Destination: Canada
LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION
Itinerary: Back to Canada's Roots
Fierce Norsemen, fur traders, indigenous warriors, gold diggers…the early days of Canada were tumultuous, calamitous and waaay wild.
The first Europeans to see Canada were Vikings who settled in what is now L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site in Newfoundland in around AD 1000. Though this is technically Canada's first European settlement, that credit generally goes to St John's, which was 'discovered' by John Cabot in 1497 and settled in 1528. It would be another 80 years until the founding of the oldest French settlement, Quebec City, the only North American town with intact fortifications. To see an entire re-created French fortress, visit Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. Discussions held at Province House in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island paved the way to Canadian union. The fledgling country soon turned its attention to the vast west, an idea that met with resistance from the local Metis. Their leader, Louis Riel, was captured in the 1885 Battle of Batoche and hanged a year later. The Batoche National Historic Site re-creates the settlement where this conflict took place. A decade later, gold was found in the Klondike River, still vividly remembered in Dawson City in the Yukon.
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