Cheraw. Seminole. Pee Dee. Lumbee | American-Allied victory. Incursions into Quebec and Nova Scotia repulsed. Great Britain cedes to the United States the area east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Great Britain cedes East Florida, West Florida, and Menorca to Spain.
CanadasHistory.ca is a treasure of Canadian stories waiting to be discovered — a mix of engaging features, columns, reviews and commentary plus historic photos, maps and illustrations. You’ll hear a lively variety of voices, with contributors that include historians, authors and journalists — as well as museum curators and history enthusiasts — from right across the country.
The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Canada were inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples, with distinct trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization.Some of these older …
The Great War, lasting from August 1914 to November 1918, had a huge effect on Canada. In the hothouse atmosphere created by the conflict, attitudes changed faster, …
Published Online | February 7, 2006 |
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Last Edited | April 6, 2022 |
From the late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, and fought over various places within North America in what constitutes present-day Canada. The colony of New France was claimed in 1534 with permanent settlements beginning in 1608.
The two provinces were united as the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840, which came into force in 1841. In 1867, the Province of Canada was joined with two other British colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia through Confederation, forming a self-governing entity.
In 1785, Saint John, New Brunswick became the first incorporated city in what would later become Canada.
The Patriation of the Constitution in 1982, marked the removal of legal dependence on the British parliament. Canada currently consists of ten provinces and three territories and is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy .
French interest in the New World began with Francis I of France, who in 1524 sponsored Giovanni da Verrazzano 's navigation of the region between Florida and Newfound land in hopes of finding a route to the Pacific Ocean. Although the English had laid claims to it in 1497 when John Cabot made landfall somewhere on the North American coast (likely either modern-day Newfoundland or Nova Scotia) and had claimed the land for England on behalf of Henry VII, these claims were not exercised and England did not attempt to create a permanent colony. As for the French, however, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1534 and claimed the land in the name of Francis I, creating a region called " Canada " the following summer. Cartier had sailed up the St. Lawrence river as far as the Lachine Rapids, to the spot where Montreal now stands. Permanent settlement attempts by Cartier at Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541, at Sable Island in 1598 by Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez, and at Tadoussac, Quebec in 1600 by François Gravé Du Pont all eventually failed. Despite these initial failures, French fishing fleets visited the Atlantic coast communities and sailed into the St. Lawrence River, trading and making alliances with First Nations, as well as establishing fishing settlements such as in Percé (1603). As a result of France's claim and activities in the colony of Canada, the name Canada was found on international maps showing the existence of this colony within the St. Lawrence river region.
Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Canada were inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples, with distinct trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization. Some of these older civilizations had long faded by the time of the first European arrivals and have been discovered through archeological investigations.
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham was a pivotal battle during the French and Indian War over the fate of New France, influencing the later creation of Canada. The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, ...
In the hothouse atmosphere created by the conflict, attitudes changed faster, tensions festered more quickly and events forced governments and groups to take new positions at an unheard-of pace. The war changed everything.
As this all suggests, Canada had emerged from the war convinced that it mattered. The war had simultaneously reinforced the nation’s Britishness and its sense that Canada should have more control over its destiny. To Sir Robert Borden, this meant more control of foreign policy in Ottawa—not independence but autonomy, a neat halfway house that could be defined in many ways. Borden persuaded the British to let Canada and the other dominions get a place at the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference and a seat in the new League of Nations. This was a recognition of the Canadian Corps’s role and the manufacturing and agricultural effort at home, a sign that Canada’s new status merited recognition.
The Canadian Council of Agriculture, formed in 1909, represented provincial agricultural organizations, and the war increased its political activity. The government had promised farmers’ sons exemptions from conscription as an inducement to vote for Sir Robert Borden’s coalition in the December 1917 election.
Russia’s 1917 Bolshevik revolution also fed official and public concern; the government, the Dominion Police and the North West Mounted Police spied on ethnic groups, trade unions and the radical left, shutting down their newspapers and heavily censoring others.
The war’s impact on the relatives of those serving at the front was incalculable. The Canadian Patriotic Fund raised money to help families whose breadwinner was overseas, but nothing could compensate for the war’s losses. One mother in Winnipeg had seven sons in the army and two were killed; countless families lost fathers, sons, brothers and uncles. Did Canada lose a soldier who might have been a great prime minister? One who would find a cure for cancer? Or one who would have written the great Canadian novel?
The Mackenzie King government in the Second World War learned from the mistakes of the Great War how to finance a wartime government—with tough price controls, high excess profits taxes and higher rates of income taxation. The war touched everything, even the ties that bound Canada to the Empire. The government had begun the war with the idea ...
The newcomers took jobs in the city factories, denying such work, some claimed, to “real” Canadians. There was genuine resentment in English-speaking Canada that the recent immigrants did not join the army and widespread suspicion that German-speakers, no matter how long they had been in Canada, or those from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially Ukrainians or Galicians as they were called, were somehow disloyal. Many enemy aliens faced internment for little or no reason except their ethnicity. There were anti-German riots in Berlin, Ont., and the town duly changed its name in September 1916 to Kitchener, after the British minister of war. Returning veterans attacked Greek immigrants in Toronto, and politicians, students and the media raised suspicions about university German professors, some of whom were fired.
