People have lived in what is now Canada for many thousands of years. The First Peoples recorded their memories in song, dance, story-telling, and art. The oldest documents in the Archives are maps, drawings, manuscripts and journals, mostly created by Europeans, as they began to establish their claims here centuries ago.
The rivalry between France and England for the land we now call Canada is central to our history. New France endured and grew from the arrival of Jacques Cartier in 1534 until1760, when England defeated the forces of New France on the Plains of Abraham, commonly known as the Conquest.
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![Imaginary Portrait of Jacques Cartier](../lmimages/c011226ktn.gif) | Imaginary Portrait of Jacques Cartier 1534 Documentary Art | ![Map of the world](../lmimages/n0097953ktn.gif) | Map of the world 1560 Maps | ![Sir Humphrey Gilbert](../lmimages/c147701tn.gif) | Sir Humphrey Gilbert 1582 Manuscripts and Private Collections | ![La Duchesse](../lmimages/c118168tn.gif) | La Duchesse 1650 Documentary Art | ![Le Canada](../lmimages/n0006333ktn.gif) | Le Canada 1653 Maps | ![Letters of Nobility](../lmimages/c023483ktn.gif) | Letters of Nobility 1658 Manuscripts and Private Collections | ![Montagnais-French dictionary](../lmimages/c053733ktn.gif) | Montagnais-French dictionary 1678 Manuscripts and Private Collections | ![Aboriginal totem signatures](../lmimages/c075208ktn.gif) | Aboriginal totem signatures 1701 Manuscripts and Private Collections | ![Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow](../lmimages/c092419ktn.gif) | Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow 1710 Documentary Art | ![Medal of Louis XIV](../lmimages/c014900tn.gif) | Medal of Louis XIV 1713 Documentary Art |
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