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Grade 3 Social Studies · World 5: Explorers · Level 37
Jacques Cartier
Exploring the St. Lawrence River for France.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 37
- Jacques Cartier was a sailor from Saint-Malo, a port in France. King Francis I of France sent him to look for gold and a water route to Asia.
- In 1534, Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a big bay in what is now Canada. He put up a tall wooden cross and claimed the land for France. Mi'kmaq people traded furs with his crew.
- In 1535, he sailed up the St. Lawrence River, to the Iroquoian villages of Stadacona, where Quebec City is now, and Hochelaga, where Montreal is now.
- Cartier heard the people say kanata, their word for village. That's where the name Canada comes from!
- That winter, ice trapped his ships, and his crew got scurvy. Iroquoian people showed them how to make a tea from a tree that cured it. But Cartier also took Chief Donnacona to France, and the chief never came home.
- Cartier never found gold or a route to Asia. But his voyages gave France a claim along the St. Lawrence River, where France later built a colony called New France.
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:
- SS3H2.b — Describe the accomplishments of: John Cabot (England), Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Spain), Hernando de Soto (Spain), Christopher Columbus (Spain), Henry Hudson (The Netherlands), and Jacques Cartier (France).