In addition to World War I , Canada participated in two other armed conflicts on behalf of Britain while Canada was still a formal colony. In 1884-1885, Canada sent 386 troops to participate in what was called the Nile Expedition, a brief involvement in the larger 1881-1898 Mahdi conflict in British-run Sudan against a rebel group of Islamic fundamentalists. From 1899 to 1901, in turn, more than 5,000 Canadians participated in a similar war to crush Dutch rebels in British-run South Africa, in a conflict known as the South African War or the Anglo-Boer War. Neither of these conflicts is particularly well-remembered today. Seen here, "Soldier in a Landscape" (1901), depicting a British colonial solider in Africa.
The British colony of Newfoundland refused to join Canada in 1867, and continued to refuse for another 82 years before finally joining in 1949. As the easternmost point of the North American continent, Newfoundland was a useful strategic point for many innovators throughout the 20th century, including Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937), who used it as broadcast point for his transatlantic wireless experiments, and pilots Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974) and Amelia Earhart (1897-1937?), who started their transatlantic flights from there.
Canadian soldiers, in any case, performed exceptionally, making heroic contributions on key European fronts, most notably the Battle of Vimy Ridge in France (1917), where more than 3,000 Canadians were killed.
After the death of Maurice Duplessis (1890-1959), Quebec’s long-serving ultraconservative prime minister, French-Canadian society underwent a phase known as the Quiet Revolution, which saw a new generation of politicians and educated professionals aggressively modernize the province. Post 1960s, Quebec became more secular and industrialized, while a slew of new businesses put more wealth into French-Canadian hands. “ Masters in our own house ” was the slogan of the time.
Army. After the war ended, many Vietnamese fled to Canada. Seen here, a 1975 photo of the Nguyen family of Toronto, the first Vietnamese refugees in Canada.
A massive influx of immigrants, intended to settle uninhabited parts of the Canadian west, helped change the fundamental ethnic makeup of the country. No longer simply French and English, large numbers of Canadians were now Irish, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, or Scandinavian — and even some Chinese and Japanese, too. To this day, the 10 years between 1906 and 1916, when Canada welcomed some two million new residents, remain the country’s largest population boom.
Under the 15-year leadership of Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier (1841-1919, served 1896-1911), Canada pursued policies that yielded great economic growth, and a rising standard of living for almost everyone.
A fight for the future of Canada’s colonies. England’s Canadian colonies were largely agricultural, and its settlements were much larger than French ones. French colonies were less populo us, but they used their resources strategically , developing alliances with Aboriginal Canadians and creating lucrative trading network s.
During the Revolutionary War, Canada became a brief battleground and served as a refuge for Loyalists, and during the War of 1812, U.S. and British forces skirmished along the colonies’ southern border. Meanwhile, an age of territorial expansion saw British explorers pressing ever further north and west.
An age of British rule. Now England controlled all of Canada. In the years that followed, Canadian colonies —now under British rule—expanded their trade networks and built an economy largely supported by agriculture and the export of natural resources like fur and timber.
France allied itself with Aboriginal Canadians to boost its small troop numbers, but it was no match for British forces. By 1759, the British had roundly defeated the French and the French and Indian War (part of the broader conflict called the Seven Years War) ended soon after. In 1763, France ceded Canada to England through the Treaty of Paris.
A British governor-general represented British interests within Canada, essentially filling the shoes of the sovereign. Over time, the Dominion added more provinces and expanded into a confederation that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
It also gained financial independence and the responsibility to defend itself. A British governor-general represented British interests within Canada, essentially filling the shoes of the sovereign.
Canada has been home to people for thousands of years, and was first colonized by Europeans in the 16th century. However, it took over 400 years from European exploration to become an independent nation. Here’s a breakdown of Canada’s gradual road to independence:
On March 29, 1867, the British North America Act (BNA Act) was passed by British Parliament, creating the Dominion of Canada.
And although Canada has existed for nearly 500 years, here are 7 defining moments from the last 150 years as put together from interviews with Canadian authors and historians.
Charlottetown Prince Edward Island Sept. 1864 Historical Events – Several of the Fathers of Confederation photographed at the Charlottetown Conference in Sept. 1864 where they had gathered to consider the union of the British North American Colonies.
In 1875, Canada’s Geological Survey discovered the presence of a black, gooey substance in Alberta. The oilsands would have a dramatic impact on the country’s economy and political landscape. “The discovery of oil in Alberta confirmed that this country had resources for the 20th century,” Gray said.
Members of the Royal Canadian Medical Corps evacuating Allied soldiers from the beach after the Dieppe, France raid during the Second World War. The Associated Press
The Indian Act also provided funding for residential schools, a network of schools that removed children from their families and the influence of their culture. Survivors of residential schools have offered disturbing accounts of horrific sexual, physical and psychological abuse. Story continues below advertisement.
“The great themes of Canadian history are as follows: Keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear” – Will Ferguson, Canadian author and satirist.
Canada’s role in the South African War 1899-1902, our first overseas war.
Peace missions that the Canadian military has participated in since 1954.
Military and cultural history of the first French settlements in North America 1534-1763.