How did the Huron-Wendat of the Great Lakes region live?

As whale hunters on the Arctic coast

Where was the first representative assembly elected, in 1758?

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Citizenship Test: History: first peoples to 1791

Aboriginal ways of life, the Vikings, John Cabot and Jacques Cartier, Champlain and New France, the fur trade and the Hudson's Bay Company, the Plains of Abraham, the Quebec Act, the Loyalists and the first elected assemblies.

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History: first peoples to 1791 · Question 1Score 0/0

For which country did John Cabot claim the "New Founde Land"?

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Study reference: Discover Canada (IRCC online edition, 2026), Ch. 3 Canada's History — Aboriginal peoples to The Beginnings of Democracy

All 30 questions in this test

Every question and its answer choices. The correct answers and explanations appear when you take the test above.

For which country did John Cabot claim the "New Founde Land"?
1. England
2. Spain
3. Italy
4. France
How did the Huron-Wendat of the Great Lakes region live?
1. As farmers and hunters
2. As fishers who never farmed
3. As nomads following the bison
4. As whale hunters on the Arctic coast
What is the name of the Viking settlement site in Newfoundland that is now a World Heritage site?
1. Louisbourg
2. St. Croix Island
3. L'Anse aux Meadows
4. Port-Royal
Where was the first representative assembly elected, in 1758?
1. Québec City
2. Halifax, Nova Scotia
3. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
4. York, Upper Canada
In 1792, some black Nova Scotians who had been given poor land moved on to found which settlement?
1. Chatham, Upper Canada
2. Freetown, Sierra Leone
3. Liberia's Monrovia
4. Africville, Nova Scotia
What were the skilled fur traders who travelled by canoe called?
1. Loyalists and Patriotes
2. Voyageurs and coureurs des bois
3. Habitants and seigneurs
4. Mounties and Rangers
What was the collective name for the Atlantic colonies and the two Canadas?
1. British North America
2. The Dominion of Canada
3. The Thirteen Colonies
4. New France
What drove the fur-trade economy of New France?
1. The sale of timber to the Americans
2. Demand for buffalo meat in Europe
3. Gold found along the St. Lawrence
4. European demand for beaver pelts
Why did European explorers call the native peoples of North America "Indians"?
1. They thought they had reached the East Indies
2. The native peoples used that name
3. The King of France chose the name
4. It was the name of a large river they had mapped
Who were the first Europeans to reach Labrador and Newfoundland?
1. The English
2. The Portuguese
3. The Vikings
4. The Spanish
Where does the name Canada come from?
1. The name of a French king
2. The Iroquoian word kanata, meaning village
3. A Cree word meaning great land
4. A Spanish word meaning nothing here
What happened to commanders Wolfe and Montcalm as a result of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham?
1. Both were taken prisoner
2. Both later became governors
3. Both died from battle wounds
4. Only the French commander survived
In what year did John Cabot's expedition begin European exploration of Canada in earnest?
1. 1604
2. 1534
3. 1497
4. 1215
What did the Quebec Act of 1774 allow Catholics to do?
1. Vote in British elections
2. Govern Quebec on their own without the British Crown
3. Form their own army
4. Practise their religion and hold public office
What caused large numbers of Aboriginal people to die after Europeans arrived?
1. European diseases they had no immunity to
2. Wars with the Vikings
3. Extreme cold during the Little Ice Age
4. Famine caused by the fur trade ending
Where did de Monts and Champlain’s expedition settle in 1604 before relocating in 1605?
1. Newfoundland, then Labrador
2. Halifax, then Louisbourg
3. St. Croix Island, then Port-Royal
4. Québec City, then Montreal
Which Aboriginal people were nomadic and followed the bison herd?
1. The Iroquois
2. The Huron-Wendat
3. The Sioux
4. The Inuit
Who was the first European to explore the St. Lawrence River?
1. Pierre de Monts
2. Count Frontenac
3. John Cabot
4. Jacques Cartier
Which Aboriginal peoples of the Northwest were hunter-gatherers?
1. The Huron-Wendat and Iroquois
2. The Cree and Dene
3. The Mohawk and Algonquin
4. The Sioux and Haida
What did the Constitutional Act of 1791 give the Canadas for the first time?
1. Their own national flag
2. Independence from Britain
3. A prime minister and a Cabinet chosen by London
4. Legislative assemblies elected by the people
In 1670, which company received exclusive trading rights over the lands draining into Hudson Bay?
1. The Hudson's Bay Company
2. The North West Company
3. The East India Company
4. The Canadian Pacific Railway
Who were the United Empire Loyalists?
1. Settlers who supported American independence
2. Fur traders who stayed loyal to the Hudson's Bay Company monopoly
3. People loyal to the Crown who fled the American Revolution
4. French soldiers who stayed after 1759
Jacques Cartier claimed land for which king during his voyages of 1534 to 1542?
1. King Charles II of England
2. King Louis XIV of France
3. King Francis I of France
4. King George III
The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the Province of Quebec into which two colonies?
1. East Canada and Rupert's Land
2. Acadia and New France
3. Ontario and Manitoba
4. Upper Canada and Lower Canada
Which explorer mapped Canada’s Atlantic coast on the 1497 expedition described in Discover Canada?
1. Jacques Cartier
2. Henry Hudson
3. John Cabot
4. Samuel de Champlain
In what year did the French and the Iroquois make peace?
1. 1663
2. 1608
3. 1701
4. 1759
Who led thousands of Loyalist Mohawks into Canada?
1. Louis Riel
2. Chief Tecumseh
3. Joseph Brant
4. Gabriel Dumont
In 1608, who built a fortress at what is now Québec City?
1. James Wolfe
2. Samuel de Champlain
3. Jean Talon
4. Jacques Cartier
Under the Quebec Act of 1774, which laws applied in the colony?
1. Only French law in all matters
2. British civil law and French criminal law
3. French civil law and British criminal law
4. Only British law in all matters
In which 1759 battle did the British defeat the French at Québec City?
1. The Battle of Queenston Heights
2. The Battle of Vimy Ridge
3. The Battle of Châteauguay
4. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham

