Jacques Cartier was born in Saint Malo, France in 1491.
He went on an expedition on another explorer's ship along the coast of Canada and America.
Cartier was an experienced sailor and navigator.
Cartier was hired in 1534 by king Francis I to look for gold, spices and a water way to china through North America.
Some of Cartier's reasons for exploring North America were to find a waterway going west through North America to china an to claim land.
Jacques Cartier left France in search of a route through North America to China down the Saint Lawrance river to claim some of it for France. He named Canada.