England & France Join the Race

The Age of Exploration

Chapter 8 · England & France Join the Race

Portugal, Spain and the Dutch came first in Chapters 2 to 7. This chapter follows the two powers that reached North America later and struggled to settle it: John Cabot's 1497 voyage for England, Jacques Cartier's three voyages for France, and the English settlements at Roanoke and Jamestown. The sources are four reference articles. They give dates and some figures, and each one contains a disputed or unresolved point, which the chapter flags.

John Cabot, 1497

Giovanni Caboto (about 1450 to about 1499), known in English as John Cabot, was an Italian navigator sponsored by England's King Henry VII. He became a Venetian citizen in 1476 after living there from about 1461.

Date	Event
May 1497	Cabot leaves Bristol aboard the Matthew, a 50-ton vessel with approximately 18 to 20 crew.
24 June 1497	He makes landfall somewhere on North America's coast.
May 1498	He leaves Bristol again with five ships and vanishes.

Where He Landed Is Disputed Proposed sites include Cape Bonavista, St. John's, Cape Breton Island, Labrador and Maine. The Canadian and British governments officially designated Cape Bonavista as the landing site for the 500th anniversary celebration, which is a decision about commemoration, not evidence. What happened to him after 1498 is unknown: whether he died at sea, returned and died shortly after, or remained in the Americas.

The source calls the expedition "the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century." It says his voyages established England's claim to North American territories and inspired later Bristol expeditions. I did not find what the voyage was meant to achieve. Chapter 1's account of the search for a route to Asia would suggest a purpose, but the source does not state it, so I do not.

Jacques Cartier, France

Jacques Cartier (1491 to 1557) is described as "the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River."

1534

Exploration and territorial claim-making along the Gulf.

1535 to 1536

Wintering at Stadacona, and an encounter with scurvy that was cured through a native remedy.

1541 to 1542

An attempted permanent settlement at Charlesbourg-Royal, ultimately abandoned.

The Name "Canada" Cartier documented the indigenous word for villages and applied it to the region. The source says the name derives from the Huron-Iroquois word kanata, meaning village, "incorrectly interpreted as the native term for the newly discovered land." A mistranslation gave the country its name. The source also notes the scurvy cure relied on indigenous knowledge, a small reminder that European survival often did.

Though he never established lasting settlements, the source says Cartier's explorations "consolidated France's claim of the territory that would later be colonized as New France." He completed three dangerous voyages without losing a ship, and his work predated more successful colonization efforts by about seventy years.

What Is Not Said The source does not say what happened between the Europeans and the people they met, why the third-voyage settlement was abandoned, or how the "remedy" worked. I did not research these, and the summary says only "territorial claim-making." Chapter 9 covers the human cost.

Roanoke, 1585 to 1590

Year	Event
1585	Sir Walter Raleigh's first colony is established under Governor Ralph Lane on Roanoke Island. It faces food shortages and tensions with local Native American tribes.
1586	Lane's colony is evacuated with Sir Francis Drake after supply ships fail to arrive. Two weeks later Grenville's relief fleet finds the site abandoned and leaves 15 men to maintain England's claim.
1587	John White leads a second attempt with about 115 settlers, including women and children. On 18 August, his granddaughter Virginia Dare becomes "the first Christian born in Virginia."
1590	White returns to find the colony abandoned but fortified, with "CRO" on a tree and "CROATOAN" on a post.

An Unresolved Mystery The fate of the 1587 colonists is unresolved. The source lists three theories: integration with Native tribes (John Lawson in 1701 encountered Hatteras people with European ancestry); an attack by the Powhatan, according to William Strachey's claim that survivors lived under Native protection before being attacked; and peaceful relocation, as White interpreted the carvings. Archaeological research continues with limited success because of shoreline erosion and scarce physical evidence. I do not choose among them.

Jamestown, 1607

Jamestown was established on 14 May 1607 (New Style dating) by the London Company on the James River in present-day Virginia. It became "the first permanent English settlement in the Americas."

Hardship: drought, disease and starvation. In the "Starving Time" of 1609 to 1610 only 60 of 214 settlers survived the winter, and the source says historical evidence suggests some colonists may have turned to cannibalism.
Tobacco: John Rolfe's successful cultivation beginning in 1612 transformed the colony's prospects.
Native relations: relations with the Powhatan Confederacy deteriorated over time. A major attack in 1622 killed over 300 settlers, though Jamestown had advance warning and was spared.
Later: the colonial capital moved to Williamsburg in 1699, and Jamestown became an archaeological site.

Three Events of 1619 The source lists the first representative assembly in the New World, "the first recorded strike in Colonial America" by Polish artisans over voting rights, and the arrival of the first documented Africans in English North America. The third leads into Chapter 9. The source gives no numbers or circumstances for the Africans' arrival, and I do not supply them.

What I Did Not Verify I did not find why Roanoke's supply ships failed, whether the 1588 Armada delayed White's return (UK History 7 covers the Armada itself), the Virginia Company's finances, or John Smith. I also did not check the claim that Jamestown was the "first permanent" English settlement against other candidates, and the 214 and 60 figures are from one article. Each of these is part of the outline or a fuller story.

Hands-On Exercises

Exercise 1

Set out the three theories about Roanoke's colonists with the evidence the source gives for each, and say which the source favors.

→ Solution

Exercise 2

A student writes "Cartier founded the first French colony in Canada." Use the chapter to correct it.

→ Solution

Exercise 3

Compare the four English and French ventures in the chapter on one measure of your choice and say what the sources do not let you compare.

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Quick Reference

Cabot: left Bristol May 1497 in the Matthew (50 tons); landfall 24 June 1497 (site disputed); vanished on a 1498 voyage
Cartier: voyages 1534, 1535 to 1536, 1541 to 1542; Stadacona; "Canada" from kanata; Charlesbourg-Royal abandoned
Roanoke: 1585 colony; 1586 evacuated; 1587 about 115 settlers; 1590 "CROATOAN"; fate unresolved
Jamestown: 14 May 1607; Starving Time 1609 to 1610 (60 of 214 survived); tobacco 1612; 1619 assembly and first Africans; 1622 attack
Not covered: Cabot's purpose, Roanoke's supply failure, John Smith, the Virginia Company