Cartier, Jacques

December 31, 1491

Saint-Malo, France

September 1, 1557

Saint-Malo, France

French explorer

" . . . the said unknown sickness began to spread itself amongst us after the strangest sort that ever was either heard of or seen. . . . "

Jacques Cartier.

Jacques Cartier was a French explorer who made three voyages to Canada during the mid-sixteenth century. His expeditions were inspired by the belief that a natural waterway leading to Asia could be found through the continents of North America and South America. At the time, numerous explorers searched for this route, which became known as the Northwest Passage. During his first voyage, in 1534, Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence. After the second voyage, a trip up the St. Lawrence River in 1535, he returned to France and claimed that the river could be the passage to Asia. In 1541 the king of France ordered Cartier to establish a colony in North America. His attempts were unsuccessful, however, and France did not explore the New World (a European term for North America and South America) again for more than fifty years.

Sent to find gold

Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in the port of Saint-Malo in the province of Brittany in France. Little is known about his early life, but it is clear that he made several sea voyages. According to some accounts, he may have been a crew member on two expeditions to America led by the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano (see entry) in 1524 and 1528. In 1532 the bishop of Saint-Malo proposed to King François I of France that the king sponsor an expedition to the New World and that Cartier lead it. To sway the king, the bishop pointed out that Cartier had already been to Brazil and the island of Newfoundland. After François I approved the nomination on April 20, 1534, Cartier set off from Saint-Malo with two ships and sixty-one men. His mission was "to discover certain islands and lands where it is said that a great quantity of gold, and other precious things, are to be found." From the outset it was clear that Cartier was expected to find mineral wealth, such as gold and silver.

Explores Gulf of St. Lawrence

Cartier's fleet sailed to the northern tip of Newfoundland, and entered the Strait of Belle Isle, which was known to lead to open waters beyond. In order to avoid the barren northern coast, Cartier headed south along the western shore of Newfoundland, naming many rivers and harbors. The party continued along the western coast until they came to the channel, now called Cabot Strait, that connects the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the Atlantic Ocean. Since Cartier did not enter Cabot Strait, he did not discover that it separates Newfoundland from Cape Breton Island and thus provides a better route for entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence than the Strait of Belle Isle.

In the course of exploring the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Cartier was the first European to report on the Magdalen Islands (Iles de la Madeleine) and Prince Edward Island. His party then sailed on to the coast of New Brunswick, where he explored Chaleur Bay. Heading north along the coast to Gaspé Bay, he claimed the Gaspé Peninsula for France. From Gaspé, Cartier continued to Anticosti Island, but he did not travel far enough beyond Anticosti to discover the St. Lawrence River. After he went ashore to claim the land for France, he encountered the Iroquois chief Donnacona. When Cartier left, he took two of the chief's sons with him as guests (some historians say as prisoners) on the return trip to France.

Begins second voyage

Upon his arrival in Saint-Malo on September 5, 1534, Cartier received a hero's welcome. Although he had not found any gold, he brought reports of a warm climate and fertile land in New Brunswick and the Gaspé Peninsula. The region had previously been considered suitable for fishing but certainly not for settlement and commercial trade. Intrigued by Cartier's report, the king planned a second voyage. The following year he provided Cartier with three ships for a return trip to Canada. Cartier left Saint-Malo on May 15, 1535, taking with him Donnacona's two sons, who had learned French in order to serve as translators.

This proved to be Cartier's most important voyage. Guided by the Iroquois, he sailed west from Anticosti and, on August 13, entered the great estuary (a water passage) of the St. Lawrence. The river would become the main gateway for French exploration in North America for the next two centuries. Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence past the Saguenay River to the village of Stadacona, on the site of present-day Quebec City. After meeting with Donnacona he traveled farther up the river to the village of Hochelaga, where the city of Montreal is now located. When Cartier encountered dangerous rapids, he ordered the ships not to travel any farther. He was informed by the Iroquois, however, that the St. Lawrence River extended further west to a region where gold and silver could be found.

Describes epidemic

During his stay in Canada, Cartier climbed Mount Royal to view the St. Lawrence valley. He also saw the Lachine Rapids and the Ottawa River. After planting a cross at Hochelaga, Cartier's party returned to Stadacona in October, where they settled for the winter. Cartier and his men were the first Europeans to spend the winter in Canada, and they were surprised at the extreme cold. Despite growing tension between the French and the Iroquois, the Native people helped Cartier's party survive an epidemic of scurvy (a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C). In February 1536, Cartier wrote an account of the difficult winter, describing the rapid decline of his men:

In the month of December we understood that the pestilence [a devastating contagious epidemic disease] was come among the people of Stadacona [the Iroquois], in such sort that before we knew it, according to their confession, there were dead above 50; whereupon we charged them neither to come near our fort, nor about our ships, or us. And albeit [even though] we had driven them from us, the said unknown sickness began to spread itself amongst us after the strangest sort that ever was either heard of or seen, insomuch as some did lose all their strength and could not stand on their feet; then did their legs swell, their sinews [tendons] shrink as black as any coal. Others also had all their skins spotted with spots of blood of a purple colour; then did it ascend up to their ankles, knees, thighs, shoulders, arms, and neck; their mouth became stinking, their gums so rotten that all the flesh did fall off, even to the roots of the teeth, which did also almost all fall out.

