when did the glacial erosion that exposed the canadian shield begin
Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield is among the oldest on earth, with regions dating from 2.5 to 4.2 billion years.[9] The multitude of rivers and lakes in the entire region is caused by the watersheds of the area being so young and in a state of sorting themselves out with the added effect of post-glacial rebound. The Shield was originally an area of very large, very tall mountains (about 12,000 metres or 39,000 feet)[10] with much volcanic activity, but over hundreds of millions of years, the area has been eroded to its current topographic appearance of relatively low relief.[citation needed] It has some of the oldest (extinct) volcanoes on the planet.[citation needed] It has over 150 volcanic belts (now deformed and eroded down to nearly flat plains) whose bedrock ranges from 600 to 1200 million years old.[citation needed]
History of Canada French interest in the New World began with Francis I of France, who in 1524 sponsored Giovanni da Verrazzano to navigate the region between Florida and Newfoundland in hopes of finding a route to the Pacific Ocean.[44] Although the English had laid claims to it 1497 when John Cabot made landfall somewhere on the North American coast (likely either modern-day Newfoundland or Nova Scotia) and had claimed the land for England on behalf of King Henry VII,[45] these claims were not exercised and England did not make any attempts at permanent colonization. For the French however, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1534 and claimed the land in the name of Francis I establishing a region called Canada the following summer.[46] Permanent settlement attempts by Cartier at Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541, at Sable Island in 1598 by Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez, and at Tadoussac, Quebec in 1600 by François Gravé Du Pont had all eventually failed.[47] Despite these initial failures, French fishing fleets sailed the Atlantic coast and into the St. Lawrence River, trading and making alliances with First Nations,[48] as well as establishing fishing settlements such as in Percé in 1603.[49] As a result of France's claim and activities in the colony of Canada, the name "Canada" was present on international maps denoting this colony within the St-Lawrence river region.[50]