[c;ANON(i] ORIGINS OF SETTLEMENTS IN NEW BRI'NSWICK 29 



A. Historical Factors. 



a. Voyages of Cabot, Verrazano, and Cartier. In the course of 

 human history it came to pass that man hecame civilized in the eastern 

 hemisphere and extended thence to the western. The voyage of Colum- 

 bus in 1492 opened in reality a new world to the exploitation of the 

 old. In order to profit by the new discovery England, in 1497, sent 

 John Cabot exploring to the westward, and upon this voyage and upon 

 another the next year he, or hi« son, discovered and explored the north- 

 eastern coast of North America. On this foundation was based Eng- 

 land's claim to all that vast and important region, but Cabot's failure 

 to bring back promisie of immediate riches, together with the condition 

 of domestic affairs in England, led to the neglect of his discoveries, 

 whereby they fell into oblivion, their original records were lost and only 

 the vaguest knowledge of their location and extent became known to the 

 world. Other nations also desired to share in the value of the wcs<tern 

 discoveries and sent out exploring expeditions. None of these, however, 

 had results of any concern to our present subject until that of Verrazano, 

 under the auspices of France, in 1524. On this voyage, as nearly as 

 the records enable us to judge, Verrazano 'explored the very coast fol- 

 lowed by Cabot a quarter of a century earlier. Verrazano, however, 

 through maps and reports, made his discoveries very much better known 

 than Cabot had made his, and Verrazano's voyage appeared to the French 

 to give France a better claim to the possession of this region than was 

 given to England by the almost unknown, very indefinite and practically 

 forgotten, explorations of Cabot. This circumstance of the dual claim 

 of these two powerful nations to the same country, each perfectly sincere 

 in its belief in its rights, was immensely important to the subsequent 

 historv of this part of America. Not only did it powerfully affect the 

 entire course of subsequent settlement, but it brought it to pass that 

 English and French live side by side in New Brunswick to-day. Nor 

 did the efforts of France end here, for in 1Ô34 and later she sent out 

 Cartier and others who explored the St. Lawrence, and incidentally a 

 part of the North Shore of New Brunswick. 



h. Voyage of de Monts to Acadia. Later in that century England 

 awoke to her interests in America, l)ut, turning her attention especially 

 to Newfoundland and Virginia, she neglected the region between, which 

 remained unoccupied and almost unknown. It was this unoccupied 

 country that, in l(i03, France planned to exploit. In lfi04 the Sieur 

 de ]\Ionts was made Governor of aU the American coast from Cape Breton 

 to the present Pennsylvania, and was sent with a well-equipped expedi- 

 tion not only to explore, but to colonize it. This expedition made its 



