Gerry Bowler: Jacques Cartier’s Tales of Fabulous Kingdom of Saguenay Helped Lead to Quebec’s Settlement

A cast iron sculpture in Gaspé, Quebec, symbolizing scenes of the historic encounter between French explorer Jacques Cartier and the Iroquois in July 1534. (Pierrette Guertin/Shutterstock)

Commentary

By 1530 the success of Spain and Portugal in exploiting the riches of the Americas and Asia led other European countries to send out exploratory expeditions. They were particularly eager to find a northwestern passage that would connect their lands with the economies of China and the Indies.

Among these voyagers was a French seaman named Jacques Cartier who sailed up the St. Lawrence River in 1534, getting as far as the Gaspé, where he planted a cross and claimed the land for Francis I, King of France. He returned the following year and reached native settlements at Stadacona and Hochelaga, sites of present-day Quebec City and Montreal, which he was sure was in Asia. He established a camp at the mouth of the St. Charles River where he wintered over, fending off scurvy with a concoction of spruce beer whose recipe he learned from the local tribesmen.

Back in France in 1536, Cartier told the court about the fabulous Kingdom of Saguenay which the natives had assured him was nearby and where gold and gems abounded.

The French crown was intrigued enough by Cartier’s findings to fit out another expedition. On Jan. 15, 1541, the king named Jean-François de La Rocque, Sieur de Roberval as its leader and Lieutenant-General of New France, with Cartier acting as his assistant. In some ways, Roberval was a curious choice, having no maritime experience and professing Protestantism at a time when religious strife was increasing in France. He was, however, a friend of King Francis, and a renowned soldier with experience in military engineering; as the French intended to make a permanent settlement, someone with skill in building forts and commanding troops was considered an asset.

A threatened war with Spain delayed Roberval’s departure for New France but he commanded Cartier to precede him with half the fleet and the soldiers, craftsmen, and conscripted convicts who were to comprise the settlement. Cartier duly crossed the Atlantic, established a fortified post near Stadacona, and pushed farther up the St. Lawrence in search of Saguenay riches. He returned empty-handed to his settlement where he found that hostilities had broken out with the natives. Dozens of settlers were killed by neighbouring Iroquois, and the Frenchmen spent the winter under siege looking in vain for Roberval and reinforcements.

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A painting of Jacques Cartier by Theophile Hamel. (Public Domain)

Cartier’s only consolation was the dozen barrels of gold and diamonds which his men had mined. In the spring of 1542 he abandoned his little town, determined to return to France with his treasure, but on his voyage home he encountered Roberval’s ships off Newfoundland.

Cartier explained to his superior that he had given up his assignment because of the danger posed by marauding natives. The Lieutenant-General replied that he had brought sufficient military force to counter that threat and ordered Cartier to return to the St. Lawrence to continue the planned settlement, but the wily seaman gave him the slip under the cover of darkness and sailed off home instead. There, the gold and diamonds were revealed to be only iron pyrite (fool’s gold) and crystals, leading to the French saying “as false as a Canadian diamond.” Cartier was never again trusted with commissions of exploration.

Back in New France, Roberval worked to rebuild the settlement, dubbed Charlesbourg-Royal, and re-establish good relations with the indigenous tribes in the area. He had brought with him 200 men, women, and children as well as livestock and trading goods. After a difficult winter in which 50 of his men died from scurvy, Roberval set off upriver to find the Kingdom of Saguenay, with 70 soldiers and colonists in eight boats. But their mythical objective eluded them, and they returned to the settlement to find ships bearing supplies newly arrived from France.

King Francis, however, had grown discouraged with his colonial project, and in need of Roberval’s military skills, summoned his Viceroy of New France home where he served his king in wars against the English until he was assassinated in the outset of the French Wars of Religion.

The dismal experience of Cartier and Roberval discouraged the French for decades from any further attempts at colonizing their newly claimed lands. It was only in 1608, with the foundation of Quebec City by Samuel de Champlain, that a permanent settlement in Canada was finally established.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.