 Thereafter the name Canada was used to designate the small French colony on these shores, and the French colonists were called until the mid-nineteenth century, when the name started to be applied to the loyalist colonies on the Great Lakes and later to all of British North America.In this way Cartier is not strictly the European discoverer of Canada as this country is understood today, a vast federation stretching (from sea to sea).Eastern parts had previously been visited by the Norse, as well as Basque, Galician and Breton fishermen, and perhaps the Corte-Real brothers and John Cabot (in addition of course to the Natives who first inhabited the territory).