| Explorers and Their Contribution | Explorers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| John Cabot | 1497 | An Italian named Giovanni Caboto sailed under the English flag and landed on the North Atlantic Coast. | |
| Hendry Hudson | 1611 | An English Captain who landed on the shores of James Bay. Hudson's River and The Hudson Bay Company are both named after him. | |
| Jaques Cartier | 1534-1542 | A French explorer who reached the Eastern shores of Canada. His exploration laid the claim for France's future colonization and the beginnings of Canada | |
| Samuel de Champlain | 1600's | Arrived in the St. Lawrence River Area. His relationship with the Aboriginal people set in motion a series of events that changed them forever. | |
Because there are many incidents of "First Contact", there are also many reports of European first meetings. There were a number of ways that we have records of first contacts. Aboriginal people didn't have a written language and therefore no written history. Alternatively, they had an oral history. History was shared between the generations through story telling. Oral traditions of the different people groups tell of early interactions with others from another land. Other interactions were then recorded in journals, reports and ledgers. When some explorers landed on this continent they often kidnapped and brought an Aboriginal person back with them to their homeland. This would be a novelty worth putting pen to paper for. Many Europeans were fascinated by the foreigners and wrote lengthy reports describing some exaggerated facts of the Indigineous Amerindians. There are also many artifacts that have been found from various voyages, trades and gifts to show the interactions between the two people groups. Explorers from France and England were sent out on expeditions in hopes of finding spices, wealth, land to conquer and a passage to Asia.
