Practice by chapter
Canada’s History: practice quiz and timeline
Ten questions from the history chapter alone, corrected one by one. The timeline below puts every date of the chapter in order, because most history questions are a date or a name.
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Practice questions written by Radif Partners from the facts of the official guide. Not the official test.
History is the longest chapter of Discover Canada and the one with the most dates, which is why 15 of the 150 questions in our bank come from it. The test checks a chain of events rather than interpretations: Vikings in Newfoundland about 1,000 years ago, John Cabot mapping the Atlantic coast in 1497, Jacques Cartier hearing the word kanata (village) between 1534 and 1542, Champlain's fortress at Québec City in 1608, the Hudson's Bay Company charter of 1670, the British victory on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, the Quebec Act of 1774, the split into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791, responsible government from 1847-48, Confederation on July 1, 1867, the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, Vimy Ridge in April 1917 and Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. Names attach to these dates: Macdonald, Riel, Brant, Secord, de Salaberry, La Fontaine. Learn the timeline in order and most of these questions become a matter of placing one event before another, which is quick work inside the 45 minutes of the test.
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The timeline to know
Most history questions name a year or ask for one. Rather than reading the chapter several times, learn the dates as a sequence, then check yourself with the practice quiz above, which draws only from the 15 history questions of our bank.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| About 1,000 years ago | Vikings reach Labrador and Newfoundland (L’Anse aux Meadows) |
| 1497 | John Cabot maps the Atlantic coast for England |
| 1534 to 1542 | Jacques Cartier’s three voyages; kanata means village |
| 1604 | first French settlement in Acadia |
| 1608 | Champlain builds a fortress at Québec City |
| 1670 | Hudson’s Bay Company chartered by Charles II |
| 1758 | first representative assembly elected, in Halifax |
| 1759 | Battle of the Plains of Abraham; Wolfe and Montcalm killed |
| 1774 | Quebec Act |
| 1791 | Constitutional Act: Upper and Lower Canada |
| 1793 | Upper Canada moves to abolish slavery |
| 1812 | War of 1812 begins (Laura Secord and de Salaberry at Châteauguay in 1813) |
| 1837 to 1838 | rebellions; Lord Durham then recommends union and responsible government |
| 1847 to 1848 | Nova Scotia obtains responsible government |
| 1867 | Confederation, July 1; Macdonald first Prime Minister |
| 1869 to 1870 | Red River uprising led by Louis Riel |
| 1873 | North West Mounted Police created |
| 1885 | last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway |
| 1916 | Manitoba first gives women the vote |
| 1917 | Vimy Ridge, April |
| 1944 | Juno Beach, June 6 |
From New France to Confederation
Champlain allied with the Algonquin, Montagnais and Huron, long-time enemies of the Iroquois. In 1670 the Hudson's Bay Company received exclusive trading rights over the lands draining into Hudson Bay, competing with Montreal fur traders for a century. The 1759 defeat on the Plains of Abraham ended France's empire in North America. Britain then had to govern a French-speaking Catholic majority: the Quebec Act of 1774 allowed religious freedom for Catholics, let them hold public office and restored French civil law, while British criminal law stayed. After the American Revolution, Loyalists arrived, among them thousands of Mohawks led by Joseph Brant, and the Constitutional Act of 1791 created Upper Canada, mostly English-speaking and Protestant, and Lower Canada, mostly French-speaking and Catholic, each with an elected assembly.
Traps in this chapter
1759 or 1763? 1759 is the battle at Québec City; 1763 is the Royal Proclamation, which belongs to the previous chapter. Cabot or Cartier? Cabot (1497) worked for England and drew the first map of the Atlantic coast; Cartier (1534 to 1542) sailed for France and gave us the name Canada. Dominion or province? The phrase Dominion of Canada was suggested in 1864 by Sir Leonard Tilley, inspired by a psalm about dominion from sea to sea. Railway dates. British Columbia joined in 1871 on the promise of a railway; the line was finished on November 7, 1885, when Donald Smith drove the last spike. European and Chinese workers built it, and Chinese immigrants were later charged an entry tax because of their origin.
Neighbouring chapters
The peoples who meet in this story are introduced in Who We Are; the twentieth century continues in Modern Canada. All history questions, with their answers, are listed in the question bank. Once the timeline is solid, a timed mock test shows how history mixes with the other nine chapters. Facts drawn from Discover Canada.