Canada [antikvár]

When the tiny sailing ship of John Cabot bobbed along the coast of Newfoundland, the nineteen-man crew gazed in wonder at the rugged coast and forested land. The tales of the beauties and potential of the land that Cabot told upon his return persuaded some 200 men to follow him on his next voyage. In 1498 Cabot and his men sailed westward from England and disappeared into the mists of the Atlantic, and of time. The majestic landscape that drew Cabot to the west like a magnet was only a tiny part of a magnificent and untamed land. Stretching beyond the forests of Newfoundland was a vast and unexplored land rich with mystery and promise. For centuries the call of the wilderness and dreams of unfound riches pulled men to the west, ever deeper into the beautiful hinterland of Canada. The tempting lure of fur brought Samuel de Champlain from France. He built a settlement on the St. Lawrence, where Quebec now stands, before pushing up the unknown river to meet strange tribes. By helping the Huron fight the Iroquois in an inter-tribal war, Champlain opened up the beautiful forests to the north of the Great Lakes, and even traveled the crystal waters of Lake Huron. Though settlement and civilisation came to the east it was the great spirit of adventure that drove men to lift the veil of uncertainty that shrouded the land to the west. Paddling their birch bark canoes up the tree-lined rivers from the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay, it was the fur trappers and traders that answered the call of the Canadian landscape. In 1789, in the hope of finding an outlet to the Pacific, young Alexander Mackenzie followed the river that bears his name across the vast distances of the Northwest Territories. For over a thousand miles he canoed across lakes and along waters lined with stands of spruce before emerging on the frozen tundra where the caribou roam and the treeless landscape sweeps to the horizon. After his trials and difficulties Mackenzie was bitterly disappointed to find that the great river flowed into the Arctic Ocean. Nothing daunted, the gallant Scot returned to Fort Chipewyan before setting off to cross the mighty Rockies, a feat that no man had ever achieved before. Though he was not the first white man to see the untamed beauties of the mountains he was the first to penetrate the great ice-encrusted peaks that are the true wonders of the wind-swept mountains. The last great frontiers to be tamed were the mountains and plateaus of the Arctic northwest. On August 17, 1896 gold was found in Bonanza Creek and the Yukon goldrush began. Thousands poured into the frozen wastes in search of easy fortunes and luxury for life. Many only found death in the white expanses. The draw of the wild, but beautiful landscapes of Canada remains undiminished. Every year thousands follow in the tracks of the early explorers as they view the wonders of this majestic land.