Canadian Information

Canada Early Days

The earliest records of life in North America begin in a warmer age, when people moved across the Bering land bridge or traveled by water and ice and made a home in what is now the Canadian Arctic. People have been living in the Yukon region for almost 30,000 years. The aboriginal people who crossed the land bridge were the first inhabitants of North America. Many settled in various areas, including the northern tundra, while some moved south to the warmer climate and good hunting found there.

Eric the Red brought the Vikings to Greenland, where they lived for about 500 years, then died out. They were farmers who built their huts of dirt and timber, with sod roofs. They raised sheep, goats and cattle imported from Norway. Life span of these early Viking settlers was about 30 to 35 years. It is believed they died of disease or starved to death when crops failed due to severe weather (possibly a mini ice age) about the year 1500. Remains of their settlements remain today.
Around the year 1000 Leif Ericsson and other Vikings explorers sailed into into Labrador waters and at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland they made landfall to gather provisions and replenish their supply of drinking water for the long return voyage to Europe. Historians believe that Leif landed somewhere on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland on the Strait of Belle Isle. The theory was confirmed in 1963, after a Norwegian expedition uncovered the remains of a Viking settlement near the fishing village. Some hut ruins and small stone markers have been credited to them. It is believed that they stayed in the area for a period of time to rest and hunt.

In 1497 John Cabot claimed Cape Breton Island for Henry VII of England during his first voyage to the new world. 1498 saw John Cabot make his second voyage to North America and it is believed he went ashore in Newfoundland and the mainland.
In 1577 Martin Frobisher of England make the first of three futile attempts to find the northwest passage to Asia, sailing as far as Hudson Strait.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c1537-1583) arrived off Newfoundland in 1583 with his ships Delight, Golden Hind, Swallow and Squirrel. He entered St. John's Harbour two days later to claim Newfoundland for Queen Elizabeth I of England. Gilbert set up the first English colony in North America on 5 August 1583

The first permanent English settlement in the new land that was to later become Canada, was at Cuper's Cove in Conception Bay, Newfoundland. It was founded in 1609-1610 by John Guy and a group of 39 settlers who came there because of the vast quantities of fish found there. They fell upon hard times within a few years and many of them died. A very harsh climate forced the few survivors to abandon the settlement and return to England in 1613.