This is a brief timeline of the history of Canada, comprising important social, economic, political, military, legal, and territorial changes and events in Canada and its predecessor states.

Prehistory

Year Date Event Ref.to 14,000 BCEAt some unknown time prior to this date, Paleo-Indians moved across the Beringia land bridge from eastern Siberia into northwest North America, settling in some areas of Alaska and the Yukon, but are blocked from further travel south into the continent by extensive glaciation.14,000 BCE Glaciers that covered Canada began melting, allowing Paleo-Indians to move south and east into Canada and beyond.3,000–2,000 BCE The Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands begin to cultivate different types of squash. 3,000 BCE Paleo-Eskimos begin to settle the Arctic regions of North America from Siberia.

8th century Year Date Event Ref.796 Council of Three Fires (also known as the Three Fires Confederacy) was formed.

10th century Year Date Event Ref. 1000 A short-lived Norse settlement is founded at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland. It is possibly connected with the attempted colony of Vinland, established by Leif Erikson around the same period or, more broadly, with Norse colonization of North America.

12th century

Year Date Event Ref.1142 31 August The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the League of Peace and Power) is formed.

15th century

Year Date Event Ref. 1497 24 June Genoese navigator John Cabot lands the Matthew of Bristol somewhere on the northern Atlantic coast of North America, claiming the land for England by the Doctrine of discovery. The precise location of Cabot's landing is widely debated but generally believed to be on Newfoundland, already inhabited by the Beothuk people. 1498-99 Portuguese explorer João Fernandes Lavrador first sights and sails along the coasts of the Labrador Peninsula.

16th century

Year Date Event Ref. 1534 24 July Explorer Jacques Cartier claims the Gaspé Peninsula, already inhabited by Indigenous St. Lawrence Iroquoians, for France under the Doctrine of Discovery. He returns to France with two Iroquois captives. 1583 Explorer Humphrey Gilbert lands in present-day St. John's and lays claim to the island of Newfoundland for the Kingdom of England under the Doctrine of Discovery. He dies at sea and permanent settlement by the British had to await better planned attempts.

17th century

Year Date Event Ref. 1605 French colonists under Samuel de Champlain establish the first permanent European settlement in the future Canada at Port-Royal, founding the colony that would become known as Acadia. 16083 July Quebec City founded by Champlain, becoming the capital of New France.16344 JulyTrois-Rivières founded, becoming the second permanent settlement in New France.1642 17 May Fort Ville-Marie (Old Montreal) founded with the majority of immigrants coming directly from France led by Paul de Chomedey and Jeanne Mance, a lay woman.1666 First census of New France released.16702 MayHudson's Bay Company formed. It has an exclusive charter for trade in the Hudson Bay watershed region known as Rupert's Land. The company administers the new colony on behalf of the King. 1688AprilWhile attempting to enforce English territorial claims, New England Governor Edmund Andros plundered Baron Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin's manor home and village on Penobscot Bay in French Acadia (now in the United States in Castine, Maine). This action opened the North American theater of the Nine Years' War.169016–24 OctoberThe Battle of Québec was fought between the colonies of New France and Massachusetts Bay, then ruled by the kingdoms of France and England, respectively. It was the first time Québec's defenses were tested, with the New Englanders hoping to seize Québec, then the capital of New France. They failed to take the city.16917 OctoberNova Scotia incorporated into the Province of Massachusetts Bay by royal charter. Returned to France under terms of the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.

18th century