Saint Croix Island, Maine
Saint Croix Island, long known to locals as Dochet Island, is a small uninhabited island in Maine near the mouth of the Saint Croix River that forms part of the Canada–United States border separating Maine from New Brunswick. The island is in the heart of the traditional lands of the Passamaquoddy people who, according to oral tradition, used it to store food away from the dangers of mainland animals; the island was the site of an early attempt at French colonization by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons in 1604. In 1984 it was designated by the United States Congress as Saint Croix Island International Historic Site. There is no public access to the island, but there is a visitor contact station on the U. S. a display on the Canadian mainland opposite the island. The 6.5 acre island measures 200 yd long by 100 yd wide, is located 4 mi upstream from the mouth of the river on Passamaquoddy Bay. The Passamaquoddy Nation, who had lived around and used the island for numerous centuries before European discovery used several names for the island including Muttoneguis, Muttoneguamus and Metnegwis.
"Captain Nicola Anawan, 67 years old, said the Indians called the Magaguadavic the St. Croix, because there was a cross put up there by the French, the whole river was called St. Croix when he was a boy, did not know that the Scoudiac was called St. Croix; the two islands on this side of Devil's Head are called Muttoneguis and Aluttonegwenish, a great and little island, where was a store to deposit things." St. Croix became known as Bone Island in the 18th century after many of the graves were exposed by erosion. Twenty-three sets of remains were removed in 1969 and subsequently reburied in 2003. Analysis showed that many of them had indications of scurvy, confirming the cause of the deaths described by Champlain. One skull showed signs of having been autopsied, which Champlain wrote that he had ordered to try to discover the cause of their illness; the island was neutral territory in the War of 1812, leading it to be sometimes called Neutral Island. Named by the French, Ile Ste-Croix, the island has been called Demont's Island, Doucett Island, Docea's Island, which became Dochet Island.
French noble Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, established a settlement on Saint Croix Island in June 1604 under the authority of Henry IV, King of France. This outpost was one of the first attempts by France at year-round colonization in the territory they called l'Acadie. Earlier attempts at Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541 by Jacques Cartier, at Sable Island in 1598 by Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez, at Tadoussac, Quebec in 1600 by François Gravé Du Pont, had failed. Cartographer Samuel de Champlain was part of the Dugua expedition and settlement on the small river island in 1604. During the first winter there more than half the settlers had perished due to a "land-sickness" believed to be scurvy; the following spring and François Gravé Du Pont moved the settlement to a new location on the southern shore of the Bay of Fundy Champlain had found during a shoreline reconnaissance there for a more suitable site. Called Port-Royal, it became the first permanent European settlement in New France. In 1607 Champlain left for France, never to return to Acadia again.
However, In 1608, Champlain set sail in his third voyage from France to establish a settlement on a site on the Saint Lawrence River that became Québec. In October 1613, after having burned the French mission at Mount Desert Island, Samuel Argall went on to burn the old French buildings that remained on Sainte-Croix before he moved on to raid Port Royal. During a boundary dispute between Britain and the U. S. in 1797, the island was deemed to be under U. S. sovereignty by a survey of the river which determined it to be on the western side of its main channel. Canada issued a nationally circulating twenty-five cent piece in 2004 that commemorated the island and the beginnings of Acadia there; the United States Congress designated the island Saint Croix Island National Monument in 1949. The monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, it was given its current International Historic Site designation by Congress on September 25, 1984, unique in the national park systems of both the United States and Canada.
Since 1968, the island has been managed by the National Park Service from offices at Acadia National Park, the nearest staffed U. S. national park unit, in consultation with Parks Canada, which maintains a viewing and interpretation site on the New Brunswick side of the river. Visitors are prohibited from the island to protect historical remains. A statue of Champlain and interpretive facilities on shore depict its history. In Canada, the island was first recognized in 1958 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board as having national historic significance, it recommended creation of Dochet Island National Historic Site, but this was rejected by the government on the basis that its location fell outside national jurisdiction. A decade in 1968, the HSMB reiterated the site's significance, suggesting Parks Canada "...cooperate with the United States National Parks Service in the development of the island as an Historic Park." This was approved, today Parks Canada operates St. Croix Island International Historic Site at Bayside, Charlotte County, a site overlooking the island, similar to the U.
