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The St. Lawrence was known to many people long before it was said to have been
"discovered" by French explorer Jacques Cartier. Canada's Aboriginal
peoples were the first humans to travel its waters, but other
peoples had visited the North American continent before French explorer Jacques
Cartier sailed along the banks of the St. Lawrence
River and Gulf. Many immigrants settled near the St. Lawrence, earning their
livelihood by working on or near the river. The St. Lawrence River is a storybook
of human history and treasure trove of fun
facts.
Canada's Aboriginal peoples, originally from Asia, witnessed the creation of
the St. Lawrence River about 15 000 years ago. The Vikings were the first Europeans
to set foot in North America, having landed on the coast of Labrador around 1000
A.D. Five centuries later, Basque whalers hunted their prey in the St. Lawrence
before the arrival of French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534!
Aboriginal Peoples
St. Lawrence River, the road that walks
The Algonquin is a group of many nations of Aboriginal people with
a shared language. They lived throughout a large portion of what is
known today as the province of Quebec. The Algonquin word for the
St. Lawrence River meant "the road that walks". Very poetic,
indeed. When the waters of the St. Lawrence froze over in the winter
time, the Algonquin called it "the slippery road". The St.
Lawrence was more than just another body of water, it was, for millennia,
considered a major corridor for people living on the continent.
St. Lawrence River, main corridor into North
America
French explorers were amazed by the bark canoes used by the Aboriginal
peoples because they had never seen such a light and rapid boat. The
bark canoe was designed for use on rivers big and small. Samuel de
Champlain, who founded Quebec City in 1608, was convinced he needed
a bark canoe if he wanted to go where the Aboriginals did. At the
time, the only way to explore the continent was by taking rivers and
lakes. The St. Lawrence connected to a number of other rivers, one
of which allowed explorers to travel down the Mississippi all the
way to Louisiana!
Tadoussac, a popular trade area for centuries
Well before the arrival of the Europeans in the 1500s, Tadoussac was
a crossroads for native traders from several Aboriginal groups travelling
up and down the St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers. Among the goods
for trade could be found shells gathered in Florida, dried cod from
Gaspésie and beaver pelts from Hudson's Bay!
At the beginning of the 17th century, Tadoussac became the first French
settlement in North America. It was not a colony, just a simple trading
post where Europeans exchanged trade goods with Aboriginal peoples
for furs, which were later sold at very high prices in Europe. Champlain
also made his first military alliance with the Algonquin near Tadoussac
at one of these popular trade sites.
First contact between Europeans and the Aboriginal
peoples
Contrary to what many people learned in school, the first contact
between Europeans and the Aboriginal peoples occurred long before
Jacques Cartier came to the St. Lawrence Gulf in 1534. It is possible
that Cartier knew this land was inhabited before setting out to explore
the New World. For many years prior to his arrival, Breton, English
and Basque fishermen hunted whale and fished for cod during the summer
off the coast of Newfoundland and in the St. Lawrence Gulf.
Basque whale hunters set up a summer camp on a little island in the
Lower St. Lawrence. They were on friendly terms with the Aboriginal
peoples and would occasionally trade with them. The small island occupied
by the Basques was located off what is known today as Tadoussac, and
was a popular trading spot with several Aboriginal peoples. French
explorers and colonists took advantage of the good relationship established
between the Basques and the native people to make allies instead of
enemies.
An Aboriginal remedy unknown to the French
Trapped by this early and harsh winter during his second trip in 1535,
Jacques Cartier and his crew of 110 men had to spend the winter in
Quebec. Without any fresh fruit or vegetables, the men became very
sick with a disease called scurvy, which is caused by a lack of vitamin
C. By the end of the winter, 25 men had died, and almost all of the
others were weak and near death themselves. Luckily, a group of native
people living nearby with whom Cartier had had some disagreements
decided to set these differences aside and save the surviving members
of the crew. They made a remedy for Cartier's men: a tea made of Eastern
white cedar.
Several years later, when Cartier built a fort near what is today
Quebec City, he chose a location with a lot of Eastern white cedar
nearby. He had learned his lesson!
The St. Lawrence River is more than just a roadway
The Algonquin travelled year round in the St. Lawrence Valley and
hinterland of the North. In the summer, several groups of Aboriginal
peoples would camp near the St. Lawrence at the mouth of a river where
salmon would come to spawn. As they lived in this area for several
thousands of years, they had developed hunting and fishing techniques
well adapted to their environment. The Aboriginal peoples taught the
Europeans how to ice fish, catch eels with a weir and smoke fish,
a food preservation technique that is still widely used today. |
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