Canadian Imperialism

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Canada spans more than any other country in the world except for Russia. It has vast forests from coast to coast with little patches of civilization. Canada is viewed as a well established county, even though it only gained its full independence from Great Britain in 1982. Although this means that Canada is relatively a young country, it took centuries to get to this point. Canada was first inhabited by Native Americans, notably the Inuits. Canada was then discovered by the Vikings, and a few centuries later, by an Italian explorer, John Cabot, who claimed Newfoundland for England in 1497. However, a successful colony was never actually established in Canada until the mid 1500s.
France’s colonization of Canada began in 1534 when French …show more content…

Once in Canada, Champlain undertook his most ambitious project – the founding of Quebec. With thirty-two other colonists, Champlain established a fort in what is now known as Quebec City. Here, a fur-trading center was established, becoming the hub for French fur-trading. Champlain became allies with the Hurons and other tribes in the vicinity, and built trading relationships in order to manufacture more goods, especially beaver-fur, which was very popular in Europe at the time. Because of the shortages of beaver-fur and the diseases that came along with the influx of European settlers, the Iroquoians became even more hostile towards the French Canadians. So, in the summer of 1609, the French fought the first major battle against the hostile Iroquois. This resulted in a bitter relationship that would last for over a century. The disputes would eventually be dwarfed by a war that would involve the French and the British, where Canada shifted hands from the former to the …show more content…

One of the main events that lead up into the war were the battles of the Ohio River valley, a key location that had imperial potential. In the early 1750s, the French expanded into British territory in the Ohio County. Both countries wanted the land for different things, especially for strategic and economic reasons, fur trade, and possibly for a new settlement. The tension was first broken in 1753, when a young George Washington lead troops into the Ohio River valley, with demands the the French withdraw from the territory. The French refused, and a few months in 1754, both sides clashed in multiple battles. However, an official war was never declared until May 1756, when Britain declared war on France, thus marking the beginning of seven years of war. This was later known as the Seven Years War, notably the French and Indian

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