Canada
History Timeline - Canada
30,000-15,000 B.C.:
The first people arrive in the area. They travel across a land bridge from Asia to North America.
1000 A.D.:
Vikings explore what is now Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick.
1497:
Explorer John Cabot sails to Canada's east coast and claims it for England.
1534:
Explorer Jacques Cartier becomes the first European to navigate the St. Lawrence River. He claims its shores for France.
1763:
The Treaty of Paris ends seven years of fighting between France and England. France gives its Canadian colonies to England.
1867:
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec join to create the Dominion of Canada. Its government is similar to Britain's.
1896:
Gold is discovered in the western Yukon. This sparks a gold rush in the Klondike Valley.
1959:
The St. Lawrence Seaway opens. The joint project between the U.S. and Canada allows cargo ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.
1982:
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms becomes the law of the land. It outlines rights for all Canadians.
1999:
Nunavut, once part of the Northwest Territories, becomes a self-governing Inuit territory. It is Canada's first territory to have a majority native population.
2006:
Parliament passes a law that recognizes the French-speaking province of Quebec as a separate nation within Canada.
