Jacques Cartier Trivia
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50 free Jacques Cartier trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence looking for China, found a village called kanata, and gave a country its name by mistake. This quiz covers the Breton navigator's three voyages and their consequences. The easy questions ask which king sent him, which river he explored, what he was hoping to find, which two Iroquoian towns he visited and how Canada got its name. From there it moves into the details: the great auks slaughtered on the Bird Islands, the ten-metre cross at Gaspé, the chief's two sons carried off to France, the crowd of a thousand at Hochelaga, the rapids named for China, the winter frozen in under the Rock of Quebec, and the tree bark tea that saved 85 men from scurvy. The harder end is for history readers: Bishop Le Veneur's introduction at Mont Saint-Michel, the 1532 union of Brittany and France, Donnacona's kidnapping and death, the Kingdom of Saguenay, Roberval's appointment over Cartier's head, Charlesbourg-Royal and its cattle and cabbages, the diamonds that were quartz, the night-time escape from Roberval off Newfoundland, Cartier's later work as a Portuguese interpreter, the 2006 rediscovery of the lost colony, the ships Grande Hermine and Émérillon, and the bridge renamed for the 400th anniversary. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on Cartier, his companions and the places he named, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Samuel de Champlain, Canada and age of exploration quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Breton port was Jacques Cartier born in 1491?
Saint-Malo
He is buried in the town's cathedral and appears often in its baptismal registers as a godfather.
Q 02Which French king commissioned Cartier's voyages?
Francis I
He had earlier backed Verrazzano's 1524 exploration of the North American coast.
Q 03Which bishop introduced Cartier to the king at the Manoir de Brion?
Jean Le Veneur
He was abbot of Mont Saint-Michel and cited Cartier's voyages to Newfoundland and Brazil.
Q 04What was Cartier hoping to find when he set sail in April 1534?
A western passage to the East Indies
His commission spoke of lands 'where it is said that a great quantity of gold and other precious things are to be found'.
Q 05How long did Cartier's first Atlantic crossing take?
Twenty days
He began exploring Newfoundland and the Gulf on 10 May 1534.
Q 06Which now-extinct bird did Cartier's crew slaughter by the hundreds in the Magdalen Islands?
Great auk
About 1,000 birds were killed; the great auk died out in 1852.
Q 07Which people did Cartier most likely meet in his first two encounters, on Chaleur Bay?
Mi'kmaq
The meetings were brief and some trading took place.
Q 08What does the name Cartier gave Chaleur Bay mean?
Bay of warmth
The local Indigenous name is Mawipoqtapei.
Q 09Where did Cartier plant a ten-metre cross on 24 July 1534 to claim the land for France?
Gaspé Bay
It bore the words 'Long Live the King of France'; the local Iroquoians understood the gesture.
Q 10Whose two sons did Cartier take to France at the end of his first voyage?
Chief Donnacona's
The chief agreed only on condition they return with European trade goods; they were Domagaya and Taignoagny.
Q 11What did Cartier believe he had reached when he returned to France in September 1534?
An Asian land
He would only later acknowledge the New World as a separate landmass.
Q 12How large was Cartier's second expedition, which sailed in May 1535?
3 vessels and 110 men
His two Iroquoian captives sailed with them as guides.
Q 13What was the Iroquoian capital Cartier reached, on the site of today's Quebec City?
Stadacona
Its chief ruled the region; Cartier called it small and squalid next to the larger town upriver.
Q 21Whom did Cartier kidnap in May 1536 to tell the king about a land of gold?
Chief Donnacona
The chief was treated well at the king's expense but died in France around 1539.
Q 22What was the name of the mythical rich land Cartier sought on his later voyages?
Kingdom of Saguenay
It was said to be full of gold, rubies and other treasures somewhere to the north.
Q 23How many moons did Cartier promise to bring Donnacona back within?
12
He never did; the chief died in France about 1539.
Q 24Who was appointed lieutenant general over Cartier for the third expedition in 1541?
Q 14How large was the crowd that greeted Cartier at Hochelaga on 2 October 1535?
Over a thousand
He found the town far more impressive than the chief's squalid village downriver.
Q 15Which mountain did Cartier climb and name in honour of his king in 1535?
Mount Royal
Residents of the town guided him up; the city of Montreal takes its name from it.
Q 16Why were the rapids blocking Cartier's route named Lachine?
He thought China lay beyond them
He was so sure the river was the Northwest Passage that the town there is still called Lachine.
Q 17Where did Cartier's fleet lie frozen from mid-November 1535 to mid-April 1536?
The mouth of the St. Charles River
Ice was over a fathom thick and snow four feet deep under the Rock of Quebec.
Q 18What disease ravaged Cartier's men that winter?
Scurvy
By mid-February, of 110 men 'not ten were well enough to help the others'.
Q 19What cured Cartier's men of the winter sickness?
A drink from the bark of the annedda tree
Domagaya revealed the remedy, probably from arbor vitae; the French used up a whole tree in a week.
Q 20How many Frenchmen survived the winter of 1535-36 thanks to the remedy?
85
Cartier proclaimed the cure a Godsend and a miracle.
Jean-François de Roberval
A Huguenot friend of the king, he let Cartier sail ahead while he waited for supplies.
Q 25How many ships did Cartier take on his third voyage in May 1541?
5
The goals were now Saguenay's riches and a permanent settlement, not a passage to the Orient.
Q 26What did Cartier name the fortified settlement he built at Cap-Rouge in 1541?
Charlesbourg-Royal
Convicts and colonists landed, cattle were turned loose and cabbages, turnips and lettuce planted.
Q 27What did the 'diamonds' and 'gold' Cartier shipped home turn out to be?
Quartz crystals and iron pyrites
The French still say 'faux comme les diamants du Canada'.
Q 28Roughly how many settlers were killed by the Iroquoians in the winter of 1541-42?
35
No records survive of that winter; the details come from returning sailors.
Q 29How did Cartier part from Roberval off Newfoundland in June 1542?
He slipped away under cover of darkness
Roberval wanted him to return to Saguenay; Cartier sailed home with his 'gold and diamonds' instead.
Q 30Whom did Roberval maroon around the time he met Cartier off Newfoundland?
Marguerite de La Rocque
The young relative's ordeal was retold in Marguerite of Navarre's Heptaméron.