Jacques Cartier and the name "Canada"

Cartier's first voyage, 1534

In 1534, French sailor Jacques Cartier left Saint-Malo with two ships, looking for gold and a passage to Asia. He explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gaspé coast. He was not the first European there: Basque and Breton fishers already knew these waters. At Gaspé, Cartier took two sons of Donnacona, the leader of Stadacona, back to France with him. Their names are usually written Domagaya and Taignoagny. They did not go by free choice.

Up the river, 1535

The next year Cartier returned with three ships. Domagaya and Taignoagny, now going home, guided him up the St. Lawrence River to their village, Stadacona. It stood near where Quebec City is today, though its exact site has never been confirmed. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians who lived there had left the valley by the time Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1608.

From kanata to Canada

On the way, the two guides used the word kanata, "village" or "settlement," for the way to Stadacona. Cartier wrote it down as Canada and used it for the village and for the land around it, which he called the "province of Canada." Mapmakers in the 1540s and after put the name on their maps, and it spread.

No gold, but the name stuck

Cartier never found a route to Asia. On a third voyage (1541-42) he brought home what he thought were gold and diamonds; they turned out to be pyrite ("fool's gold") and quartz. His voyages did give France a claim to the St. Lawrence, and the word he wrote down became the name of a country.

Try it yourself

Look at a map of Canada and find three place names that come from Indigenous languages (for example Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or Quebec). Look up what each one means. How many describe a place, a river or a people?

Good to know

• The Government of Canada and The Canadian Encyclopedia trace "Canada" to the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, "village" or "settlement." Other folk origins, such as Spanish "aca nada," are not accepted.
• First voyage: 1534, two ships, about 61 men, from Saint-Malo. Second voyage: 1535-36, three ships.
• "Taken" is used on purpose: the two young men did not go to France by free choice, though Donnacona agreed to their return trip.
• "Pointed toward home" simplifies Cartier's journal, which records the word being used for the way to Stadacona in August 1535.
• Cartier reached Hochelaga (today's Montreal) in October 1535 and wintered near Stadacona; the video leaves this out for time.
• Stadacona's exact site is unconfirmed; it is usually placed near the St. Lawrence and Saint-Charles rivers in today's Quebec City.
• Cartier did not "discover" the region: the St. Lawrence Iroquoians lived there, and Basque and Breton fishers were already in the Gulf.

For Canadian history learners

This is background for the New France units in Canadian history courses (such as Ontario's Grade 7 history): know that French claims to the St. Lawrence began with Cartier's voyages, and that the name "Canada" came from an Indigenous word.

Answer to the comment question

What does the word kanata mean? It means village (or "settlement"). Kanata is a St. Lawrence Iroquoian word; the two young men from Stadacona used it for the way to their home in 1535, and Cartier wrote it down as "Canada."