S. approach to the site's interpretation. The two nations cooperate on commemorative activities and promotions. Special commemorations by the two nations in 2004 marked the 400th anniversary of French settlement in North America. In 2009, the site started offering a full French translation of its U. S. website, offered by teen volunteer Olivier Fontenelle. Its Parks
Henry IV of France
Henry IV known by the epithet Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, he was assassinated in 1610 by François Ravaillac, a fanatical Catholic, was succeeded by his son Louis XIII. The son of Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme and Jeanne d'Albret, the Queen of Navarre, Henry was baptised as a Catholic but raised in the Protestant faith by his mother, he inherited the throne of Navarre in 1572 on his mother's death. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the French Wars of Religion escaping assassination in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, he led Protestant forces against the royal army. Henry IV and his predecessor Henry III of France are both direct descendants of the Saint-King Louis IX. Henry III belonged to the House of Valois, descended from Philip III of France, elder son of Saint Louis; as Head of the House of Bourbon, Henry was "first prince of the blood."
Upon the death of his brother-in-law and distant cousin Henry III in 1589, Henry was called to the French succession by the Salic law. He kept the Protestant faith and had to fight against the Catholic League, which denied that he could wear France's crown as a Protestant. To obtain mastery over his kingdom, after four years of stalemate, he found it prudent to abjure the Calvinist faith; as a pragmatic politician, he displayed an unusual religious tolerance for the era. Notably, he promulgated the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants, thereby ending the Wars of Religion. Considered a usurper by some Catholics and a traitor by some Protestants, Henry became target of at least 12 assassination attempts. An unpopular king among his contemporaries, Henry gained more status after his death, he was admired for his conversion to Catholicism. The "Good King Henry" was remembered for his geniality and his great concern about the welfare of his subjects. An active ruler, he worked to regularise state finance, promote agriculture, eliminate corruption and encourage education.
During his reign, the French colonization of the Americas began with the foundation of the colony of Acadia and its capital Port-Royal. He was celebrated in Voltaire's Henriade. Henry de Bourbon was born in Pau, the capital of the joint Kingdom of Navarre with the sovereign principality of Béarn, his parents were Queen Joan III of Navarre and her consort, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, King of Navarre. Although baptised as a Roman Catholic, Henry was raised as a Protestant by his mother, who had declared Calvinism the religion of Navarre; as a teenager, Henry joined the Huguenot forces in the French Wars of Religion. On 9 June 1572, upon his mother's death, the 19-year-old became King of Navarre. At Queen Joan's death, it was arranged for Henry to marry Margaret of Valois, daughter of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici; the wedding took place in Paris on 18 August 1572 on the parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral. On 24 August, the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre began in Paris. Several thousand Protestants who had come to Paris for Henry's wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed.
Henry narrowly escaped death thanks to the help of his wife and his promise to convert to Catholicism. He was forced to live at the court of France, but he escaped in early 1576. On 5 February of that year, he formally abjured Catholicism at Tours and rejoined the Protestant forces in the military conflict, he named Catherine de Bourbon, regent of Béarn. Catherine held the regency for nearly thirty years. Henry became heir presumptive to the French throne in 1584 upon the death of Francis, Duke of Anjou and heir to the Catholic Henry III, who had succeeded Charles IX in 1574; because Henry of Navarre was the next senior agnatic descendant of King Louis IX, King Henry III had no choice but to recognise him as the legitimate successor. Salic law barred the king's sisters and all others who could claim descent through only the female line from inheriting. Since Henry of Navarre was a Huguenot, the issue was not considered settled in many quarters of the country, France was plunged into a phase of the Wars of Religion known as the War of the Three Henries.
Henry III and Henry of Navarre were two of these Henries. The third was Henry I, Duke of Guise, who pushed for complete suppression of the Huguenots and had much support among Catholic loyalists. Political disagreements among the parties set off a series of campaigns and counter-campaigns that culminated in the Battle of Coutras. In December 1588, Henry III had Henry I of Guise murdered, along with his brother, Cardinal de Guise. Henry III thought that the removal of the brothers would restore his authority. However, the populace rose against him. In several cities, the title of the king was no longer recognized, his power was limited to Blois and the surrounding districts. In the general chaos, Henry III relied on King Henry of his Huguenots; the two kings were united by a common interest—to win France from the Catholic League. Henry III acknowledged the King of Navarre as a true subject and Frenchman, not a fanatic Huguenot aiming for the destruction of
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spain in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris. At its peak in 1712, the territory of New France sometimes known as the French North American Empire or Royal New France, consisted of five colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, the most developed colony and divided into the districts of Québec, Trois-Rivières and Montréal. In the sixteenth century, the lands were used to draw from the wealth of natural resources such as furs through trade with the various indigenous peoples. In the seventeenth century, successful settlements began in Acadia, in Quebec by the efforts of Champlain. By 1765, the population of the new Province of Quebec reached 70,000 settlers; the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht resulted in France relinquishing its claims to mainland Acadia, the Hudson Bay and Newfoundland to England.
