After two initial voyages to Canada, between 1535 and 1536, French navigator Jacques Cartier set out in 1541 to found a permanent French colony in Canada. He was aided in this venture by Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval. The two navigators and some 1,500 colonists settled at Cap-Rouge, now a suburb of Québec City. After two disastrous winters of deep freeze, hunger and conflict with Indigenous Peoples, the colony was abandoned in 1543. Browse these many images to discover Charlesbourg-Royal, the first and then abandoned French colony in Québec City.
Fragment of an Iroquoian vase found in the Cartier-Roberval archaeological dig
Émilie Deschênes
Archaeologists found several fragments at the Charlesbourg-Royal site of vases from the local Iroquoian communities. The vase’s decoration suggests it was from Stadacona, the Iroquoian settlement neighbouring the French colony. The way the fragments were positioned in the soil layers indicates that they date from the French occupation or shortly thereafter.
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