The Biography Of Jacques Cartier

Not much is known about Cortés's early life, it is predicated that he was born around 1485. In Hispaniola he became a farmer and notary of the town council; he seems to have been content to maintain his position for the first six years or so. He contracted syphilis and, as a result, skipped the ill-fated expeditions of Diego de Nicuesa and Alonso de Ojeda, which left for the mainland of South America in 1509. He recovered by 1511 and sailed with Diego Velázquez to conquer Cuba when he was 19 years old. Cortés went on to join an expedition to Cuba. In 1518, he set out to explore Mexico. In 1519, the ships of Cortés reached the Mexican coast of Yucatan. Mexico had just been conquered by the Spanish a year before, and they were ready to settle it. Cortés was also interested in converting natives to the Christian world. 

Cortés strategically aligned some native peoples to others and eventually overthrew the vast and powerful Aztec empire by means of mass genocide and slavery. The Aztec empire collapsed, its temples were defaced or burned, and its fine art melted into coins. Ordinary people suffered from the European-introduced diseases that wiped out up to 50 per cent of the population, and their new rulers turned out to be no better than the Aztecs. King Charles I appointed him governor of New Spain in 1522 as a reward. Following his decisive victory over the Aztecs, Cortés met his power and status with multiple threats, both from Spain and from his New World rivals. In 1524 he went to Honduras to stop an uprising in the region against him. Cortés led an expedition to the northwest part of Mexico in 1536, in the process of exploring the Pacific coast of Baja California and Mexico. This too was his last voyage. Cortés found himself unceremoniously deprived of influence back in the capital city. He travelled to Spain to negotiate with the king about his case, but was not reappointed to his governorship. Cortés fled into Spain in 1541. He spent much of his later years unsuccessfully pursuing recognition by the Spanish royal court for his accomplishments and support. Cortés later died in 1547.

Born on 31 December 1491 in Saint-Malo, France, Jacques Cartier reportedly surveyed the Americas, specifically Brazil, before undertaking three major North American voyages. In 1534, King Francis I of France sent Cartier on a new journey to the east coast of North America, possibly because of his previous expeditions, and then named the 'northern lands.' For his first voyage, Cartier's instructions were to locate a passage to the Pacific Ocean in the region around Newfoundland, and probably to find precious metals. On 20 April 1534 he left Saint-Malo with two ships and 61 men and reached Newfoundland's coast 20 days later. Cartier passed through several places known to European fishermen on his journey; he renamed them, or mentioned them on his maps. Cartier and his ships reached the St. Lawrence Bay by the Belle Isle Strait and sailed south, meeting the Magdalen Islands coast on June 26, reaching what are now the provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick three days later. He then sailed west, crossing Chaleur Bay to Gaspé, where he approached Iroquois-speaking Aboriginal people.

 In 1535 Cartier set out again on another voyage with 110 men and 3 ships. He travelled out to Newfoundland once again where he interacted with the natives and became quite fond of them, even choosing to settle there for the winter, the Iroquois were very hospitable and even helped the french settlers who were suffering from scurvy. However with more and more pressure to pursue the potential of precious metals, especially gold caused the search and exploration of land to continue. For the third voyage 800 People required a big colonisation project in the area. The explorations were left to Cartier, but the expedition's management and colonial administration were assigned to Jean-François de La Rocque, Sieur de Roberval, a senior military officer who was in charge of recruiting,