Jacques Cartier spent a long time building his reputation before his first voyage

The early years of Jacques Cartier are extremely scantily recorded. He most likely started out working in commerce and navigation. Like his fellow Frenchmen, Cartier most likely traveled the South American coast of Brazil while at sea, first as a sailor and then as an officer. Following the conquest of Brittany by the French, King François I replaced the explorer Giovanni da Verrazano with Jacques Cartier.

In December 1491, Jacques Cartier was born in Brittany not far from St. Malo. In the village of Dieppe in northern France, he studied navigation. Before finally being given a commission by the king, he spent a significant portion of his adult life developing his reputation as a skilled navigator. Cartier, an expert navigator by this time, significantly elevated his social standing in 1520 by weding Mary Catherine des Granche, a member of a prominent local family.

The mission of Jacques Cartier's first trip was to look for a route to the Pacific Ocean near Newfoundland and perhaps uncover some rich metals which is one of the interesting facts about Jacques Cartier. On April 20, 1534, he sailed from Saint-Malo in two ships and 61 men. Cartier traveled to a number of locations that were well-known to European fishermen. He gave these locations new names or added them to his maps. Following Anticosti Island's coastline and again traversing the Strait of Belle Isle, they made their way back to France.