In 1534, Jacques Cartier, along with many other explorers, was looking for a western short cut to Asia's silks and spices. In addition to this objective, the French King, Francis, or Francois I, had ordered him “to discover certain islands and lands where it is said that a great quantity of gold, and other precious things, are to be found.”
Cartier sailed to the continent later called North America. He didn't find gold, but he did find "other precious things" -- furs.
The fur trade became the start of French exploration and settlement in the "new" continent. (It was, of course, only new to Europeans, not to the aboriginal peoples living there for thousands of years previously). First came the fur traders themselves, who made money by trading for furs with the Native people. Then came settlers, hoping to claim the land for the king of France. As the French began to stay in this new, unexplored territory, more people came over from France -- farmers, carpenters, priests, nuns, workers and soldiers. The population grew and flourished.
Today there are French-speaking people in every part of Canada, especially in Quebec.
(from Collections Canada)
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