France established the colony of Île Royale, now called Cape Breton Island, where they built the Fortress of Louisbourg. Acadia had a difficult history, with the British causing the Great Upheaval with the forced expulsion of the Acadians in the period from 1755 to 1764; this has been remembered on July 28 each year since 2003. Their descendants are dispersed in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, in Maine and Louisiana in the United States, with small populations in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia and the Magdalen Islands; some went to France. In 1763, France had ceded the rest of New France, except the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, to Great Britain and Spain at the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years' War. Britain received Canada and the parts of French Louisiana which lay east of the Mississippi River – except for the Île d'Orléans, granted to Spain, along with the territory to the west – the larger portion of Louisiana. In 1800, Spain returned its portion of Louisiana to France under the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso.
However, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte in turn sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, permanently ending French colonial efforts on the North American mainland. New France became absorbed within the United States and Canada, with the only vestige remaining under French rule being the tiny islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. In the United States, the legacy of New France includes numerous placenames as well as small pockets of French-speaking communities. In Canada, institutional bilingualism and strong Francophone identities are arguably the most enduring legacy of New France. Around 1523, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano convinced King Francis I to commission an expedition to find a western route to Cathay. Late that year, Verrazzano set sail in Dieppe. After exploring the coast of the present-day Carolinas early the following year, he headed north along the coast anchoring in the Narrows of New York Bay; the first European to visit the site of present-day New York, Verrazzano named it Nouvelle-Angoulême in honour of the king, the former count of Angoulême.
Verrazzano's voyage convinced the king to seek to establish a colony in the newly discovered land. Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to that land between New Spain and English Newfoundland. In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis I, it was the first province of New France. The first settlement of 400 people, Fort Charlesbourg-Royal, was attempted in 1541 but lasted only two years. French fishing fleets continued to sail to the Atlantic coast and into the St. Lawrence River, making alliances with Canadian First Nations that became important once France began to occupy the land. French merchants soon realized the St. Lawrence region was full of valuable fur-bearing animals the beaver, which were becoming rare in Europe; the French crown decided to colonize the territory to secure and expand its influence in America. Another early French attempt at settlement in North America took place in 1564 at Fort Caroline, now Jacksonville, Florida.
Intended as a haven for Huguenots, Caroline was founded under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière and Jean Ribault. It was sacked by the Spanish led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés who established the settlement of St. Augustine on 20 September 1565. Acadia and Canada were inhabited by indigenous nomadic Algonquian peoples and sedentary Iroquoian peoples; these lands were full of valuable natural resources, which attracted all of Europe. By the 1580s, French trading companies had been set up, ships were contracted to bring back furs. Much of what transpired between the indigenous population and their European visitors around that time is not known, for lack of historical records. Other attempts at establishing permanent settlements were failures. In 1598, a French trading post was established on Sable Island, off the coast of Acadia, but was unsuccessful. In 1600, a trading post was established at Tadoussac. In 1604, a settlement w
William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling was a Scottish courtier and poet, involved in the Scottish colonisation of Habitation at Port-Royal, Nova Scotia and Long Island, New York. His literary works include The Monarchick Tragedies and Doomes-Day. William Alexander was the son of daughter of an Allan Couttie; as a young man, William accompanied him abroad. At a date he received the place of Gentleman Usher to Prince Charles, son of James I of England, continued in favour at court after Prince Charles became Charles I of England in 1625, he built a reputation as a poet and writer of rhymed tragedies, assisted King James I and VI in preparing the metrical version known as "The Psalms of King David, translated by King James" and published by authority of Charles I. James knighted him in 1609 and appointed him the Master of Requests for Scotland in 1614 his private secretary. In 1615 he was made a member of the Scottish Privy Council. In 1621, King James I granted William a royal charter appointing him mayor of a vast territory, enlarged into a lordship and barony of Nova Scotia.
