1534 - Jacques Cartier explores the St. Lawrence River, proclaims the sovereignty of France over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 1583 - Newfoundland becomes the first British overseas colony.1600s - Rivalry for fur trade between French, English and Dutch; Europeans take advantage of existing rivalries among indigenous peoples to form alliances. 1608 - Samuel de Champlain establishes a fortified commercial post in Quebec. 1627 - The company of New France is established to govern and to exploit the "New France" - the colonies of France in North America. 1670 - London merchants founded the Hudson Bay Company. The company has commercial rights for regions whose rivers flow into Hudson Bay. 1701 - Thirty indigenous nations sign a peace treaty near Montreal with the French. …show more content…
Almost half of the Canadians perished. British victories 1756 - The Seven Years War begins between New France and the British colonies, bigger and more economically powerful. After some French successes at the beginning, the town of Quebec falls in 1759 and the British advance over Montreal. 1763 - According to the Treaty of Paris, Britain acquires all the French colonies east of the Mississippi including New France, which becomes the colony of