Document Number: |
AJ-027 |
Author: |
Cartier, Jacques, 1491-1557 |
Title: |
Shorte and Briefe Narration (Cartier's Second Voyage), 1535-1536 |
Source: |
Burrage, Henry S. (editor). Early English and French Voyages, Chiefly from Hakluyt, 1534-1608. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906). Pages 35-88. |
Pages/Illustrations: |
56 / 3 (tables) |
Citable URL: |
www.americanjourneys.org/aj-027/ |
Author Note
Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) was a Breton sailor who visited Brazil
and may have accompanied Giovanni da Verrazzano during his exploration
of the North American coast in 1524. In 1533 he inquired about further
exploration of North America and received permission from the crown
to pursue his idea. He made voyages in 1534, 1535-1536, and 1541-1542,
and may have returned once more in 1543. Cartier died in September
1557 at or near his home in St. Malo, France.
Cartier’s Second Voyage, 1535-1536
On May 19, 1535, Jacques Cartier’s expedition set out from
St. Malo, France, to discover the riches rumored to exist in the
three western “kingdoms” of Saguenay, Canada, and Hochelaga.
Accompanied by many gentlemen and treasure seekers, Cartier’s
expedition encountered severe storms and finally arrived at
Newfoundland on July 7, 1535. While mapping the Gulf of St. Lawrence
and the lower river valley from Funk Island to present day
Montreal, they made notes regarding the geography, natural
history, and ethnography. Their notes are the earliest
documentation of animal and plant life found in the St. Lawrence
River Valley, and the different appearances and customs of the
native peoples living there.
The expedition spent the fall and winter at a compound built at
modern Quebec. The account describes the native people’s extensive
cultivation of corn (maize), melons, gourds, peas, tobacco, and
beans harvested in the fall. During the winter, twenty-five local
Indians died from a disease outbreak and members of the French crew
suffered from scurvy. The Indians showed the French a remedy for
this disease that involved making tea from the bark and leaves of
the sassafras tree.
When spring arrived, the French met with one of the local chiefs
who told them of lands further inland along lakes where jewels and
gold were readily available and the inhabitants wove cloth. The
French traded metal pans and hatchets for furs, and eventually set
sail for France, May 16, 1536, returning to St. Malo, July 6, 1536.
Document Note
A report of Cartier’s second expedition was published in France
in 1545 under the title Brief récit, & succincte narration
de la nauigation faicte es ysles de Canada, Hochelage &
Sauguenay & autres.... This anonymous account may have
been compiled from one of three manuscripts now in the Bibliothèque
nationale de France in Paris. Giovanni Battista Ramusio published
the Brief Récit in Italian in the third volume of his Delle
navigationi et viaggi... (Venice, 1556). The text presented
here is a translation of Ramusio, presented by Richard Hakluyt in
his The Third and Last Volume of the Voyages, Navigations, Traffiques,
and Discoveries of the English Nation… (London, 1600).
Other Internet or Reference Sources
The standard modern edition of Cartier’s writings is The
Voyages of Jacques Cartier, Published from the Originals with
Translations edited by Henry P. Bigger (Toronto, 1924). A
book-length biography of the explorer, written in 1916 by
Stephen Leacock, is available from Project Gutenberg at
http://www.gutenberg.org/
The National Library of Canada has created “Pathfinders and
Passageways: The Exploration of Canada” at
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/2/24/h24-220-e.html with a wealth of
background information, images, and excerpts from primary
sources on the country's early history that provide biographical
and historical summaries. Other contemporary primary documents
can be found at the Early Canadiana Online project,
www.canadiana.org |
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