Jacques Cartier

Henri-Émile ChevalierProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 205K words
Chapters: 21

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Jacques Cartier by H. Emile ChevalierAuthor: Chevalier, H. Emile (Henri Emile), 1828-1879,Language: French, Class: F1001: North America local history: Canada, Release Date: Jun 2, 2006

Editor's review

This book is a nineteenth-century work on Jacques Cartier by the French author H. Emile Chevalier. Cartier was a sixteenth-century French explorer who made several voyages to North America and had a major influence on the early European exploration of what is now Canada. As nineteenth-century historical writing, the book recounts Cartier's voyages and the geographical discovery of North America in a narrative style and with a historical outlook characteristic of its time, offering readers insight into how the early French-speaking world wrote about this history of colonial exploration. The original text is in French, and the book is suitable for readers with some reading ability in French who are interested in early Canadian history, the Age of Exploration, or the history of French maritime expansion. It is best read alongside modern historical scholarship so that differences between sources and narrative can be discerned. As a public-domain e-book, it is easy to search and quote, and can be used for supplementary reading in history courses or for preparing materials on related topics.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with French reading ability and an interest in the early exploration of Canada
History students studying European maritime activity and the geographical discovery of North America during the Age of Exploration
Readers interested in French-language historical sources and nineteenth-century styles of historical writing
Teachers and students who need public-domain source material for course preparation or topical quotations

Not a good fit for

General readers who cannot read the original French and cannot find a reliable translation
Rigorous researchers expecting modern scholarly annotation and a critical introduction
Readers seeking the latest archaeological or historical findings

Reading tips

Begin by learning the timeline and main locations of Cartier's three voyages to North America before entering the main text; the thread will be clearer.
Read alongside modern works on early Canadian history, and take care to distinguish nineteenth-century narrative from contemporary historical conclusions.
Mark passages describing place names, Indigenous groups, and routes as you read, for later verification and comparison.
If reading French is difficult, prioritize close reading of key chapters and use a dictionary and maps to aid understanding.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What language is the original text in, and how difficult is it to read?

The original is in French, published in the nineteenth century, and its prose reflects the narrative conventions and historical writing style of that era. Readers with intermediate or better French should manage it comfortably; beginners may need a dictionary along with maps and background materials.

Is this book suitable for academic citation on early Canadian history?

It can serve as a documentary sample of how the nineteenth-century French-speaking world wrote about Cartier and North American exploration, but it should not be used alone as a modern scholarly source. Cite it alongside contemporary historical works, original voyage records, and annotated editions, and be alert to the period assumptions and narrative choices it reflects.

What background knowledge should I have before reading this book?

It helps to first understand the context of sixteenth-century French exploration in North America, the basic course of Cartier's voyages, and the geography of the St. Lawrence River basin. With that background, the book's accounts of routes, place names, and encounters are much easier to follow.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Henri-Émile Chevalier Author · French · 1828–1879

Henri-Émile Chevalier (1828–1879) was a French journalist, novelist and librarian, born in Châtillon in 1828 and died in Paris in 1879. For political reasons he went into exile in the United States and Canada, where he edited the periodical La Ruche and became familiar with the geography and peoples of North America. The collection holds thirteen of his works, including Le chasseur noir, Les derniers Iroquois, La Tête-Plate, La fille des indiens rouges and Jacques Cartier. Most are adventure novels about Native Americans, combining exotic settings and historical narrative with tight plotting and attention to indigenous life and tribal conflict. Public information is limited, and a full survey of his output and literary standing remains to be compiled, but existing sources show him to be a representative nineteenth-century French writer of North American adventure fiction.