Cartier's report continued:

With such infection did this sickness spread itself in our three ships that about the middle of February, of 110 persons that we were, there were not ten whole, so that one could not help the other—a most horrible and pitiful case. As more men died, an autopsy was ordered on twenty-two-year-old Philip Rougemont, in the hope of finding a cure. Rougemont was found to have his heart white but rotten and more than a quart of red water about it; his liver was indifferent fair, but his lungs black and mortified; his blood was altogether shrunk about the heart so that, when he was opened, a great quantity of rotten blood issued out from about his heart.

This chilling account is only one example of the terrible symptoms that all of the scurvy victims of the Cartier party experienced that winter.

Iroquois provide cure

Fortunately, there was good news for the sick men. Cartier met with the Iroquois and remarked at how one of them, a man named Domagaia, appeared to be cured of the disease. When questioned, Domagaia responded "that he had taken the juice and sap of the leaves of a certain tree and therewith had healed himself, for it is a singular remedy against that disease." The cure consisted of the bark and leaves of the Iroquois ameda tree (possibly a sassafras tree), boiled together and consumed every other day. After cutting down a huge tree, the Frenchmen were able to prepare enough of the remedy to cure all of their men. Cartier remarked on the effectiveness of the simple cure, observing that all the doctors in the modern world could not "have done so much in one year as that tree did in six days."

Embarks on final voyage

When Cartier left Stadacona for France on May 6, 1536, he took Donnacona with him. They arrived in France on July 16. Cartier's second voyage had been a great success. He had found a major waterway that might be the sought-after route to Asia, and he even brought back a few pieces of gold. François wanted to send Cartier back to Canada immediately. But war broke out between France and the Holy Roman Empire, so Cartier was unable to leave the country. In the meantime, the rights to colonize Canada had been granted to a French nobleman, Jean-François de La Rocque, Sieur de Roberval. Cartier was assigned to return and gather informa tion for Roberval's voyage the following year.

The expedition reached Stadacona on August 23, 1541. Donnacona had died in France, but his death probably made it easier for Cartier to deal with Donnacona's successor, Agona, who now did not have to worry about his rival. While build ing a camp at the present-day town of Charlesbourg, north of Quebec, Cartier found some minerals he thought were dia monds. After making a brief trip back to Hochelaga, he returned to spend the winter at Charlesbourg. Once again the Frenchmen suffered through a harsh winter. They were also faced with the growing hostility of the Iroquois, so in the spring Cartier and his party decided to head back to France.

Cartier's party left Stadacona in June 1542 and traveled to the port of St. John's, Newfoundland. During the entire trip Cartier had not seen Roberval, but the two men finally met as Cartier was preparing to sail. Cartier received instructions to return to Canada with Roberval and help him found the new colony. However, in the dark of night he and his men slipped away and sailed for France, leaving Roberval to fend for him self. When Cartier arrived back in Saint-Malo, he found him self in a lot of trouble. The "gold" he was carrying was discov ered to really be iron pyrite and the "diamonds" were quartz crystals. Furthermore, Cartier had once again failed to explore far enough up the St. Lawrence River because of the dangerous rapids. Finally, when Roberval returned without settling a new colony, the king was disappointed. The French did not explore the New World again for more than fifty years.

Spends final years in France

Cartier is one of the best-known explorers in North American history. However, historians cite three factors that diminish his stature. First, he failed to thoroughly explore the St. Lawrence River. It is believed that he could easily have sailed beyond the rapids at Hochelaga and made his way to Lake Ontario and possibly Lake Erie. Second, Cartier is criticized for his dealings with the Iroquois. It is debatable whether he took Donnacona and his sons back to France as guests or as prisoners. Finally, his conduct toward Roberval is questionable. Even though he was not punished for leaving Roberval behind, Cartier was never again granted a commission by France. Cartier spent his remaining years in Saint-Malo as a prosperous businessman. His book about his second voyage to Newfoundland was published in 1545. Cartier died in Saint-Malo on September 1, 1557.

For further research

Coulter, Tony, and William H. Goetzmann, eds. Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain and the Explorers of Canada. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993.

"Jacques Cartier." http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/discovery/cartier.html Available July 13, 1999.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Trudel, Marcel. "Jacques Cartier." Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume 1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967.