History: first peoples to 1791: key rules to remember

Our summary of what the official handbook says on this topic, in our own words. Read it before or after the practice questions above, then check the original chapter. Read the official chapter ↗

Aboriginal peoples

Europeans called native peoples "Indians" because the first explorers thought they had reached the East Indies.
Huron-Wendat (Great Lakes) and Iroquois: farmers and hunters. Cree and Dene (Northwest): hunter-gatherers. Sioux: nomadic, followed the bison herd. Inuit: lived off Arctic wildlife. West Coast peoples preserved fish by drying and smoking.
Warfare was common among Aboriginal groups (land, resources, prestige).
Many Aboriginal people died of European diseases (no immunity). Aboriginals and Europeans formed strong economic, religious and military bonds in the first 200 years.

The first Europeans

Vikings from Iceland, who colonized Greenland 1,000 years ago, reached Labrador and Newfoundland; their settlement remains at L'Anse aux Meadows are a World Heritage site.
John Cabot, an Italian immigrant to England, mapped Canada's Atlantic shore in 1497 and claimed the land for England.

Exploring a river, naming Canada

Jacques Cartier made three voyages between 1534 and 1542, claiming the land for King Francis I of France.
Cartier heard the Iroquoian word "kanata" ("village"); by the 1550s "Canada" appeared on maps.
Cartier was the first European to explore the St. Lawrence and see present-day Québec City and Montreal.

Royal New France

The expedition settled on Saint Croix Island in 1604. After the harsh winter, it relocated to Port-Royal in 1605. This question identifies that expedition’s sequence rather than claiming it was the first European presence anywhere north of Florida.
1608: Champlain built a fortress at what is now Québec City.
Champlain allied with the Algonquin, Montagnais and Huron, enemies of the Iroquois (a confederation of five, later six, First Nations). French and Iroquois made peace in 1701.
Fur trade driven by European demand for beaver pelts. Leaders Jean Talon, Bishop Laval, Count Frontenac built a French empire from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Frontenac refused to surrender Quebec to the English in 1690. Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, won many victories over the English (late 17th / early 18th c.).

Struggle for a continent

1670: King Charles II of England granted the Hudson's Bay Company exclusive trading rights over the Hudson Bay watershed; for 100 years it competed with Montreal-based traders.
Canoe traders = voyageurs and coureurs des bois; strong alliances with First Nations.
English Atlantic colonies (from the early 1600s) became richer and more populous than New France.
Both commanders died from wounds received in the battle. Wolfe died on the battlefield on September 13, 1759; Montcalm died the following day. “Both died in the battle” is a simplified account and does not mean they died at the same time.

The Province of Quebec / A tradition of accommodation

After the war Britain renamed the colony the "Province of Quebec". French-speaking Catholics = habitants or Canadiens.
Quebec Act of 1774 (British Parliament): one of the constitutional foundations of Canada; religious freedom for Catholics and right to hold public office (not then allowed in Britain); restored French civil law while keeping British criminal law.

United Empire Loyalists

1776: the 13 colonies declared independence and formed the United States.
More than 40,000 Loyalists fled the American Revolution to Nova Scotia and Quebec. Joseph Brant led thousands of Loyalist Mohawks into Canada.
Loyalists were of many origins and religions; about 3,000 black Loyalists (freedmen and slaves) came north. In 1792 some black Nova Scotians moved on to found Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Sir Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester), Governor of Quebec: defended the rights of the Canadiens, defeated an American invasion of Quebec in 1775, supervised Loyalist migration 1782–83.

The beginnings of democracy

First representative assembly elected in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1758; Prince Edward Island 1773; New Brunswick 1785.
Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada (later Ontario: mainly Loyalist, Protestant, English-speaking) and Lower Canada (later Quebec: Catholic, French-speaking).
The Act gave the Canadas their first legislative assemblies elected by the people; the name Canada became official then.
The Atlantic colonies and the two Canadas together = British North America.
1793: first elected Assembly of Lower Canada debated using both French and English.

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