Chapter 8

Overview

The first persons to come to what is now Canada were the Vikings. They travelled thousands of kilometers in ships as seen below. They rowed many hours a day and were very strong because of this.

The Vikings were fairly war-like as illustrated on the left. No, seriously, after getting along with the native peoples at first, they couldn’t resist attacking them which led to “bad blood” (pun).

In the Viking society, the dead person was buried with all of their possessions to help them in the afterlife. Here, a Viking woman is sent off in a boat which would be burned.

Proof of the Viking’s short stay can be seen in the remains of their sod houses at L’anse aux Meadows.

According to the old Norse sagas, we learn that king Olav Trygvasson had a very large dog named “Wige”. This dog was brought from Irland and the king used the dog to kill peasants that would not convert to Christ. This is a common dog collar.

The collar was worn by a Norwegian mastiff. (I have a feeling that “Wige” means “big bloody dog that bites”. Most were in excess of 120 pounds and stood waist high.

The next person to make contact with the coast of what would be Canada, was Giovanni Cabotto or John Cabot.

Cabot was sent by the English and explored the coast of Labrador, Nfld, and down to what is today, the New York and Boston area.

The English as well as the French and Portugese all came to the Grand Banks to take advantage of the amazing quantities of cod.

Why? Well, the Roman Catholic Church required that Catholics not eat meat for approximately 165 days of the year. However, they could eat fish. So, the very beautiful and graceful cod became a preferred food to eat.

According to tales (pun), the fish were so thick that you could walk or their backs. Called “grey gold”.

France also was interested in the New World and in 1524 sent Giovanni Verrazano. He discovered that North America as we know it was a continent and not a series of islands.

The French then asked Jacques Cartier to continue looking for the Northwest Passage to Asia.

Cartier erected a cross along the St. Lawrence above Mont Royal which today is known as Montreal. It payed respect to the king and let others know that France had been there first.

The native peoples were not impressed as they felt Cartier was claiming their land.

The next year, Cartier returned and was told of the “Kingdom of Saguenay” – untold riches. Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence to Stadacona (Quebec City”) a major Iroquois settlement. However, instead of staying there, he moved farther upriver to Hochelaga (Montreal) but eventually returned to Stadacona.

Unfortunately for the French, they lacked Vitamin C in their diet and suffered from scurvy a disease where the blood vessels break down and teeth fall out and legs swell.

In 1536 Dom Agaya saved the Carter expedition from

certain death from scurvy. Fifty of

Cartier's men had already died when Dom Agaya made a

tea from either hemlock or spruce to cure the scurvy. Cartier showed his

appreciation by kidnapping a

number of Dom Agaya's people.

Sieur de Roberval also set sail from France and came to the New World to safeguard the interests of the King. He was supposed to establish a colony. Cartier left Roberval to spend a miserable winter against orders. The Iroquois had had enough of the French and would not share knowledge or food and actually attacked them. France’s attempt to colonize the New World had failed.

“Not all that glitters is gold.” In order to satisfy the King, Cartier had sailed home with “gold and diamonds”. Unfortunately, it turned out that he had mined quartz crystal and pyrites or “fool’s gold”.