Jacques Cartier was a 16th century French explorer credited to have claimed what is now Canada for France. The credit for naming the region also goes to him—he used the name ‘Canada’ derived from the Huron-Iroquois word ‘kanata’, meaning a village or settlement—to refer to the area around what is now Quebec city. Cartier was also the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River. It was his exploration of the area around Saint Lawrence River that eventually led France to lay claim to the regions which later constituted Canada. Not much is known about the life of Cartier before he became a famous explorer. It is generally believed that as a young man he accompanied Giovanni da Verrazzano on unofficial explorations initiated by the king of France. He probably gained some valuable navigational experiences by way of these unofficial explorations as he was later on commissioned by the king to embark on voyages with the aim of discovering a western passage to Asia. He discovered Prince Edward Island on his first voyage, and impressed by his exploratory skills, the king sent him on other voyages in future during the course of which he explored, and claimed the modern-day Canada for France.