Born in Brittany, one of the leading provinces engaged in the Grand Banks fishing industry, Cartier (1491–1557) became a sailor of some repute in his home of Saint-Malo. After Brittany was annexed to France in 1534, King Francis I commissioned him to follow up on Verrazano’s efforts to find a passage to the Pacific. On this first voyage, Cartier and his crew came into contact with a number of Native American people; they traded with them and kidnapped two boys to take back to France. On his second voyage, Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence...

New France was the area of French colonization in North America. It included Newfoundland, Acadia (Nova Scotia), and much of the Great Lakes region. Originally claimed by Jacques Cartier, the territory expanded through further exploration. The French eventually lost control of most of its colonial territory in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) and the French and Indian War (1756–1763).