View source for Timeline of Quebec history (beginnings–1533)

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{{History of Quebec}}

This section of the [[Timeline of Quebec history]] concerns '''events through 1533'''.

==[[Prehistory]]==
* ~10,000 BCE: Indigenous peoples begin settling in what is now [[Quebec|Québec]] following glacial retreat, initially as nomadic hunter-gatherers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Erika Hope |title=Research Guides: Québec: French Culture, First Nations & Folk Music: Indigenous Peoples of Québec and Eastern Canada |url=https://guides.loc.gov/quebec/indigenous-peoples |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=guides.loc.gov |language=en}}</ref>
* ~8,000 BCE: Early evidence of [[Paleo-Indians]] in southern Québec; these are the ancestors of later [[Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands|Eastern Woodlands]] peoples.<ref name=":0" />
* ~3,000 BCE: Development of [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic]] cultures in the [[St. Lawrence River|St. Lawrence River Valley]]; increasing social complexity and use of regional trade networks.<ref name=":0" />
* ~1,000 BCE: [[Woodland period|Woodland Period]] begins; Indigenous groups begin to practice [[horticulture]] (e.g., maize), create ceramics, and form complex societies.<ref name=":0" />
* ~1000: [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]]-speaking peoples such as [[St. Lawrence Iroquoians]] are settled in large agricultural villages along the [[St. Lawrence River]] valley.<ref name=":0" />
* ~1200: [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking groups, including the [[Innu]] and [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquin]], inhabit boreal forest regions north of the [[St. Lawrence River|St. Lawrence]], primarily as semi-nomadic hunters and fishers.<ref name=":0" />
* ~1300: [[Inuit]] peoples expand into northern Québec ([[Nunavik]]), adapting to [[Arctic]] conditions and developing the [[Thule people|Thule]] culture, ancestral to modern Inuit.<ref name=":0" />

==15th century==

* ~1400 -
** [[Mi'kmaq|Mi’kmaq]] Grand Council established; a governing body with male representatives and a grand chief leads by consensus.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Indigenous Peoples {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/first-nations |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref>
** [[Blackfoot Confederacy]] emerges; a political structure organized around bands governed by consensus.<ref name=":1" />
*~1450 - [[Iroquois|Haudenosaunee Confederacy]] ([[Iroquois|Iroquois League]]) forms to resolve disputes among nations in the [[Great Lakes region|lower Great Lakes region]], including parts of modern-day Quebec.<ref name=":1" />
*1492 - For the Queen of Castile (later, Spain), [[Christopher Columbus]] crosses the Atlantic Ocean.
*1493 - The [[papal bull]] ''[[Inter caetera|Inter Caetera]]'' ([[Discovery doctrine|Doctrine of Discovery]]) decreed, granting European powers legal justification to claim lands in the Americas without Indigenous consent.<ref name=":1" /> 
*1497 - [[John Cabot]] reaches the island of Newfoundland, which he claims for England.

==16th century==

* ~1500 - Distinct Indigenous cultural regions are established in Québec: [[Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands|Eastern Woodlands]] (e.g., [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]], [[Wendat Nation|Huron-Wendat]], [[Abenaki]]) in the south, [[Subarctic]] groups (e.g., [[Cree]], [[Innu]], [[Naskapi]]) in the [[Boreal forest of Canada|boreal]] and [[taiga]] forests, and [[Circumpolar peoples|Arctic peoples]] ([[Inuit]]) in the far north.<ref name=":0" />

*1524 - [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]], a [[Republic of Florence|Florentine]] in the service of the [[King Francis I of France]] explores the East coast of North America from [[Florida]] to [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] as well as parts of [[New York Harbor]]. The French would take narrow land ports of the Boroughs [[Queens]] and [[Brooklyn]] from the upper and lower parts of the harbor until 1609 when the [[British Empire|British]] and the [[Dutch colonial empire|Dutch]] take control of it from the French.
*1525 and after - [[Basque people|Basque]] fishermen and [[whaling|whalers]] regularly sail in the [[Saint Lawrence River|St. Lawrence]] estuary and the [[Saguenay River]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==See also==
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
 | title  = [[Timeline of Quebec history]]
 | years  = Beginnings to 1533
 | before = –
 | after  = [[Timeline of New France history (1534–1607)|1534 to 1607]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{New France}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline of New France History (01 to 1533)}}
[[Category:16th century in Quebec| 1400]]
[[Category:Timelines of Quebec history|1400]]
[[Category:Timelines of New France history|Quebec 1400]]
[[Category:15th century in Canada|Quebec 1400]]
[[Category:16th century in Canada|Quebec 1500]]
[[Category:15th century in North America|Quebec 1400]]
[[Category:16th century in North America|Quebec 1500]]
[[Category:Pre-Confederation Quebec|.1400]]