The creation of Baronets of Nova Scotia was used to settle the plantation of the new province. He was held that office for the rest of his life. Lord Stirling's efforts at colonisation were less successful, at least in monetary terms, he established a Scottish settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, led by his son William Alexander. However the effort cost him most of his fortune, when the region—now Canada's three Maritime Provinces and the state of Maine—was returned to France in 1632, it was lost, he spent his years with limited means, died in London on 12 September 1640. However Alexander's settlement provided the basis for British claims to Nova Scotia and his baronets provided the Coat of arms of Nova Scotia and Flag of Nova Scotia which are still in use today. In 1630, King Charles rewarded his service by creating him Lord Alexander of Tullibody and Viscount of Stirling. Three years when Charles was crowned in Holyrood, in 1633 he became Earl of Stirling and Viscount Canada. On 22 April 1636, Charles told the Plymouth Colony, which had laid claim to Long Island but had not settled it, to give the island to Alexander.
Through his agent James Farret, Alexander in turn sold most of the eastern island to the New Haven Colony and Connecticut Colony. Farret arrived in New Amsterdam in 1637 to present his claim of English sovereignty but was arrested and sent to prison in Holland where he escaped. English colonists attempted to settle at Cow Bay at what today is Port Washington, New York in 1640, but were arrested and released after saying they were mistaken about the title. After 1640, eastern Long Island was settled by the English while the western portion remained under Dutch rule until 1674. Alexander died on 12 February 1640 and was succeeded by his grandson William Alexander, 2nd Earl of Stirling, a child who himself died the same year; the 3rd Earl, Henry Alexander, was the second son of the 1st Earl. Alexander was one of the most regarded Scottish poets in early seventeenth-century Scotland and England: he was praised by William Drummond of Hawthornden, Arthur Johnstone, Andrew Ramsey, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel and John Davies of Hereford.
Alexander's earliest work was Aurora, described on its title-page as'the first fancies of the author's youth' and is a late addition to the corpus of Elizabethan Petrarchan sonnets. His closet dramas - Croesus, The Alexandrean, Julius Caesar - were published together as The Monarchick Tragedies. According to Daniel Cadman, in these plays Alexander'interrogates the value of republican forms of government and provides a voice for the frustrations of politically marginalised subjects of absolutist regimes'. Alexander's grandest work is an epic poem describing the end of Doomes-day, it was first published in four books, in twelve. The poem, which contains 1,400 eight-line stanzas in total, begins with a synopsis of world history in the First'Hour' provides long catalogues of the creatures, battle dead, monarchs, biblical characters and members of the heavenly host who will appear at the Final Judgement. Alexander's method was indebted to the French Protestant poet Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas.
Alexander collaborated with James VI and I on a new paraphrase of the Psalms, composed a continuation to Philip Sidney's Arcadia that links the end of Book 3 in Sidney's incomplete revised version to the ending in the 1593 text, wrote down his thoughts on poetry in Anacrisis: Or a Censure of some Poets Ancient and Modern. Anacrisis begins with a reflection on the pleasure of literature: After a great Travel both of Body and of Mind, the more painful, by retiring for a Time where I was born being curious, as the most dainty Kind of Pleasure for such as are capable of their Delicacies to recreate myself with the Muses,—I may justly say recreate, since they create new Spirits I con
Annapolis Royal
Annapolis Royal known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the 1605 French settlement of Port-Royal National Historic Site known as the Habitation; this new French settlement was renamed in honour of Queen Anne following the Siege of Port Royal in 1710 by Britain. The town was the capital of Acadia and Nova Scotia for 150 years, until the founding of the City of Halifax in 1749, it was attacked by the British six times before permanently changing hands after the Siege of Port Royal in 1710. Over the next fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital. Including a raid during the American Revolution, Annapolis Royal faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America; as the site of several pivotal events during the early years of the colonisation of Canada, the historic core of Annapolis Royal was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1994.
Annapolis Royal is situated in a good but shallow harbor at the western end of the fertile Annapolis Valley, nestled between the North and South mountains which define the valley. The town is on south bank of the Annapolis River facing the tidal Annapolis Basin; the riverside forms the waterfront for this historic town. Directly opposite Annapolis Royal on the northern bank of the river is the community of Granville Ferry. Allains Creek joins the Annapolis River at the town; the Bay of Fundy is just over the North Mountain, 10 kilometers north of the town. The original French year-round settlement at present-day Port Royal, known as the Habitation at Port-Royal, was established in 1605 by François Gravé Du Pont, Samuel de Champlain and for Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons; the Port-Royal site is 10 km west of present-day Annapolis Royal at the mouth of the Annapolis River on the Annapolis Basin. This initial settlement was abandoned for several years after being destroyed by British-American attackers in 1613, but was the first year-round European settlement in Canada.
