Chief Donnacona (died c. 1539 in France) was the Iroquois chief of Stadacona.

Donnacona and his people were fishing in the Gaspé when Jacques Cartier arrived in 1534. Cartier seized Donnacona's sons, Domagaya and Taignoagny and took them to France. They returned to Canada with Cartier the following year, showed him the entrance to the St Lawrence River and piloted him up the river to their village of Stadacona. This time, the French spent the winter in Canada.

Relations between the Iroquois and the French worsened through the winter. In the spring, Cartier invited Donnacona to a feast and then seized him and nine others, including his two sons. Donnacona was well treated in France and was looked after at the king's expense. He whetted the French's appetite for the New World with tales of a golden kingdom called Saquenay, but he took sick and died. So did all but one of the Iroquois, a little girl whose fate is unknown.

When Cartier returned to Stadacona five years later, he told the people that Donnacona was living like a king and had no wish to come home. The people did not believe him.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online