New France

Canada has been home to various groups of indigenous peoples for thousands of years.On the eve of white colonization of the Americas，there were about 300，000 people living in the area of today’s Canada.Most of them depended on hunting and gathering for a living，and some had also developed agriculture.

The first white people to arrive in Canada were the Vikings，who began to visit the coast of North America in the late 10th century during a period of Scandinavian expansion.However，these activities were largely unknown to other Europeans.The Italian⁃born English sailor John Cabot is usually credited for rediscovering Canada.In search of a direct route to Asia，he landed in Newfoundland in 1497 and claimed the region for England.However，the English did not soon establish a permanent settlement;their presence initially remained limited to a few seasonal fishing stations along the coast.

In 1534，French sailor Jacques Cartier reached the Canadian coast and claimed North America for the French king.Cartier explored the Gulf of St.Lawrence and the St.Lawrence River，sailing upstream as far as today’s Montreal.The French did not settle permanently either until the early 17th century when a French chartered fur⁃trading company began to establish a colony in Canada.The company’s chief agent Samuel de Champlain and a group of men arrived in Acadia（today’s Nova Scotia）in 1605.Three years later，they moved to Quebec.From there，they began a series of explorations of the upper St.Lawrence region，which they named New France.

In 1663，New France became a royal colony and the French government began to send over soldiers to maintain forts in order to protect the trading routes.The highly valued beaver fur in North America led the French fur traders to expand their business further inland.New France was eventually to include the vast area stretching from Hudson Bay in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south.However，the colonists mainly settled at Quebec and Montreal in the St.Lawrence River region.

French and English interests in North America soon came into conflict.In 1670，King CharlesⅡof England chartered the Hudson’s Bay Company to compete with the French for the fur trade in the region.The struggle for empire between the English and the French led to many colonial wars in North America between 1689 and 1763.In 1710，the English captured Acadia and deported the French settlers there，renaming it as the province of Nova Scotia in 1713.Then the English defeated the French during the Seven Years’War（1756—1763）.The 1763 Treaty of Paris gave Britain all of New France except for the territory west of the Mississippi，which went to Spain.Britain named the newly acquired territory British North America.