Until this great work is completed, our dominion is little more than a geographical expression - Sir John A. Macdonald

Travel through the eras of  history and the development of the various nations that make up Canada today.

American Colonies | Kirke takes Quebec | English Newfoundland | Phips | Treaty of Utrecht | War of Austrian Succession | Capture of Louisbourg | Treaty of Aix la Chapelle | Halifax | French Indian Wars | Governor Murray

England was one of the first European states to support attempts to shed light on the seas to the west. The belief was that a direct route to China might be discovered and the long land sea route through Muslim and other foreign lands could be eliminated. Henry the VII th backed the Italian explorer John Cabot in 1497. Various attempts were made at settlement and exploration for the next 150 years but English colonies were only really established in the 13th colonies. Fishing stations were used in Newfoundland but the French came and settled in Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Quebec. As tensions mounted between France and England in Europe, competition heated up in the Americas. The English opened up fur trading operations in the 1670's when the Hudson Bay Company was chartered and slowly began to move North into Nova Scotia. Inevitably the friction increased as contact become more and more frequent and the resultant clashes would continue on and off until 1759 resolved the game with an English victory on the plains of Abraham.