ON THIS DAY

August 13, 1535

The word “Canada” first appeared in the journals of Jacques

Cartier after he sailed past Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two Indigenous youths are said to have pointed out the route to a nearby village they called

kanata (likely Stadacona, the Iroquoian village located at the present-day site of Quebec City).

Kanata was simply the Iroquoian word for “village” or “settlement,”

but Cartier adopted the name for the entire area controlled by

Chief Donnacona.