See also: 16th century in Canada, other events of the 1600s, 1610s in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Events

• c. 1600: By now, perhaps 250,000 Indians and Inuit (Eskimo) inhabit what is now Canada.
• 1600: King Henry IV of France grants a fur-trading monopoly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to a group of French merchants.
• 1602 Francoise Marie Jacqueline de la Tour is the first European woman to make a home in Acadia.
• 1603-15 - Samuel de Champlain's (c.1567-1635) voyages in the Northeast lead to contacts with many Algonquian and Iroquoian tribes. He explores the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River for France.
• 1603: A fur trade monopoly charter is granted by France to the sieur de Monts to all the land lying between 40th-46th degrees north latitude. He establishes trade settlements in Acadia (later Nova Scotia) and at Quebec City on the St. Lawrence.
• 1604-06: Mattieu da Costa travels with the Champlain expedition to Port Royal. He serves as an interpreter between the French and the Micmac Indians of the area.
• 1605-07: The Europeans are welcomed by Mi'kmaq Grand Chief Membertou, who converts to Catholicism, makes a wampum-belt treaty with the Vatican.
• 1605: Samuel de Champlain and the sieur de Poutrincourt found Port Royal on the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia (later to be named Annapolis Royal by the British), the first permanent French settlement in North America.
• 1607: English colonists found Jamestown, Virginia under John Smith, leading to extensive contact with the tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy.
• 1608: Champlain allies himself with the Algonquians and with the Hurons, who are amenable to missionary activities and acts as the principal suppliers of furs. This alliance, however, antagonizes the Iroquoian Confederacy, traditional rivals of the Huron and suppliers of furs to the Dutch in New Amsterdam.
• 1608: Quebec (the city) is established as a fur post by Champlain and French colonists on July 3, creating in effect the first permanent European settlement.
• 1609: The settlement of Quebec owes much to Samuel de Champlain, an explorer hired by the sieur de Monts, who became the foremost champion of French colonization.
• 1609: Champlain supports the Algonquins against the Iroquois at Lake Champlain. He fires on the Iroquois, setting a pattern of Indian relationships.