History of America EXPLORING THE GREAT LAKES Written by Linda Thompson Rourke Educational Media rourkeeducationalmedia com Scan for Related Titles and Teacher Resources
Chapter 1 Waterway to America’s Heartland Several years after Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492 and 1493 a few other Europeans began coming to America for seasonal work They were sailors from the coast of France who spent summers fishing the shoals of Newfoundland Here the cold ocean waters teemed with cod a type of fish up to 6 feet 1 8 meters long and weighing as much as 200 pounds 91 kilograms Cod could be preserved with salt after it was caught and then dried or pickled and sold when the men returned to France Newfoundland was settled by fishermen in the early 1500s QUEBEC Jacques Cartier Passage NEWFOUNDLAND Gulf of St Lawrence 4
Codfish were numerous in the waters near Newfoundland A good summer’s catch could support a fisherman and his family for the rest of the year Soon Basque English and Portuguese fishing boats could also be seen on the Newfoundland coast The shoals of Newfoundland had so many codfish that a fisherman could just scoop them right out of the water with a bucket 5
