Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier was born in Brittany on 31 December 1491, when Spain was already carving up the Caribbean and eyeing Peru. He made his mark as a maritime explorer by becoming the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the river itself. The name "Canada" came from the Iroquoian words for the two large settlements he encountered: Stadacona, where Quebec City now stands, and Hochelaga on Montreal Island. He wrote accounts of his voyages and drew maps that have since been lost. He died on 1 September 1557, leaving behind a name for a country and almost no trace of the documents that first framed it.