HISTORY OF CANADA (part 1 of 2): CANADA’S PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES FIND OUT MORE The first people in Canada came from Asia 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, via a land bridge now covered by the Bering Sea. The “First Nations” spread across Canada, obtaining food by hunting, gathering, and farming. Around 6000 BC, the Inuit settled in the north. By the time Europeans reached Canada, the native peoples had well-developed trading patterns, societies, and cultures. 70,000–10,000 BCNomadic hunters arrive in Canada c. 6000 BCInuit arrive in Canada c. AD 1000Leif Eriksson and other Vikings visit Labrador and L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland 1003Vikings establish a colony in Labrador (Vinland), but it is abandoned two years later 1497John Cabot’s first voyage to North America; Cape Breton Island claimed for Henry VII of England 1534Jacques Cartier visits the Strait of Belle Isle (Newfoundland) and charts the Gulf of St. Lawrence 1608Samuel de Champlain, “Father of New France,” founds Quebec City, the first permanent European settlement in Canada 1610Henry Hudson explores Hudson Bay 1642Montreal is founded 1670The Hudson Bay Company is founded by royal charter and granted trade rights over all territory draining into Hudson Bay 1713The Treaty of Utrecht confirms British possession of Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Acadia (except Cape Breton Island) 1754Start of French and Indian War in America. Marks the final phase in the struggle between France and Britain in North America 1755Britain expels the Acadians from Nova Scotia, scattering them throughout her North American colonies 1759General Wolfe defeats the French on the Plains of Abraham and takes the city of Quebec for the British 1763France cedes its North American possessions to Britain in the Treaty of Paris 1774The Quebec Act provides for British criminal law but restores French civil law and guarantees religious freedom for Roman Catholics 1775–76American revolutionary forces capture Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point; Quebec City withstands a five-month American siege until the appearance of a British fleet 1791The Constitutional Act divides Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada 1792George Vancouver begins his explorations of the Pacific Coast 1818Canada’s border with the United States is defined as the 49th Parallel from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains 1841Act of Union unites Upper and Lower Canada as the Province of Canada 184790,000 immigrants, mostly from Ireland, arrive in Canada. 5,000 die of cholera while in quarantine; 15,000 die after moving to Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, and Kingston 1849The boundary of the 49th Parallel is extended to the Pacific Ocean 1867Britain’s North American colonies are united to become the Dominion of Canada and Sir John A. Macdonald becomes Canada’s first prime minister 1870The Red River Rebellion, in which the Métis (led by Louis Riel) resist Canadian authority in the northwest of the country, is put down 1885Riel leads the Northwest Rebellion. The Métis are defeated at Batoche, and Riel is hanged for treason. The last spike of the transcontinental railway is put in place 1895Gold is discovered in the Klondike River, prompting the biggest gold rush in history. Nearly 2.4 million settlers arrive in the country in several waves of immigration 1899The first Canadian troops ever sent overseas are dispatched to the Boer War 1903Canada loses the Alaska boundary dispute with the US 1914Britain declares war on Germany, automatically drawing Canada into the conflict in Europe. The War Measures Act orders all German and Austro-Hungarian Canadians to carry identity cards 1916The government of Manitoba grants women the right to vote and hold office 1917Munitions ship explodes in Halifax harbor, killing 2,000 and injuring 9,000. Income tax is introduced as a temporary wartime measure 1918Canadians break through the German trenches at Amiens beginning “Canada’s Hundred Days.” Armistice ends World War I 1922Canadians Charles Best, Frederick Banting, and John MacLeod win the Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin 1929Great Depression