 and relations between the French and British were strained and at many times hostile, with the French aligning themselves with different Métiz and First Nation Indian tribes and mounting guerrilla attacks on the British.
In 1755 this led the British to implement a plan whereby all 'Acadians' were forcibly required to declare their allegiance to the British Crown or face forcible deportation. It is thought that some 6000 to 10,000 Arcadians were transported to France or forced southwards into the United States, many ending up in the French Territory in Louisiana and New Orleans. The Cajuns as they came to be called (derived from the word Acadians) established a new culture in Louisiana that exists to this day.
The French however continued to maintain a stronghold over Quebec and Quebec City and many battles ensued, but in 1759 British General James Wolfe (1727-1759) sailed up the St Lawrence River and mounted a surprize attack on the Plains of Abraham on the north side of Québec City. He had with him some 200 ships, 9000 soldiers and 18,000 sailors and outnumbered the French by a large margin who had been drawn out of the City and their camps south.
While the attack was a huge success for the British, General Wolfe died in the battle, and the Commander of the French forces, the Marquis of Montcalm Gozon (1712-1759) also died from his battle wounds.
One year later, the British attacked Montréal and this was a turning point in Canadian history, with the British prevailing over the French authorities, with Québec and Nova Scotia becoming British Colonies in 1763 and the first British Governor of Québec taking up his post in 1764. While the British had control, the British Parliament also enacted the Québec Act, which recognized that the French language could co-exist with English, along with their Catholic Religion and traditions. The Act also expanded the territories of Québec to include Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota, and confirmed that many of the French system of law could co-exist with English Law.
The Québec Act (Acte de Québec) was received well by the Canadians but it did not go down well with the thirteen American Colonies in New England – which had been largely been established by Puritan and Quakers and those settlers in the lands in what would ultimately become American states in the Union. The French Canadians were largely Catholic.
It was only a few years later (1775) that the American War of Independence started, and this time the Battle lines were drawn between the British, their Loyalist supporters, Canadian Quebecois, Iroquois 'Six nations' league/Confederacy and the American Revolutionaries or Patriots depending on your point of view.
This time was a critical period of time in Canada's history as the fledging colonies in Québec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island could have also sided with the New England colonies and become part of the American uprising against the British in the Revolutionary War (American War of Independence 1775-1783) but the three colonies decided to support the British, as did the Iroquois Six Nations.
Wars over centuries have always involved strategies both in terms of using force and power of numbers to overcome an adversary or enemy, but also weakening an enemy at the same time, and sometimes the forces of nature can either add to a success or lead to a failure.
For the Revolutionaries in Boston and Philadelphia seeking to establish their independence from Britain, having strong British and Canadian forces to their north in Canada was a threat to their plans. They could ignore them and hope that they did not pose a threat, or attack them and gain control, and hope that sympathizers to their cause might also join with them and attack the British themselves.
In December 1775, in the middle of winter, the American Continental Army, largely made up of volunteers under the command of General Richard Montgomery (1738-1775) headed north to attack the British and their forts as well as Québec City. Montgomery was killed during the battle. While battles would continue into 1776 and for a while the Continental Army had some successes, even taking control of Montréal, ultimately the Continental forces were repulsed and headed back south. The harsh winter, ice, lack of food and provisions and also smallpox took their toll.
While the British had succeeded in repulsing the Continental Army from Québec, they were not so successful in stopping the Revolutionaries in the 13 New England colonies, and after a Revolutionary war that dragged on from 1775 to 1783 a peace negotiations in 1782 led on to the Treaty of Paris being signed in 1783.
The terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and associated treaties involved the United States and Britain as the two combatants, but also involved Spain, France and the Dutch too, who also held territories in or adjoining the United States.
The principle purpose of the Treaty was to secure peace and define the borders of the United States with its neighbouring countries and territories. Those Loyalists to the British in the 13 states whose land had been confiscated had the land returned, and there was an exchange of prisoners on both sides, as well as other terms agreed to. At one stage in the negotiations the United States also wanted Québec to be ceded to the United States, but this was refused by Britain.
Following the War, in spite of the Treaty, many of the English speaking Loyalists in the new England territories, estimated to be as many as 50,000 headed to Canada to live, and Canada itself divided itself under a Constitutional Act in 1791 into two parts – Upper Canada in the north and Lower Canada in the south.
It was not until March 29th, 1867 seventy six years later that the British House of Lords and House of Commons passed the British North American Act with a Proclamation made by Queen Victoria to unite the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into one dominion under the name of Canada.
That same year, 1867 also saw the purchase of Alaska by the United States from Russia, having offered to sell it to both Britain and the United States, fearing that if they did not sell it, it might well be just taken by force by the United States or Britain.
In 1869 the North West Territory lands and Rupert's Land owned by the Hudson Bay Company were purchased by the British Crown and then came under Canadian control in 1870, renamed as the North West Territories. Manitoba also became part of the Confederation of Canada in 1870 followed by British Columbia in 1871, Prince Edward Island in 1873, the Yukon Territory in 1898, Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905, Newfoundland in 1949 and in 1999 the mass of Arctic Islands to the far north, called Nunavut also became officially part of Canada.
The Spanish in the 1500's explored the west coast, no doubt trading with First Nation people, but there interests largely centred around the Caribbean and coastal areas around the Gulf of Mexico and in South America. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa (c.1475-1519) had managed to cross the Panama Isthmus in 1513. They had even produced maps and charts of the West Coast in the 1500's, though some of the land masses were more conjectures than based on actual discovery.
It was not until the 1770's that the Spanish took more interest in the western coast of America, and this was mainly in response to hearing that Russians were establishing fur trading and hunting bases there. San Blas was first established as a settlement in 1768 and San Francisco in 1776.
The north-west coast of Canada, what became known as British Columbia was also the land of many First Nation tribal groups, including Haida, Salish, Gitxsan, Athapaskan, and others.
A Danish born Explorer, Vitus Bering (1681-1741) commanding a Russian ship for the Tsar Peter I explored and mapped parts of the Siberian coastline in 1725-1730. In 1741 he reached the American coastline hoping to find a land bridge between the top of Siberia to China. He and his crew were ship wrecked on an island and he subsequently died there with Bering Island and Bering Strait both named in his honour.
In 1774 the Spanish Explorer, Juan Pérez Hernàndez (1725-1775) anchored in Nootka Sound trading with the First Nation Indians for furs and in 1775 Juan Francisco de la Bodega-y- Quadra ( 1744-1794) also sailed here too, voyaging north into the Alaskan waters, and laying claim to the land that he saw in the name of Spain.
The search for a North West Passage proved to be taunting task – the objective being to find a faster and therefore more profitable trading route to Asia and the Chinese market.
When you think about these times, you have to consider the great trading Spanish Empire with its established colonies in Mexico and throughout South America, with their trade building in the Pacific, colony in the Philippines, and the Spanish working with the Portuguese with their settlement in Macau. Then on the other side of the Pacific in Canton (Guanzhou) you had the British East India Company with its China trade Monopoly granted under a British Royal Charter, a trading monopoly that it held from 1700 to 1833. Adding to the mix are the Russians in the north, the Americans and the Dutch.
The North West passage, even if it did exist would have been buried by masses of ice, with no way to break through. In addition there are thousands of rugged islands, making any journey a treacherous one, even if there was no ice, winds or freezing temperatures to encounter.
From the east coast, Henry Hudson had searched for the North West