See also: 1630s in Canada, other events of the 1640s, 1650s in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.

Events

• c. 1640: Beavers and otters nearly exterminated in Iroquois country. To expand territory, Iroquois launch decades-long "Beaver Wars" against Huron and other tribes.
• 1642: The trade settlement at Montreal is founded by the sieur de Maisonneuve, May 18.
• 1644: Second Powhatan Confederacy uprising against Jamestown, Virginia; its leader, Opechancanough, dies in captivity.
• 1644 Jeanne Mance (Baptized Langres, France November 12, 1606 Died June 18, 1673) opens Hotel-Dieu, the first hospital in North America.
• 1645-63: Under the proprietorship of Richelieu's company's colonial agent, the Community of Habitants, the new French colony takes shape along the St. Lawrence.
• 1648-49: After the Iroquois brutally ravage Huron country and disperse the Huron nation north of the St. Lawrence, they turn against New France itself.
• 1649-64: the Beaver Wars: Encouraged by the English, and the need for more beaver for trade (their own area being hunted out), Haudenosee (Iroquois) make war on Hurons (1649), Tobaccos (1649), Neutrals (1650-51), Erie (1653-56), Ottawa (1660), Illinois and Miami (1680-84), and members of the Mahican confederation. English, pleased with this, agree to 2-Row Wampum Peace treaty, 1680.
• 1649: Attacks by the Iroquois disperse the Huron; disrupts fur trade over the next fifteen years.
• 1649: The Jesuit father Jean de Brébeuf is martyred during Iroquois raids on the Hurons at St-Ignace (March 16).