who discovered canada

Canada was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples long before European explorers arrived. The first known Europeans to reach parts of what is now Canada were the Vikings around 1000 CE, who established a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Later, in 1497, John Cabot, an Italian navigator sailing under the English flag, made one of the earliest recorded European landings on the east coast of Canada, likely Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island, claiming it for England. The French explorer Jacques Cartier is often credited with "discovering" Canada in a more sustained sense, as he arrived in 1534, navigating the Gulf and St. Lawrence River, and claimed land for France. He was the first to name the territory "Canada," a word derived from the Iroquoian word "kanata," meaning "village." Cartier's voyages paved the way for French exploration and settlement in the region known as New France.