The French in Canada
While the conquistadores were busy in Central America, Spain and France were at war at home. Francis I, king of France, wanted a share of the Oriental trade to finance his armies.

He commissioned a Florentine navigator, Giovanni da Verrazzano, to find a passage to Asia. In 1524 Verrazzano touched the American coast at North Carolina and then sailed north to Newfoundland. His report to the king contained the first description of the northeastern coast of North America and gave France its claim to American lands.
The next French explorer was Jacques Cartier. He made three voyages between 1534 and 1541 in quest of the Asia route. He ascended the St. Lawrence as far as the site of Montreal. After Cartier's voyages, a series of religious wars at home stopped France from sending out other parties. France made attempts, however, to
establish two colonies as refuges for the Huguenots. One colony, in Brazil
(1555-58), was destroyed by the Portuguese. The other, in Florida (1562-65), was wiped out by the Spaniards. Starting about 1540, French fishermen annually fished off the Newfoundland coast and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Under the vigorous rule of Henry IV (1589-1610) France was again united and at peace. Once more French explorers began to seek a strait to the Pacific.