The first settlers in what is now Canada were the Indigenous peoples, who arrived thousands of years ago from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge around 18,000 to 21,000 B.C. They lived across the land in diverse and organized societies long before European arrival. The first European settlers arrived much later. Norse Viking explorers from Greenland, led possibly by Leif Erikson, reached the northeastern coast of Canada around the year 1000 and established a temporary settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. This is the earliest known European settlement in North America. After the Norse, the next notable European presence was John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) under English commission in 1497, who is believed to have landed somewhere in the Atlantic provinces, possibly Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. Later, French explorers such as Jacques Cartier claimed lands for France in 1534, and Samuel de Champlain founded the first permanent French settlement at Quebec City in 1608, marking the beginning of more sustained European colonization. In summary:
- Indigenous peoples were the original settlers, arriving thousands of years ago.
- Norse Vikings were the first Europeans around 1000 AD with a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows.
- John Cabot was the first European after the Vikings to explore and claim land for England in 1497.
- French settlers established permanent settlements starting in the early 1600s, with Quebec City founded in 1608 by Champlain.
