Jacques Cartier
Explorer
French explorer of Breton descent who claimed Canada for France and was the first European to venture inland in America.
He married a member of a prestigious French family in 1520 to improve his social status.
He was the first European to depict and chart the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the coasts of the Saint Lawrence River.
He married Mary Catherine des Granches.
He, unlike Christopher Columbus, traveled inland after arriving in North America.