Rental Cars Canada - History of Canada
The first Europeans to arrive in Canada were descendants of Norse Seafarers who had previously settled in Iceland and Greenland. The next wave of Europeans to arrive were led by Italian navigator, Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) while seeking out a north-west passage to Asia in 1497. Over the next hundred years English and French settlers arrived in parts of Newfoundland.
By this time Canada’s Indian tribes had already developed a vast array of languages, customs, religions, laws and governments. The first major incursion inland was by French explorer Jacques Cartier who made the first claim on the area surrounding the St Lawrence River in 1534. Samuel de Champlain, founded Quebec City in the early 1600s and in 1663 Canada, now home to about 3000 French settlers, became a province of France. During the 17th C the French pushed significantly into Canada, expanding their trading operations under the New France Company.
Just as the French started to thrive on the fur trade, the British entered the scene, founding the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. For a while, the two European cultures coexisted peacefully until in 1745, British troops captured a French fort in Nova Scotia. This marked a period of commercial, political and strategic rivalry which culminated in the Anglo-French War of the early 1760’s. The turning point in what became known as the Seven Years' War arrived when the British defeated the French at Quebec City in 1759. At the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France handed Canada over to Britain. In the late 70’s a migration of about 50,000 British 'Loyalists' from the USA created a more even balance between the French and British populations. Within two decades Britain had been ousted from their American colonies following defeat in the American War of Independence. The Americans tried to seize Canada but failed, and the two countries have evolved along different historical paths.
Britain proclaimed the British North America Act (BNA Act) in 1867, effectively establishing the Dominion of Canada and giving the country its own a constitution. East and west coasts were soon united by rail and by 1912 all provinces had become part of the central government except Newfoundland, which finally joined in 1949. With the onset of WWII, Canada once again fought alongside Britain against Germany, though this time it also entered into defense agreements with the USA, declaring war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the post war 1960’s there was a huge influx people from all over the world. This was a time of economic expansion and prosperity. Since 1975, a series of land rights agreements have been signed with Canada's native peoples, giving them some control over vast swathes of the northern portion of the country.