It was likely to have been the site of the introduction of apples to Canada in 1606. In 1629 Scottish settlers, under the auspices of Sir William Alexander, established their settlement, known as Charlesfort, at the mouth of the Annapolis River; the settlement was abandoned to the French under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. A second French settlement replaced the Scottish Charlesfort at present-day Annapolis Royal, it was called Port Royal and it developed into the capital of the French colony of Acadia. Port-Royal under the French soon became self-sufficient and grew modestly for nearly a century, though it was subject to frequent attacks and capture by British military forces or those of its New England colonists, only to be restored each time to French control by subsequent recapture or treaty stipulations. Acadia remained in French hands throughout most of the 17th century. In 1710, Port Royal was captured a final time from the French at the Siege of Port Royal during Queen Anne's War, marking the British conquest of mainland Nova Scotia.
The British renamed Fort Anne after Queen Anne, the reigning monarch. The Annapolis Basin, Annapolis River, Annapolis County, the Annapolis Valley all take their name from the town. After success in the local Battle of Bloody Creek, 600 Acadians and native warriors attempted to retake the Acadian capital. Under the leadership of Bernard-Anselme d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin they descended on Annapolis Royal and laid siege to Fort Anne; the garrison had fewer than 200 men, but the attackers had no artillery and were thus unable to make an impression on the fort. They dispersed, Annapolis Royal remained in British hands for the remainder of the war. Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Acadia was formally granted to the British; the next half-century would see great turbulence as Britain and France vied for dominance in Acadia and in North America more generally. During Father Rale's War, in July 1722 the Abenaki and Mi'kmaq attempted to create a blockade of Annapolis Royal, with the intent of starving the capital.
The natives captured 18 fishing prisoners from present-day Yarmouth to Canso. They seized prisoners and vessels from the Bay of Fundy. In response to the New England attack on Father Rale at Norridgewock in March 1722, 165 Mi'kmaq and Maliseet troops gathered at Minas to lay siege to the Lt. Governor of Nova Scotia at Annapolis Royal. Under potential siege, in May 1722, Lieutenant Governor John Doucett took 22 Mi'kmaq hostage at Annapolis Royal to prevent the capital from being attacked. Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute declared war on the Abenaki. New Englanders retrieved some of the vessels and prisoners after the Battle at Winnepang in which thirty-five natives and five New-Englanders were killed. Other vessels and prisoners were retrieved at Malagash Harbour. During Father Rale's War, the worst moment of the war for the capital came in early July 1724 when a group of sixty Mikmaq and Maliseets raided Annapolis Royal, they killed and scalped a sergeant and a private, wounded four more soldiers, terrorized the village.
They burned houses and took prisoners. The British responded o
North America
North America is a continent within the Northern Hemisphere and all within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16.5% of the earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, the fourth by population after Asia and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population, if nearby islands are included. North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge 40,000 to 17,000 years ago; the so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago. The Classic stage spans the 6th to 13th centuries.
The Pre-Columbian era ended in 1492, the transatlantic migrations—the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery and the Early Modern period. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants. Owing to the European colonization of the Americas, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, their culture reflects Western traditions; the Americas are accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a world map, in which he placed the word "America" on the continent of South America, in the middle of what is today Brazil, he explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio:... ab Americo inventore... quasi Americi terram sive Americam.
For Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespucci's name, but in its feminine form "America", following the examples of "Europa", "Asia" and "Africa". Other mapmakers extended the name America to the northern continent, In 1538, Gerard Mercator used America on his map of the world for all the Western Hemisphere; some argue that because the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries, the derivation from "Amerigo Vespucci" could be put in question. In 1874, Thomas Belt proposed a derivation from the Amerrique mountains of Central America. Marcou corresponded with Augustus Le Plongeon, who wrote: "The name AMERICA or AMERRIQUE in the Mayan language means, a country of perpetually strong wind, or the Land of the Wind, and... the can mean... a spirit that breathes, life itself." The United Nations formally recognizes "North America" as comprising three areas: Northern America, Central America, The Caribbean.
