armm0.gif (3856 bytes)
Short Overview on Canadian history

Year/Date

Event
ca 30000 to 10000 BC Asian tribes come over the land-bridge of today’s Bering Strait to North-America. Those tribes later become the Indians we know. Later other nomadic groups follow – the ancestors of today’s Inuit.
ca 8000 BC The immigrated tribes have already reached the south borders of Canada.
ca 3000 BC The Inuit settle in the polar regions.
 
ca 1000 AD Greenland -Vikings (Leif Eriksson) land in Newfoundland. They found a short-lived colony near L’Anse aux Meadows.
1497/98 John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto: Genoan sailor in English duty) explores the Newfoundland- and New Scotland-coasts. His report on the rich fishing grounds mark the begin of Grand Bank-fishing.
1534-41 The French sailor Jacques Cartier claims on three voyages Canada for the French crown.
1605 Pierre de Gua and Samuel de Champlain found Port Royal in New Scotland (later: Annapolis – capital of New Scotland). Arcadians settle around the Bay of Fundy.
1608 Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec. 1609 he wins a battle against Irokeses. This is the begin of the nearly 100 years lasting Irokese-Wars.
1610 John Guy brings the first British settlers to Newfoundland. Frenchmen found Plaisance at the south coast of Terre-Neuve. Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson Bay.
1625 Jesuits start their missionary work on the Indians in Quebec.
1642 Paul de Maisonneuve founds Montreal.
1663 Luis XIV claims New France as a province for the French crown.
1670 The Hudson Bay company is founded. This is the begin of the petite guerre among the French and the British.
1674 Canada officially becomes a french province.
17th Century Frenchmen found many settlements along the St. Laurent stream and south-eastern of his mouth (Arcadia). Fur-trade grants Quebec prosperity.
1701 The Montreal peace treaty brings an end to the Irokese-Wars.
18th Century The Borders between British and French territories are permanently shifting, especially at the Atlantic coast.
1713 In the Utrecht peace treaty France resigns on the possession of Arcadia and Newfoundland, and on the Hudson Bay trade-monopoly.
1730-1740 French Rangers reach the Rocky Mountains.
1749 2500 British settlers land in New Scotland. Halifax is founded.
1755 Arcadians are deported. Fights between French and British along the border.
09/13/1759 British conquer the city of Quebec.
1760 Montreal surrenders. New-France becomes British. France only keeps St. Pierre-et-Miquelon.
1774 The Quebec-Act ensures the French settlers the right on their own religion, language and laws.
1775/76 Americans conquer Montreal, but are defeated in Quebec.
1776 Scotish traders challenge the mighty Hudson Bay company by founding the North-West company.
1783 After the American independence about 50000 United Empire Loyalists migrate to British North America.
1791 The Constitutional Act divides Canada into the provinces Upper- and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec). Each province gets an own parliament.
1812-14 The 2nd American invasion is fought back. In the Geneva peace treaty Britain and the USA conciliate on today’s borders.
1837/38 The rebellion of the Francophone Patriots in Lower Canada: In Upper Canada William Lyon Mackenzie fights against the so called family compact – the corrupt group around the governor.
1841 The Act of Union unites both provinces to the Province of Canada.
1860 The Grant Trunk Railroad connects Lake Huron with Montreal and Toronto. Until 1885 the pacific coast is also reachable per Railroad.
1864 In Charlottetown the Fathers of Confederation conciliate on the foundation of a Confederation.
07/01/1867 With the British North America Act Canada is founded. Confederation Members are: Ontario, Quebec, New Scotland and New Brunswick.
1870 Canada buys Prince Rupert Island from the HBC for 300.000 pounds sterling silver.
1873 Prince Edward Island joins the Confederation.
1884 With the establishment of the "Canadian Pacific Railway" also the western regions of Canada may be developed which causes an enormous economic recovery.
1905 The last British troops leave Canada.
1914-18 Canada sends half a million soldiers into WWI at the side of Great Britain. The heavily disputed call-up law endangers the state’s unity.
The 30s Canada is being haunted by the world depression.
1931 Canada becomes independent from the UK, at least as far as it concerns foreign affairs.
1939-45 During WWII Canada fights on the side of the Allied. 42.000 Canadian soldiers fall on European battlefields.
1949 Newfoundland joins Canada.
1949-80 Business Boom. The population doubles. New immigration laws now open Canada also for coloured immigrants.
1959 The St. Laurent Sea Way is finished.
The 60s The Revolution Tranquille enforces a social-liberal climate in Quebec.
1961 The Trans Canada Highway is finished.
1970/71 Quebec’s Minister of Work Pierre Laporte is executed by the radical FLQ (Front de Libération Québec), which demands a "free Quebec". Prime Minister Trudeau calls out the state of emergency because of that.
1973 A law which guarantees full equality of rights between English and French language, which calms down the situation.
1975 The election-win of the PQ (Partie Quebecois) enforces the separation movement.
1976 The XXI. Olympic Summer Games take place in Montreal.
1980 In a plebiscite the Quebecois vote against the independence from Canada.
1982 The old British North America Act is being abolished. Canada gets a new constitution, but Quebec doesn’t sign it.
1987-1990 With the Meech Lake Accord Quebec poses five conditions under which it would sign the constitution. Deadline: 07/23/1990.
1990 Shortly before the deadline Newfoundland and Manitoba refuse to sign the Meech Lake Accord: Quebec pulls back.
1992 In the so called Charlottetown Referendum a majority votes for keeping the constitutional status quo.
1993 The federal Liberal Party under Jean Chrétien wins the elections. The Conservative Party totally vanishes from the parliament. The opposition now is the Reform Party under Preston Manning and the separational Bloc Québécois.

 

Back to the index