Cartier, Jacques (1491–1557)

French navigator who, while seeking a northwest passage to China and Japan in 1535, was the first European to sail up the St Lawrence River, Canada. On this expedition, he named the site of Montréal.

In 1534, on his first voyage from his home town of St Malo in Brittany, Cartier ventured as far as L'Île d'Anticosti off the coast of Québec. On his second voyage the following year, he landed in Pillage Bay, opposite Anticosti, which he named the Bay of St Lawrence (the name was later extended to the river). His party ventured up the river in stages until they reached the impassable rapids near the island of Montréal; they spent an extremely harsh winter there before returning home in 1536. From 1541 to 1543 Cartier led an unsuccessful attempt to find the mythical Saguenay, a kingdom rich in gold and diamonds, which, according to American Indian legend, lay up the Ottawa River.