Stadacona facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stadacona
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Village
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Jacques Cartier meeting the Indians at Stadacona in 1535, by Suzor-Coté (1907)
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Stadacona was a village that existed a long time ago, in the 1500s. It was home to the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, a group of Indigenous people. This village was located near where Quebec City is today, which was founded much later in 1608.
Contents
Exploring Stadacona's Past
First Encounters: Cartier Arrives
In July 1534, a French explorer named Jacques Cartier arrived at Stadacona. He was exploring and mapping the Saint Lawrence River. At that time, the village was led by a chief named Donnacona.
Cartier took some people from the village, including Chief Donnacona. However, he later let Donnacona go. Donnacona then agreed that his two sons, Taignoagny and Domagaya, could travel with Cartier to France for a year.
A Return Visit and New Discoveries
Cartier came back to Stadacona in 1535–1536 with Donnacona's sons. During this trip, he learned a word from them for their home: "Kanata." This word is where the name Canada comes from!
Cartier and his crew stayed through the winter. Many of the French sailors became very sick with scurvy. This was a serious illness caused by not having enough vitamins. The people of Stadacona knew how to make a special broth rich in vitamins. This broth saved many of the French sailors. Sadly, about a quarter of Cartier's crew still died from the illness.
Challenges and Changes
During that same winter, more than 50 Iroquois people in the village also died. They caught diseases that the Europeans had brought with them. After this, Cartier took Chief Donnacona, his sons, and seven other villagers back to France. Nine of these ten people later died in France and never returned home.
Five years later, in 1543, Cartier came back to Stadacona. He found the village empty and destroyed. It's believed that an unknown enemy attacked it. This might have been due to wars with the Mohawk people, who were part of the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee confederacy. These groups lived further south, near Lake Ontario.
The Birth of Quebec City
Much later, in 1608, another French explorer named Samuel de Champlain chose the same location. He decided to build a new settlement there called l'Habitation. Over time, this settlement grew and became the city we know today as Québec.
See also
