Canada's History | Discover Canada Guide

This is the single most date-heavy chapter of the study guide, so it pays to know the years and who came first.

European exploration and early settlement

John Cabot reached and mapped Canada's East Coast in 1497, sailing for England. A century later, Samuel de Champlain, sailing for France, founded Quebec City in 1608, the beginning of permanent French settlement in North America and the start of New France. The fur trade, particularly through the Hudson's Bay Company (chartered in 1670), drove much of the early European economic interest in the territory.

Confederation, July 1, 1867

Canada came into being as a country on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act united the Province of Canada (split into Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single federal Dominion, with Sir John A. Macdonald as the first Prime Minister. This day is celebrated every year as Canada Day. Confederation was not a one-time event: Manitoba joined in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, Prince Edward Island in 1873, and the process of provinces and territories joining continued for decades, culminating in Newfoundland and Labrador joining in 1949 and Nunavut being created as a separate territory in 1999.

Building a transcontinental country

The Canadian Pacific Railway, completed in 1885, physically linked the country from coast to coast and was a condition of British Columbia joining Confederation. The building of the railway relied heavily on the labour of Chinese immigrant workers, who faced dangerous conditions and discriminatory treatment, including the later head tax, a history Discover Canada explicitly acknowledges.

Key wars and turning points

Canadian troops fought as part of the British Empire in the First World War and gained international recognition for the victory at Vimy Ridge in 1917, a battle often described as a defining moment in the development of Canadian national identity. In the Second World War, Canada again played a significant role, including the Normandy landings in 1944. Confidence gained through these contributions strengthened Canada's path toward full independence, formalized legally through the Statute of Westminster (1931) and completed with the patriation of the Constitution in 1982.