Quebec

=== Indigenous peoples and European expeditions (pre-1608) ===
{{Main|Settlement of the Americas|Indigenous peoples in Quebec|Exploration of North America}}
[[File:Jacques_Cartier_1851-1852.jpg|left|thumb|A depiction of [[Jacques Cartier]] by [[Théophile Hamel]], 1844]]
The [[Paleo-Indians]], theorized to have migrated from Asia to America between 20,000 and 14,000 years ago, were the first people to establish themselves on the lands of Quebec, arriving there after the [[Laurentide Ice Sheet]] melted roughly 11,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book| first1 = Jacques | last1 = Lacoursière | first2 = Jean | last2 = Provencher | first3 = Denis | last3 = Vaugeois | title = Canada-Quebec 1534&ndash;2000: historical summary |editor = Septentrion | year = 2000| isbn = 2-89448-156-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bering Land Bridge |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/photo/bering-land-bridge/ |website=National Geographic}}</ref> From them, many [[Ethnic groups|ethnocultural groups]] emerged. At the time of the European explorations of the 1500s, there were eleven [[Indigenous peoples in Quebec|Indigenous peoples]]: the [[Inuit]] and ten [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]]{{snd}} the [[Abenaki]]s, [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]]s (or Anichinabés), [[Atikamekw]], [[Cree]], [[Wyandot people|Huron-Wyandot]], [[Maliseet]] (also known as Wolastoqiyik or Etchemin), [[Miꞌkmaq]]s, [[Iroquois]], [[Innu]] (or Montagnais) and [[Naskapi]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.quebec.ca/gouv/portrait-quebec/premieres-nations-inuits/profil-des-nations |title = The Amerindians and {{sic|nolink=yes|Inuits}} of Quebec: 11 contemporary nations | publisher = Secretariat for Native Affairs | year = 2001 |page = 28 | isbn = 2-550-38480-6}}</ref> At the time, Algonquians organized into seven political entities and lived nomadic lives based on hunting, gathering, and fishing.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hx98AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA91|title=Native Peoples A to Z: A Reference Guide to Native Peoples of the Western Hemisphere|publisher=North American Book Dist LLC|year=2009|isbn=978-1-878592-73-6|volume=8|pages=91–97}}</ref> Inuit fished and hunted whales and seals along the coasts of Hudson and Ungava Bays.<ref name="Marsh19882">{{cite book|first=James H.|last=Marsh|url=https://archive.org/details/canadianencyclop04mars/page/2211|title=The Canadian encyclopedia|publisher=Hurtig Publishers|year=1988|isbn=978-0-88830-330-1|volume=4|page=[https://archive.org/details/canadianencyclop04mars/page/2211 2211]}}</ref>

In the 15th century, the [[Fall of Constantinople|Byzantine Empire fell]], prompting Western Europeans to search for new [[sea lane|sea routes]] to the [[Far East]].{{sfn|Charpentier|Durocher|Laville|Linteau|1985|p=47}} Around 1522–1523, [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] persuaded [[King Francis I of France]] to commission an expedition to find a western route to [[Cathay]] (China) via a [[Northwest Passage]]. Though this expedition was unsuccessful, it established the name ''New France'' for northeastern North America.{{sfn|Charpentier|Durocher|Laville|Linteau|1985|p=50}} In his first expedition ordered from the Kingdom of France, [[Jacques Cartier]] became the first European explorer to discover and map Quebec when he landed in [[Gaspé, Quebec|Gaspé]] on July 24, 1534.{{sfn |Riendeau|2007| p=36}} The second expedition, in 1535, included three ships: the {{lang|fr|[[Grande Hermine]]}}, the {{lang|fr|[[Petite Hermine]]}} and the {{lang|fr|Emérillon}}. That year, Jacques Cartier explored the lands of [[Stadacona]] and named the village and its surrounding territories ''[[Canada (New France)|Canada]]'' (from {{lang|iro|kanata}}, 'village' in [[Iroquoian language|Iroquois]]). After wintering in Stadacona, Cartier returned to France with about 10 [[St. Lawrence Iroquoians]], including Chief [[Donnacona]]. In 1540, Donnacona told the legend of the [[Kingdom of Saguenay]] to the King, inspiring him to order a third expedition, this time led by [[Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval]]; it was unsuccessful in its goal of finding the kingdom.{{sfn|Charpentier|Durocher|Laville|Linteau|1985|p=51}}

After these expeditions, France mostly abandoned North America for 50 years because of its financial crisis; France was involved in the [[Italian Wars]] and there were religious wars between [[Protestant]]s and [[Catholic]]s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Marcel |last=Trudel |title=Histoire de la [[Nouvelle-France]] : les vaines tentatives 1524&ndash;1603 |publisher=Fides |year=1963 |page=307}}</ref> Around 1580, the rise of the [[fur trade]] (particularly the demand for [[beaver]] pelts) reignited French interest; New France became a [[Factory (trading post)|colonial trading post]].<ref name=mathieu>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/fr/article/nouvelle-france|work=The Canadian Encyclopedia|title=Nouvelle-France|last=Mathieu|first=Jacques|date=September 4, 2013}}</ref> In 1603, [[Samuel de Champlain]] travelled to the Saint Lawrence River and, on Pointe Saint-Mathieu, established a [[defence pact]] with the Innu, Maliseet and Micmacs, that would be "a decisive factor in the maintenance of a French colonial enterprise in America despite an enormous numerical disadvantage vis-à-vis the British".<ref name="Litalien20042">{{cite book|first=Raymonde|last=Litalien|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2VAMDgy3YQC&pg=PA312|title=Champlain: The Birth of French America|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7735-7256-0|pages=312–314}}</ref> Thus also began French military support to the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and Huron peoples against Iroquois attacks; these became known as the [[Beaver Wars|Iroquois Wars]] and lasted from the early 1600s to the early 1700s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/iroquois-wars|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia|title=Iroquois Wars|accessdate=July 10, 2021}}</ref>