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The name Canada probably comes from the Iroquois word kanata , which means "village" or "settlement". In 1535, Iroquois used the word to direct explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona . Cartier mistakenly thought that 'Canada' meant not only that village, but the entire region.
The explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived from France in 1603. He established the first permanent European settlements-- Port Royal in 1605, and Quebec City in 1608. These towns then became the capitals of Acadia and Canada. Canadiens , the colonists of New France, settled the St. Lawrence River valley, while Acadians settled the present-day Maritimes . French fur traders and Catholic missionaries explored the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay .
France gave up practically all of its colonies in North America in 1763, after the Seven Years War . Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces in 1867—essentially an extended colony of Britain. Over the years, more provinces and territories were added to Canada, and at the same time Canada grew more and more independent from the United Kingdom. It wasn't until the Canada act of 1982, though, that Canada broke off the last traces of legal dependence on the British Parliament. The British royal family is still held in high regard in Canada. Newfoundland didn't become part of Canada until 1949, and many Newfoundlanders today think of themselves as Newfoundlanders first, and Canadians second.
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