This has been formally defined by the UN Statistics Division. The term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with context. In Canadian English, North America refers to the land mass as a whole consisting of Mexico, the United States, Canada, although it is ambiguous which other countries are included, is defined by context. In the United States of America, usage of the term may refer only to Canada and the US, sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands. In France, Portugal, Romania and the countries of Latin America, the cognates of North America designate a subcontinent of the Americas comprising Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greenland, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, Bermuda. North America has been referred to by other names. Spanish North America was referred to as Northern America, this was the first official name given to Mexico. Geographically the North American continent has many subregions; these include cultural and geographic regions. Economic regions included those formed by trade blocs, such as the North American Trade Agreement bloc and Central American Trade Agreement.
Linguistically and culturally, the continent could be divided into Latin America. Anglo-America includes most of Northern America and Caribbean islands with English-speaking populations; the southern North American continent is composed of two regions. These are the Caribbean; the north of the continent maintains recognized regions as well. In contrast to the common definition of "North America", which encompasses the whole continent, the term "North America" is sometimes used to refer only to Mexico, the United States, Greenland; the term Northern America refers to the northern-most countries and territories of North America: the United States, Bermuda, St. Pierre and Miquelon and Greenland. Although the term does not refer to a unifie
Mathieu da Costa
Mathieu da Costa is the first recorded free black person in Canada. He was a member of the exploring party of Pierre Dugua, the Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century. There is little documentation about da Costa. Of at least partial African ancestry, he is known to have been a freeman favoured by explorers for his multilingual talents. Numerous mixed-race African-Portuguese persons were part of the Atlantic Creole generation working as sailors or interpreters, his portfolio of languages is thought to have included Dutch, French, Portuguese, Mi'kmaq, pidgin Basque, the dialect many Aboriginals used for trading purposes. He was engaged by the Portuguese as a translator, having learned their language quickly, it was thought. As early as 1499, João Fernandes Lavrador explored the north Atlantic coast of Canada; the following year, brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real, explored what is today the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Greenland, claiming these lands for Portugal.
João Álvares Fagundes and Pêro de Barcelos established fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521. The tradition of Europeans depending on such translators was more than a century old by the time da Costa started working with them. An interpreter and general go-between such as da Costa was known as um grumete in the Portuguese-speaking world. Da Costa would be sought by both the English and the Dutch to help in their contacts with Aboriginal peoples in North America, but the French secured his services. Mathieu da Costa was in Amsterdam, Holland, in February 1607; the Dutch had seized Pierre Du Gua de Monts's ships near Tadoussac at the St. Lawrence River in a trade dispute, took Da Costa as well, his abduction suggests that his talents helped bridge the gap between the Europeans and the First Nations of Canada. French documents record da Costa working for the leaders of Port Royal in 1608. In 1608 he was hired for three years by Pierre Du Gua de Monts, it may be assumed that Da Costa accompanied Du Gua de Monts and Samuel de Champlain on one or more of their voyages to Acadia and the St Lawrence area.
However, in 1609, his presence is recorded in Rouen, in a jail in Le Havre, France, in December. Whether he visited Canada that year is open to question. Du Gua's activities in Canada did not end until 1617. A court case related to expenses incurred by Nicolas de Bauquemare of Rouen to support da Costa dragged on until 1619, although there is no positive indication that Mathieu da Costa was present. There is controversy as to. One theory suggested that the North American cultural context of trading centers, with multi-lingual populations, was similar to the African trading ports. Da Costa's translation and communication skills helped reduce the cultural gap between early French explorers and the First Nations, his work in Canada is honoured at the Port-Royal National Historic Site in Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. A domestic rate postage stamp honoring da Costa was issued by Canada Post on February 1, 2017, in conjunction with Black History Month. A plaque at Port Royal, Nova Scotia commemorates da Costa's contribution.
It is part of the Mathieu da Costa African Heritage Trail, a series of monuments marking African Nova Scotian history in the Annapolis Valley. It was unveiled in July 2005The Mathieu da Costa Challenge was an annual creative writing and artwork contest started in 1996 by the Department of Canadian Heritage; the challenge encourages youth to discover how diversity has shaped Canada’s history and the important role that pluralism plays in Canadian society. Black Nova Scotians Portuguese colonization of the Americas Other readings "Mathieu Da Costa along the Coasts of Nova Scotia: Some Possibilities" by John Johnston. "Estéban Gomez et Mathieu Dacosta: Marins noirs sur l'atlantique" Par Arsene Francoeur Nganga,Préface du Professeur John. K. Thornton, Edilivre,Saint denis,Décembre 2017. ISBN 9782414167166 Government of Canada "Mathieu da Costa Challenge" "Mathieu da Costa and early Canada " Mateus da Costa e os trilhos de Megumaagee La Traversée des mondes
