Jacques Cartier and the 1535 Ascent

On October 2, 1535, French navigator Jacques Cartier pressed upriver on the St. Lawrence River and reached Hochelaga, a large Indigenous settlement near a wooded hill. His journey required steady nerve—unfamiliar waters, changing weather, and the ever-present risk of misunderstanding with the people of the land. Yet he advanced with careful observation, recording the region’s fertility and promise, and returning hospitality with gifts.

Hochelaga (Near Present-Day Montréal)

Cartier described being surrounded by hundreds who welcomed his party and guided them. Hochelaga stood as a thriving community with ordered life, cultivated fields, and strong social bonds—an important reminder that the land was not empty, but inhabited by neighbors bearing God’s image. Encounters like this call for gratitude, restraint, and truthfulness, resisting both fear and pride. True courage is not bravado; it is the willingness to act rightly when outcomes are uncertain.

Mont Royal and a Name that Endured

Cartier climbed the nearby hill and named it “Mont Royal.” From that height he looked over a vast landscape of forests and waterways, a vantage that later generations would connect to the founding and growth of Montréal. The hill’s naming marked more than geography; it reflected the human impulse to order and interpret creation. Yet Scripture anchors that impulse with a higher claim: “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).

Faith, Humility, and the Call to Walk Gently

Exploration can display admirable virtues—endurance, initiative, and disciplined attention—but those gifts must be governed by reverence. God’s world is not a prize to seize, but a trust to steward, and every meeting with another people is a test of the heart. “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). May we likewise walk bravely, yet gently, before God—thankful for His creation, respectful of our neighbors, and eager that Christ’s name be made known.