Ka-na-ta

 

Ka-na-ta: originally an Iroquoian word for a community or group of huts. On August 13, 1535, on Jacques Cartier's second voyage of exploration, two Native youths who were returning home from France with him pointed toward the St. Lawrence River as the "Chemin de kanata" (way to the village). They were referring to the settlement of Stadacona, later to be the site of Québec City. Cartier (mis)interpreted the word as a name for the site and used it in a larger sense to mean "province of Canada".