chief with his three sons and brother, who made Cartier understand by signs that the country belonged to them. Luring them on board his ship, Cartier seized two of the chief’s sons, giving him to understand that he wished to take them with him.”

Cartier pacified the ‘Indians