-
-
The most reasonable theory explaining how 200 people who came to North America from Asia 30,000 years ago is that they crossed the Bering Land Bridge. The bridge connected Serbia and North America so that the Asians could cross and migrate to North America.
-
The first people would have reached Quebec's land about 10 000 years ago B.C.
-
When Jacque Cartier first set out on this voyage, he initially wanted to find a new route to Asia. He wanted to find gold and other riches and he wanted to claim land for the King of France. When he got to New France, he started to map and explore the gulf of the St Lawrence River. He also recorded what he thought was a gold find but was in reality a lot of fish, timber and fur.
-
On Jacques Cartier's second voyage, he navigated up the St Lawrence River and reached Quebec, also known as Stadacona. Some Amerindians helped the sailors survive the winter and survive scurvy.
-
On Jacques Cartier's third voyage, he attempted to start a colony which was unsuccessful. Also, some missionairies tried to convert the Aboringinals. After these failures, France lost interest in the colony for 60 years.
-
In 1605, the King of France sent out a voyage to create a settlement in Nova Scotia known as Port Royal. Samuel de Champlain was part of this voyage to create the Port Royal settlement. Since the Port Royal's location was very far from the natives who lived in Stadacona, the settlement failed because of its location.
-
Champlain came back in 1608 to establish a trading post near Stadacona (Quebec). Champlain established the trading post so that they could trade fur with the Amerindians. It was built near the St Laurence river were the river narrows so they could have control on the boat traffic that crossed there. It would soon be called New France.
-
In 1627, the King ordered the Company of One Hundred Associates to populate the colony of New France. At this time, there were only about one hundred European colonists.
-
Samuele de Champlain put Sieur de Laviolette, in charge of finding a second settlement at the juncture of the St. Maurice and St. Lawrence rivers. The territory of Trois-Rivières allowed furriers to comunicate with each other and to avoid the Iroquois intercepting their trades.
-
Paul Chomedey Sieur de Maisonneuve along with the nurse Jeanne Mance, founded Ville-Marie very close to the Iroquois village known as Hochelaga. The purpose of this settlement was to convert the Natives to Christianity. It soon became an important trading post because it was located in the heart of the Aboriginal land. In the 18th century, the settlement was renamed Montreal.
-
The King decides to invest in the development of New France . The first Intendant Jean Talon put forth various measures to make sure that the population increased and became varied. He wanted women, craftsmen, merchants and farmers, etc. to come and setttle in New France. These settlers belonged to three different groups: indetured servants also known as engagés, the soldiers and the Filles de Roy or the Orphan Girls.
-
The immigrants found the possibility of economic stability in New France because land was more affordable then in France. Women could easily find husbands because they were outnumbered by men and the fur trade allowed men to earn money.
-
Jean Talon implemented a policy to raise birth rates to increase the population of New France. For example, he offered an amount of twenty livres to men who got married at the age of 20 or less. Also, he offered a yearly amount of 300 livres to fathers of more than 10 children He added a punishment policy to discourage people from remaining single. For example, he would ban trade for men who didn't get married within 15 days of arrival of a group of Filles du Roy.
-
The war between the French and the Iroquois went on for about 100 years. In 1701, the war ended with the signing of the Great Peace of Montreal. This restored a certain level of security in New France.
-
In 1755, the British relocated the Acadians. They went on to take over Quebec's territory in 1759 and in 1760, they took over Montreal's territory.
-
By 1760, 98% of the population of New France was of French origin. The population went from 3000 people in 1663 to 70 000 in 1760.
-
In 1763, the British start to immigrate from England. The first people to come are rich businessmen looking to take over the fur trading business from wealthy French businessmen, who left when the British regime began.
-
By the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France gave New France to the British. The British changed its name to the Province of Quebec.
-
The Loyalists left the United States once it became a country because they were loyal to the British and they were pushed out by the Americans. They immmigrated to the Province of Quebec between 1783 and 1800.
-
The Imperial Act in 1790 guaranteed some of the likely immigrants that their slaves would remain their property. Under the French regime, Loyalists' slaves were held in minuscule numbers and were working as domestic servants, farm hands and experienced artisans.
-
In 1791, the British introduced quotas to encourage immigration. They started to grant land to shipping and railroad enterprises and there were immigration agents that were helping immigrants in 1828.
-
The British divided the Province of Quebec into two seperate territories: Lower Canada, mainly French-Canadian, and Upper Canada, mainly English-Canadian.
-
In 1812, there were laws passed in the United States of America that discouraged its citizens from immigrating to Upper Canada.
-
After 1815, the third wave of immigration came to Upper Canada. Many waves of Irish immigrants came to Upper Canada due to the Irish Potato Famine. Some Scottish and English people also immigrated and settled mostly in the cities.
-
A cholera epidemic devastated Canada in 1832. Also, starting in 1832, immigrants arriving in Canada were put in quarantine on the island of Grosse-Île.
-
In 1837 and 1838, the governement united the two Canadas into one, which then became the Province of Canada. The French were a minority.
-
In 1840, the British established the office of Colonial Land, an Emigration Commission and a perpetual Emigration office in London.
-
Beginning in 1850, there was the designation of land for the Native people.
-
In the 1960s, the federal governement put a stop to discrimination based on ethnic origin. The selection policy for immigrants then started taking into account the education of the candidate and their training for the job market.
